Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Jordy and Zayne step away from him. Roan shoves him to the grass and kicks him in the stomach.
“Touch my sister-in-law again and we won’t go so easy. We don’t give a shit who your dad is,” Roan growls.
We leave him sobbing on the ground. I try to hand the knife back to Zayne and he laughs.
“Fucking keep it,” he says.
I follow him into the kitchen. After I clean off the blood and piss, I tuck away my souvenir and smile at Zayne.
“We were just headed for burgers. Want to come with us?”
He smirks. “Let me grab my wallet.”
As soon as he walks off, Jordy shakes his head, grinning. “Your name?”
“Rapist shithead was too long for his baby dick,” I explain. “Plus, I don’t want him to ever forget who the fuck he messed with.”
Charlotte
I gently rap on the door, steeling my spine. I can do this. I need to do this. When I’m granted permission to enter, I suck in a sharp breath before pushing into the room.
The sounds hit me first.
Rhythmic and steady.
A promise to keep forcing life through a body that craves death.
The smells hit me next.
Pungent and sterile.
It’s the sight that hits me last.
Lifeless and empty.
A sob catches in my throat as I approach Terrence’s bed. He’s hooked to all kinds of machines that breathe for him. My heart shatters into a million pieces. The last time I saw him, his head was crushed in. I was sure he was dead. They’ve since repaired his wounds, but the scars will be there until the day he does die. Jagged and uneven. Ugly.
I did this to him.
With a shaking hand, I grab onto his warm one. Still alive. But is he? Does the old Terrence live deep inside or were they only able to preserve his broken body?
“I’m so sorry,” I choke out. “My God, Terrence. I am so sorry.”
A chair creaks and then shuffling footsteps approach. I get a whiff of peppermint before a gentle hand touches my back.
“Terry and I used to fight all the time,” the elderly woman says. “Over a lot of things. His behavior at school. His mouthy attitude. His deviant ways when he’d be around those boys he calls Hoodlums.” She chuckles. “But the thing we fought most over was sleep.”
I turn to look down at the old woman. She’s obviously Terrence’s grandma Rhetta. I’ve heard them talk about her over the years, but never formally met her.
“Sleep?” I rasp out, confusion in my voice.
“That boy loved to sleep in. Couldn’t keep a job if it was a morning one because he’d always be late. Always missed the bus and couldn’t get to school on time.” She sighs. “And yet here we are again. Me telling his big ass to get up every day and him not listening.”
“Rhetta, I—”
“I heard you, honey. You’re sorry. How many times are you going to say it? You think we don’t know how sorry you are?”
I swallow hard, blinking back tears. I’m emotional today. Since the night before last with everything that went down with Ryan, I’ve been wrecked. Yesterday, after school, I made Penny take me straight home. I stayed in bed until Mom brought me supper. She ended up sleeping next to me, holding me all night. I managed to make it through another school day, this one without even speaking to Cal, who was being overly broody, and asked Penny to drop me off at the hospital after school while she and Tierra played basketball at the park again.
I just needed to see him.
To face the consequences of my actions.
“I don’t know how to fix it,” I whisper. “I just want to fix it.”
“Have you started with yourself?”
I turn to look down at her. There’s no hate or anger in her expression. Only peace. Her features are strikingly similar to Tierra’s. She must have looked a lot like her as a young woman.
“I’m trying,” I admit. “I got help. Therapy. Rehab. I’m back in school, trying to do right by my life. It’s just…I want to fix this. Him.”
She gives me a grim smile. “Unfortunately, darlin’, this isn’t your battle anymore. It’s Terry’s. If he wants out of this state, he’ll figure out a way to do it. If he doesn’t, that’s God’s will. I’ll be by his side either way. He’s loved and cared for. That’s all that matters.”
“He wouldn’t be fighting this battle had I not gotten in that car,” I explain, wanting her wrath. Wanting her to lash out at me. “He’s like this because of me. Sure, it’s his battle now, but I forced him into it.”
Rather than getting angry, she shrugs. “You did. He’s here. Nothing changes the past. All you can do is get a handle on the present and secure a better future.”
“It’s not fair, though,” I argue, tears welling. “It should have been me.”