The QB's Nerdy Addiction novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Five Thousand Dollars

Dale Sullivan walked into the Rail Diner at 12:15 the next afternoon and sat at my counter.

He wore the camel coat. Behind him came a young man with a microphone case, who stayed by the door.

The lunch crowd noticed.

Half the diner knew his voice from the car radio, and a table of students stopped chewing.

"Coffee," Dale said. "Black. And sit down a minute, Miss Vandiver."

"I'm working."

"This is work."

He knew my name.

I poured the coffee.

Gage had left my apartment at six that morning, kissing me at the door with his phone already buzzing.

He had said, "Let me handle my dad."

I had said, "Okay."

Dale took a long envelope out of his coat and slid it across the counter.

"There's a check in there for five thousand dollars," he said. "It's made out to you."

"What's it for?"

"For the semester you've had."

He smiled, and it was a good smile, warm and practiced.

"I hear the rent on your place is eleven-forty. I hear your mother has medical debt."

"Who told you that?"

"A girl like you has a lot of weight on her," Dale said.

I looked at the envelope.

He had a photograph, a landlord's number and my mother's bills.

Someone had done a great deal of work.

"What do I do for it?" I asked.

"Nothing. That's the point. You stop tutoring, you stop seeing my son, and you go back to your books."

He leaned in, kindly.

"Gage has a draft grade that puts him in the second round. He doesn't need a girl at a diner telling him he's smart."

"Is that what you think I do?"

"I think you've got a hook in him."

Down the counter, a woman set her fork down.

Two girls from the back booth were holding their phones at chest height.

I picked up the envelope and took the check out.

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