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)
“You’re going to get wrinkles,” Penny sasses to Cal. “All that frowning. You have bags under your eyes too. How old are you again?”
He flips her off. Sebban tries to mimic him much to Hollis’s horror.
My family might be able to pretend, myself and Dad included, but not Penny. Penny just releases her bold thoughts into the wild the moment they form inside her head.
“Be nice,” Hollis warns.
“He’s too old to be bagging high schoolers,” Roan says with a snort. “You still with that skank?”
“Tracey?” Hollis asks.
“She’s eighteen and graduated now. Her name is Tina,” Cal offers. “I think.”
“I’m pretty sure her name’s Tonya,” Roan replies, laughing. “Or Tanya.” Then, to me, Roan asks, “What’s your friend’s name? The black-haired girl my sister hates? Always at Campfire Chaos?”
“Tarrin.” I make a sour face. “And she’s not my friend.”
Cal’s green eyes light up, meanness shining in them. “I heard she got on her knees for that one cop. The dirty one. What’s his name again? I bet her daddy was so embarrassed that his daughter’s a slut.”
“Slut!” Sebban cries out.
Penny cackles, Roan smothers a laugh with his fist, and Hollis gripes Cal out for being a bad influence. Meanwhile, I stay frozen, trying not to let his words hurt me. He’s not talking about Tarrin, he’s talking about me.
“She’s not sleeping with Michael,” I say with a huff.
“Since when do you defend Tarrin?” Penny asks, shock written all over her face. “She told everyone at school you slept with Mr. Ewing.”
Cal drops his fork onto his plate with a clatter. “You slept with Wes?”
“Who?” I frown at his words as I realize he’s talking about Mr. Ewing, a freaking English teacher at my school. “What? N-No.”
“Better not have,” Cal grumbles, his voice rumbling with anger.
Okay.
Hollis shakes his head in frustration. “Can we please avoid sex talk and profanity?”
“Sex! Sex!” Sebban parrots, grinning at Hollis. He’s so cute with spaghetti sauce all over his little face and in his hair. His words…not so much.
Everyone laughs at the cute little boy, but Cal and I are the first to go back to frowning. He scowls my way, a furious glint with malicious intent in his eyes.
“Mom said they’re hiring lenders at the bank,” Hollis tells Cal. “I know you haven’t settled on anything yet, but with your degree, you could.”
Cal shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Dad is hiring too,” Penny offers.
I can’t look at Cal. If he went to work with my dad, I would die. And if I give off any vibes that I don’t want that, he’d probably do it just to spite me. Part of my punishment and all.
“We could always use more firefighters,” Roan says. “Or you could work at the restaurant with Roux and Jordy.”
“Roux works there?” I ask, hating that I know so little about my best friend.
“She’s a waitress,” Roan explains. “Just started. She sucks. Don’t tell her I said that.”
Everyone laughs again, but not me.
They chat easily, bouncing from subject to subject, but I’m still stuck on the fact I not only abandoned my best friend, but I was mean to her. Because of Ryan. I never stood up to him. Just let him smash me harder and harder under his thumb.
I hate everything that happened with the baby and Terrence, but had that wreck not happened, I’d still be under Ryan’s horrible spell. At least now, I’m in the protective care of my parents and family. Ryan hasn’t tried to message me or stop by. And while that’s a relief, it’s also worrying. He doesn’t just give up.
“I need to get going,” Cal says, rising from the table where we’re all squished around. “I told Dad I’d drive to all the campsites in the morning to make sure they’re ready for Memorial Day.”
“Hey,” Hollis pipes up. “Can you run these two home on your way? I need to give this squirt a bath.”
“Yeah, man,” Cal agrees, his hard eyes darting toward mine. “I’ll take care of your little sister.”
“Get a room,” Penny says, faux gagging.
Cal flinches and I recoil. As if. Cal may be hot—tall, muscular, face like a freaking model—but he’s an asshole who wants to make me pay. No room necessary. Perhaps a restraining order instead.
But that would mean seeing Michael and I’m not anywhere close to being in the mood to deal with Ryan’s dad.
“Let’s go, brats,” Cal barks out. “Roan, Hollis. Thanks for dinner. Bye, little shithead,” he says to Sebban.
Before Sebban can repeat it, Hollis asks Sebban if he wants some ice cream for dessert. Roan smirks, clearly enjoying the banter.
I tell everyone a quick goodbye, and then I bolt downstairs, waiting by Cal’s giant, obnoxious truck. If I hadn’t overheard girls gushing over Cal’s big dick on a few occasions at Campfire Chaos, I’d agree with Penny that he’s compensating for a tiny penis. He’s not, though. Apparently he chooses to drive this douchebag mobile because he likes it.