Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
“Please don’t bother me anymore. And I’m only saying please to be polite because I really want to tell you to leave me the fuck alone. You always saw me as some worthless piece of crap that should kiss your son’s feet, but you forget what his career was like before I came around. Before I gave him all of my best songs. Before he took advantage of how much I had loved him. I will never go back. There isn’t enough money in the world that you could pay me to do so.”
I stood up straight and kept on going just as she opened her mouth to tell me I was a useless bitch, like she had once before when she’d been drunk after an awards show I hadn’t been allowed to go to.
“I wish that I could tell you that I hope you’ll both find peace and happiness in your lives, but I’m not that good of a person. What I hope for is that you’ll leave me alone. That’s what I hope. Those ten million you transferred into my account was enough to get me to shut up, and I’m going to take advantage of them. I’m going to put my kids through college with them, kids I’m going to have with someone that isn’t your son and will never be your son. You don’t have to worry about me running after Kaden begging for scraps, ma’am. Find someone else who doesn’t mind being in eleventh place, because it sure as hell isn’t going to be me.”
There were two last things left that needed to be said, and I knew my time was up, so I told her the words carefully, looking right into her soulless eyes as I did. “I can’t write anymore. I haven’t in over a year. Maybe one day the words will come back to me, but they’re not here now, and part of me hopes they don’t return. But even without my notebooks and without my songs, I was worth a lot. Worth more than all that money you paid me. So, please, leave me alone. All of you. If I see you or Kaden again, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
I leaned forward so she wouldn’t mistake how dead serious I was. “If any of you contact me, and I mean any of you, I will tell everyone about that lie we were all part of. I know people, and you know that. After that, I’ll spend every dollar of those millions you sent me, taking you to court, Mrs. Jones. Every single penny. I’ve got nothing better to do. I would rather spend it on people that make me happy, but I won’t lose sleep using it on other things. So I want you to think long and hard about knowing where I live, knowing what my phone number is, if your little baby ever decides he wants to get in contact with me again.”
Her neck had started to turn pink, and I could see her fingers shaking, but before she could collect herself, I dipped my head at her, and said what I hoped would be the last thing I ever told her.
“Goodbye, Mrs. Jones.”
And I walked out of there.
* * *
I had a low-level headache on the drive home, just this faint buzzing thing from the tension of being around the Antichrist. She had that effect on people. A small part of me still couldn’t believe the bullshit she’d tried to spill.
Decent people.
Make sure.
That was the way to win someone over.
Yeah, right.
I snorted and shook my head at least ten times, rewinding her words and then speeding through them again. I wanted to call Aunt Carolina and tell her. I wanted to call Yuki. Or Clara.
But more than all of that, I just wanted to get back to the life I knew now. The one that had built me back up from the place of indecision and confusion and fear that I had once been in. To the people who mattered.
I didn’t even realize there were a couple of tears popping out of the corners of my eyes until I sniffed back a watery nose and realized it wasn’t actually coming from there. Wiping at them with the back of my hand, I just wanted a hug.
I was done with that life. So fucking done it felt like a hundred pounds had fallen off my chest. The second I turned into the driveway, I was ready.
I didn’t know for what exactly, but for something.
For the future more than ever. For everything, maybe.
A whoosh of air left my lungs as I turned the car into Rhodes’s driveway. Determination reinforced my spine as I drove onward, ready to park, to get out, and to continue appreciating everything I had. Because of the Joneses in part. But still, always and forever, mostly thanks to my mom. I had no idea where I’d be or how I’d feel if I didn’t have this place.