Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“But you’d defended her. You’d told him not to come back.”
“Oh yeah I did. I mean, I learned when I was a little kid, if I tried to get in the middle, he’d knock the snot out of me. She told me,” he set his voice higher, “‘Dusty, baby, when Daddy’s like that, you steer clear for Momma, okay? That’s Momma’s job, to make sure you steer clear.’”
Hellen was now crying.
He hated seeing that. It tore him up.
But he couldn’t stop.
In his head, seeing his mother’s face as she held him by his cheeks and asked him to do that for her.
Seeing her face after his father had beat it to a literal pulp.
“So I waited. I bided my time. And when she couldn’t call me off and he couldn’t beat me down, I took care of business. And then he’s gone and I’m thinking we’re good. I’m thinking we’re golden. So I’m off with my goddamn buds, takin’ in a fuckin’ movie,” he bit.
He moved then.
Went right to her.
Got right in her space.
Right in her face.
“Then what do I do, sweetheart?” he cooed. “I beat another defenseless woman to shit.”
She lifted her hands toward his head, forcing out a heavy, “Core.”
But he stepped away. “Don’t put your hands on me.”
She came at him. “I have to.”
He retreated again. “You need to get gone.”
“You were allowed to be kid.”
“Get gone, Hellen.”
“You were allowed to be with your buds.”
“He waited. He knew I wasn’t there to look after her.”
“You were a kid, Core. You couldn’t be with her every second. It isn’t your fault.”
His back hit wall.
Again, trapped.
“Get gone,” he snarled.
She bellied up to him.
“It isn’t your fault.”
“Get out of here.”
“I’m not going.”
“Get out.”
“No.”
“Out!” he shouted in her face.
“No!” she shouted back.
And then she kept going.
“I want two kids. I don’t want to get married, though we can have a commitment party or something. I’m just not the white-dress kind of chick. But if we have a party, I don’t want to spend a lot of money on that kind of thing because I could think of better uses for it, like a fabulous vacation at a beach somewhere.”
He stared down at her, his chest heaving, hearing her words but not believing what he was hearing.
She continued chattering.
“And if we have two kids, we have to get a bigger house, because they might be a boy and a girl, which means they’ll have to have their own rooms, and I want to have a house with a guest room. Though, I don’t know anyone from out of town I’d let stay with me, but who knows where life will take us? We might meet people who will come visit us and we’ll need a guest room.”
He kept staring down at her.
She kept prattling.
“I also want a home office. And a den, because if the kids want to watch something we don’t want to watch, they’ll need their own space. But I don’t want a TV in the bedroom. The bedroom is for sleeping and fucking.”
She took in a huge breath.
And kept jabbering.
“So, the fence is gorgeous, but we shouldn’t put too much more in this house. It’s already been flipped. It’s good as it is and it isn’t our forever home. So, I figure, we’re going to need at least four thousand square feet, maybe more. This means I hope you boys sell a lot of weed, though, I’ll hold up my end. Oh, and I hope you’re putting aside for retirement, because I figure I’ll need a month for Italy alone, and this ass is nowhere near whatever sheets they put in two-star hotels in Rome…or anywhere.”
He took hold of her then. He took hold of her hair on either side of her head.
He didn’t go easy.
She didn’t flinch. She held his eyes and held her ground and stood strong for him.
She stood strong for him.
That was his girl.
That was his Hellen.
His.
The words were as ragged sounding as they felt coming out of his mouth. “I didn’t want you to think I was him.”
“You’re not him.”
“She was beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful, so I believe that.”
“When I thought he was gone, I got a job. I bought her a dress. It was the first brand-new thing either of us had in years.”
The tears were coming again, and she was pressing against him as she moaned, “Oh, honey.”
“I had dreams. Of getting us out. Getting her out of that trailer. Getting her far away from him. Two more years of high school, and then I was gonna take her and go.”
Her hands were on him now, smoothing his cheeks, his forehead, his hair.
“She fought like a hellcat.”
He felt her body shake with silent sobs.
“She lost,” he whispered.
Hellen was done then, he knew when she wrapped her arms around his head and pulled it to her chest.