Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“He’s going to hate you for this,” he says before releasing her and allowing her to scurry away.
He closes Kid’s door and hangs his head in defeat as he nears mine. I close my eyes swiftly, praying he will just keep on walking. He blocks the small amount of light coming in from the hallway and without a word softly pulls my door closed.
Just a couple more days until I’m eighteen. I have some serious thinking to do and plans to make. There’s no way I can stay here and look into his captivating brown eyes after what’s happened.
The tears fall silently until sleep pulls me under.
***
Even exhausted, my body still wouldn’t let me get much sleep last night. I stayed in bed, but I’ve been staring at the ceiling for the last couple of hours.
Hearing some activity somewhere in the clubhouse, I get up, dress quickly, and head to the kitchen. We spent all that time yesterday making the lasagna for the guys, and I missed out on it. I couldn’t have eaten a bite after watching Kid walk out with Snapper, but my stomach is growling now and demanding something go in it.
It’s super early, the sun barely cresting over the horizon, so I hope there are only a few people in the kitchen. More specifically, I hope that Kid and Snapper are nowhere to be seen.
I stop in my tracks and lean against the wall before making my way through the door of the kitchen. I can hear Emmalyn’s pissed off voice bouncing off of the walls.
“That was some seriously shitty stuff you did last night,” she sneers.
“Are you kidding me?” I hear Snapper’s indignant voice say. “You’ve never fucked him, Emmalyn. If you had, you’d understand why I didn’t turn him down.”
“Regardless, you knew he wouldn’t touch you for weeks before he left for Vegas. What you did last night was reprehensible,” Emmalyn continues.
Refusing to stay in the hall like an eavesdropping deviant, I turn and walk through the doorway. I’d planned to hold my head high, showing her that she doesn’t affect me.
I see her standing with her back to the counter holding a cup of coffee. Emmalyn is mere inches from her face, seething with rage. Having Emmalyn in my corner builds my resolve, but the sight of Snapper, with a smirk on her face, once again wearing one of Kid’s shirts, deflates any confidence I’d built in my ability to handle this situation.
Both of their heads snap in my direction. Emmalyn looks saddened, having gone through her own trouble with another club girl that’s no longer here. Snapper quirks an eyebrow at me in challenge. I turn around and leave the room. What else would I do? Fight her? Yell? It wouldn’t make a difference.
Memory or not, he chose her last night.
I hear them begin to argue again as I walk back to my room, defeated. I close the door softly and fall into my bed. For the first time since being in state care, I actually contemplate whether or not working through their extended assisted living program. At least this way, they’d help me get an apartment. I could live on my own, and they’d even help me get into college. I’ll wait a few days until my birthday though. The last thing I need is them flexing their State-backed muscles and insisting I go to another foster home in the interim.
I hear the door open and close, but I keep my head buried under my covers. Maybe if I pretend to be asleep the interloper will just leave me alone.
No such luck.
“I brought you some breakfast,” Emmalyn says softly.
I hear her place a plate on my bedside table; then the bed dips as she sits on the edge.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks after a long silence.
“What’s there to talk about?” I ask angling my head out of the covers so she can hear me.
I look up at her and see the sadness in her eyes. For the first time since he walked in last night, I consider her feelings too. He doesn’t remember her either. She’s lost a friend as well.
“He’ll remember us,” she says with more confidence than I can see in her eyes.
“For your sake I hope he remembers you.”
“He’ll remember you too,” she offers.
I sit up on the bed, placing my back against the headboard. “What does it matter? The damage is already done.”
“I know the shit that went down last night hurts, but he doesn’t even realize what he’s done.” I watch as she wrings her hands in her lap.
I glare at her. Is she condoning what he did? Surely she can’t be okay with it. I take a deep breath. I know she’s pissed, if what I just heard in the kitchen is any indication.