Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Mary Poppins turned to face her, still feeling my heated stare as she shoved the bag of weed in her back pocket.
Still unsure of what to do.
I watched her every move, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Come on... just tell her already.
“Yeah, Camila, what’s going on here?” I baited, wanting to move this along.
“I- I- I- I mean... we were just...”
There was only one way I imagined this would go down. Never in a million years did I think she would be this perceptive.
Never in a million years did I think... she would care.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized who I was and what I stood for. Football was my life, and I wouldn’t risk that for anything. It was the only thing I was truly passionate about in life, other than making her and Harley’s existence a living, breathing hell.
I wanted my dad home, even if it meant I had to pay the price to make it happen.
Her heart hurt more for me in that moment than it did over the last two months she’d been working for us. It didn’t matter how many times I pushed her away, she got right up to go another round with me again.
Mary Poppins opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it, looking over at me instead. We weren’t more than a foot apart, but it felt like miles of distance were placed between us.
Physically and mentally.
The confusion on my face was evident. There was no hiding it, because the truth was, Camila confused me.
As the weeks continued to go by, she started getting in a little. Inch by inch, my guard began to come down toward her.
Don’t get me wrong, I still hated her. Though that powerful emotion was geared due to the fact my father was never home. She stepped in, taking his place like Skyler did.
He was never going to come home if there was somebody here.
Why?
He didn’t have to.
Did he even love us anymore? Were we even a thought?
Time stood still in that instance, the truth consuming both of us.
She was the first to break our middle ground. Locking eyes with Skyler, she muttered, “Jackson and I were just arguing about his laundry habits.”
I stiffened beside her.
“Jackson knows how to do laundry?”
“Or lack thereof,” she added, smiling over at me.
I narrowed my eyes at her, more confused than ever before.
She had the chance to rat me out. Get back at me for all the shit I’d put her through, even the playing field once and for all.
She didn’t.
She took my side, being there for me.
Making me realize right then and there...
I was just as lost.
As my father was.
Chapter 22
<>Jackson<>
Then: Thirteen years old
They say everything needs to come to a head.
As the days continued on with no sign of our father, the further my resentment grew to a point of no return.
Another month had flown by and still nothing.
In spite of that, my dynamic with Camila had changed in ways I never expected. Our pranks developed into less hostile territory. We weren’t trying to take each other out like we were before. Now they were merely our source of entertainment.
But I was still Jackson Pierce, and I still always won. At everything. Even our nicer pranks.
Jagger and I walked into the house after school one afternoon, suddenly hearing Mary Poppins lose her shit on Journey’s stuffed animal in the living room.
Screaming, “Can you hear me? I’m going to find you! And then we’re really going to have words!”
“You know that’s a stuffed animal, right?” I questioned, looking at her like she’d lost her mind.
She jumped as soon as she heard my voice, whipping around to face me. She yelled, “No! It’s your dad!”
My father’s absence was affecting everyone in the house.
“Since when did my dad become a bunny’s ass?”
“He’s in here! I know it!”
I tilted my head to the side, narrowing my eyes at her. “Mary Poppins, Journey is watching you lose your mind on one of her favorite stuffed animals. So, before you traumatize her any more than you already have, put it down and step away from the bunny.”
She scowled, stepping toward me, shoving what was left of the stuffed animal into my chest. “Fine. Then I’m going to find the man that’s inside the bunny.”
“This isn’t Toy Story, Camila. There’s no one inside of it.”
“You’ll see,” she cryptically coaxed, spinning her way toward the garage door.
“Where are you going?!”
“I just told you!”
She sidestepped Jagger, who was standing in the kitchen with a huge grin on his face, as if he knew exactly what she was talking about.
What the hell was going on?
“What about Journey?” I called out after her.
“You can watch her!”
“What? I’ve never watched her before! You can’t just leave her with me! It’s not my job to watch her, it’s yours!”