I Need the Money

Amaya

I thought of Jolene, who was probably at home wondering where the heck I was right now, and my stomach twisted. A few thousand dollars alone would make her life a hell of a lot easier. And I would have done anything to assure my sister’s life was a little less difficult.

It had been so hard for both of us since Mom and Dad had passed away. Every time I thought of them, I still felt that twist deep in my stomach. A car accident had robbed both me and my sister of our family when she had been nothing more than a few years old. And, in the midst of the grief and working on my undergraduate degree, I’d had to move back home to step up and take care of my sister. Jolene had been born with severe physical disabilities that had required basically full-time care around the clock to keep her functioning, and when Mom and Dad had died, I’d been the only one who knew her well enough to step in and take care of my sister. I loved her, I did, and so I moved back home from the dorm rooms where I’d just been settling in and back into my old room to make sure she wasn’t left alone in the world. I hadn’t had any other choice. I’d had no money to pay for a career, and it wasn’t like my parents had left anything for us when they’d passed, just the house and the memory of them that I made sure to pass along to Jolene every chance I got. She was a good kid, sweet and funny and smarter than anyone gave her credit for, and my parents would have been proud of how she turned out.

Me, on the other hand? Well, I was sure Mom alone would have chewed me out for getting myself in so much debt, but relying on student loans as I made my way through grad school was the only way I knew to keep my head above water. It was consistent cash and meant I could study at home and look after Jolene on the side. Eventually, when I finished up, I even had a job guaranteed for me at a local library, the one I had been raising money for the night before. A job meant I could pay for Jolene to stay in a care home during the day so she could meet new people and start earning a college degree as she’d always dreamed. But I also had a mountain of debt guaranteed as well. So, when he sat opposite me, eyeing me and offering to make this worth my while, I wasn’t sure I could turn him down in good conscience.

“Let me get this straight.” I sat up, snapping into business mode despite the fact I was naked and handling a hangover. “You’re offering me a lump sum to stay married to you to keep your family happy?”

“Yep,” he replied, and the words hung in the air between us as I considered my options. The thought of it made me a little sick, and if this guy had suggested this the night before I would have shot him down on the spot. But now that we were already married, now that I would have had to drag myself through a lengthy legal process just to call things off, things were different.

I tried to quiet the questions in my head and just looked at him. Think of the money. Of the debts, the fact my car needed to be fixed, the little DIYs in the house that I needed to take care of. Money like the kind of money he had to have to stay in a place like this would change all of that. It would change my life and Jolene’s, and I wasn’t sure I could, in good faith, walk away from it.

Still, so many questions were racing through my mind. How long would we have to stay married for? What would happen when he was done with me? Did I have to meet his family in the process? Where exactly was he even from? What about sex?

“Only if you play by the rules,” he replied playfully, and I didn’t realize those questions had been tumbling out of my mouth instead of just through my mind. I went bright red, pulling the covers around me.

“How much are you offering?” I asked bluntly. No point talking about money if he couldn’t match my price. But then again, I had no idea what my price actually was for something like this.

He leaned forward, and I saw the way his eyes flashed with excitement, as though he had come up with the greatest plan in the world and nothing I could say or do was going to change his mind.

“How much do you need?” he asked. “Name your price, and I’ll match it. I can afford anything.”

I opened my mouth, racking my brains for a number but found myself distracted by the way he was watching me. Like he had last night, like someone circling in on their prey. For some reason, that sent something sparking to life inside of me, something familiar from the night before. And I had a feeling this fake marriage thing was going to be a lot more interesting than I’d imagined.