Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 50561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“I never told anyone this before but, she’s been mean to me in the past. I always thought it was something I’d done but…even that weekend when we went to your place, she said some things to me.”
“What kind of things?”
“Oh you know.” She shrugged her shoulders and walked away.
“No I don’t know why don’t you tell me?”
“Maybe I’m just being silly and reading more into it than it deserves. Just forget it, let’s celebrate.”
“Ashley, what things?”
“She, she used to make these comments to me behind mom’s back. Things like I was nothing more than a country hick, stuff like that. I never understood why she was so mean to me since we hardly knew each other. But it’s the reason I learned to distrust her. I didn’t think my family knew what she was really like until I overheard my parents talking one night. That’s how I learned all those things I told you about her.”
“Mom was saying she couldn’t understand why her sister was so different. How she’d turned out the way she had even with all the opportunities she’d had as a child. I didn’t understand at first, until that night all I knew was that aunt Jen was a beautiful jet setter who’d done very well for herself and was too busy for the family reunions we’d been going to since I was little.”
“Then she moved here and I saw her a couple times. I was star struck at first I guess. I thought she might be someone I could look up to, someone who could teach me the ropes. I so wanted to get out of Tennessee and head for the big lights and glamor of the city, like her.”
“But she wasn’t what I expected. When my parents were around she was all smiles and laughter but once their backs were turned, she showed me a different face. She told me that my looks weren’t enough to get me out of here and then she laughed.”
“I didn’t understand I had no intentions on using my body to get ahead, but she kept putting me down in one way or the other. Then that weekend when she invited us to your place, she made a point of telling me how insignificant I was and how I was only invited because of my parents and not to get in the way.”
“When I finally grew tired of it and called her on her bullshit she tried playing it off like it was a joke, but I knew better. I’d already come to see her as the snake she is.
Then I overheard mom and dad again. Only this time I learned a whole lot more. I learned what mom had been talking about.”
“Her sister is in the habit of using men and discarding them, all the while carrying on with some guy she’d met in college. I heard way more than I was supposed to I guess because it made me sick. I didn’t understand why mom and dad were being so blasé about the whole thing, especially when they knew that she was going to try the same thing with you, and then I met you…” She still bore a bit of anger over that as was evident by the way she folded her lips and frowned.
“Sounds like jealousy to me. She saw in you what she could never be. You’re young, beautiful and until me, pure. She hates that about you.” And now that I know that shit I’m even more paranoid. I had no idea that Jen had such a hard-on for her niece. Fuck, once our relationship comes to light there might very well be trouble of a different kind.
I didn’t share any of my inner musings with her though, but changed the subject. “What did you make us for dinner sweetheart?”
“Oh shit, potpie.” She rushed out of the room and down the stairs yelling back to me to follow. I took my time getting dressed as I pondered what this could all mean.
So far Jen didn’t know the real reason behind our split. She had no idea that Ashley had blown the whistle on her or that I was now completely in love with her niece. I’d been prepared for her being a little putout by our relationship, but with this new development I was almost certain that her jealousy would blind her to any danger she may face from me. Fuck!
I let her prattle on about the wedding over dinner, while my mind was going through the what-ifs. I could beef up security, have someone follow her to school and back and put eyes on her whenever she was away from me, but for how long? This was no longer a game of cat and mouse, of me getting my own back against the woman who’d played me for a fool. If Jen had been feeling threatened by Ashley before, who knows what she’d do now.