Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 98992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Everything was about us.
Why do I feel I’ve lost that?
How do I get it back?
“Uh…not really.” She smacks on a piece of a bread between sentences. “College really isn’t like my thing, ya know?”
“Isn’t your thing?” Noah politely ponders.
“College parties? Hell yeah,” she continues to ramble, chomping getting louder. Grosser. “College itself? Meh.”
“Meh?” my dad finally speaks again. “Excuse me, young lady. Did you say ‘meh’?”
“I mean, yeah. Like what’s the point if you just marry someone rich, like my mom did. I mean my mom talks a big game in front of my dad about me going to college, but she doesn’t mean it. She wants me to do what she did. Marry someone rich so they’ll take care of me, and then just stay home. I’ll shop and get manis or pedis and order a shit ton of stuff from Pampered Chef.”
Certain this nightmare can't get any worse, I nibble on a new bite of my salad just as my mother asks, “Do you think you want kids? Do you want to be a stay-at-home mom?”
“God no,” she chokes out on a dramatic gag. “Stretchmarks are so fucking gross. And kids are so annoying. Plus, that would be less money for Collins Wollins to spend on me.”
The tiny piece of lettuce goes down the wrong pipe causing me to choke furiously. I beat my own chest desperate to get the wedged food out of my throat almost as desperately as I am to get Bambi out of my life.
Marry her?
I don’t even like her!
I’m to the point I want to pay her to keep distance from me unless I can’t find anything else to do.
Liz gives her hair an annoyed ruffle. “Can you like…hear yourself? You sound exactly like the chick Kayne West rapped about in ‘Gold Digger’.”
Mom pushes her untouched plate to the side to allow Marigold to refill her glass. “What’s a Kayne West?”
“He’s a hip-hop artist,” Noah politely explains between bites. “My ex-girlfriend was a huge fan. And now that I think about it…that song, Liz, could’ve been her theme music.”
Oh, so, there’s the reason why we’re having his favorite meal.
He comes to his senses about his trashy girlfriend – or she ran away to be with someone with more money – and my mother fucking caters to him like a hospital patient on his death bed.
Me?
She can’t even remember that me and the love of my life broke up.
Semi-broke up?
Ross and Rachel on a break broke up?
What the fuck ever we call it.
Dad politely wipes his hands and then his mouth prior to making eye-contact with me. “Can I talk to you for a moment in private?”
“Tell us more about your family, Bambi,” Mom cautiously begins, trying to steer the conversation away from the shit storm it stumbled into. “Do you have holiday plans?”
Bambi oblivious to the tactic continues rambling while I follow my father out of the dining area, through the adjoining kitchen, around the corner and down the hall where we walk past the living room to the garage my father has turned into a giant man cave.
As soon as the door shuts behind me, he barks, “Give me one good reason not to knock the fucking shit out of you!”
Perplexed, I toss my hands in the air. “What?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“What the hell do you mean, what is wrong with me?” Irritation rears its ugly head once more. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
He points sharply at the closed door. “What the fuck are you doing messing with that…that…that…trophy tramp?”
“You told me to date other girls!”
“I didn’t tell your dumb ass to pick from the bottom of the barrel!”
“She’s a nice girl-”
“I’m sure she’s a nice piece of ass.”
She gets the job done with a little help from some of my chemically enhanced helpers – between my chances to be with Pres – but I keep that to myself.
“However, you need to cut her loose, Ryder and you need to do it now.”
“Why?!”
“You fucking know why! I know you belong in a slow class, son, but your ass isn’t that slow.”
“Apparently, I fucking am! You tell me to dump Pres because you don’t want me trapped by one girl, so I take your advice and date someone else, and you want me to ditch her too?”
“That girl in there is a mistake. And I bet she’s the same mistake that’s had your ass taking out all that cash and charging up your fucking credit card that I pay!”
No.
That’s a different mistake.
And one that would feel so good to leave this fucking room and enjoy.
“She’s a leech, Ryder. Get rid of her.”
“No.”
I mean I really wanna say “not yet” but can’t.
“Bambi is nothing more than the neighborhood slut,” his voice whispers in a low growl. “And while I commend you for finally chasing a little tail, that’s the wrong fucking kind. Trust me. I know a lot about women.”