Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I lean back on my hands and let the warmth of the sun wash over my face. I hear footsteps behind me on the wooden dock.
“You ready to go?” I ask Emmalyn.
“I just got here,” a masculine voice returns.
I peer over my shoulder, not at all surprised to see Kid walking toward me. I’m going to kill her. I knew this was a damn setup the second we pulled up outside of Dom’s house; I could feel it in my bones.
He’s carrying two cups, which I know will contain half chocolate and half strawberry shakes from the diner. He offers me one, and I take it graciously. The cold will help combat the heat.
“Thank you,” I say as he squats down and sits beside me. His thigh is touching mine, and I don’t for a second consider moving it.
“And thank you for the necklace,” I say pulling it out from behind my shirt.
He nods and turns his eyes back to the water that’s rippling softly from the light breeze.
“Let me guess? Em had something come up and had to leave.” I look over at him.
He smirks and nods his head.
“And you’re my ride home?” He grins bigger.
I chuckle because I fell for their trap hook, line, and sinker. I take a long pull on the milkshake and look out across the lake. It’s so peaceful here, almost peaceful enough to forget about the pain I feel in my chest at his nearness.
“We probably dodged a bullet,” I say quietly.
“How is that?” he asks shifting his weight, so more of his body touches mine.
“I lied to you when I told you my parents died from carbon monoxide poisoning. For the longest time, I believed they’d been murdered. I came home from that sleepover, and they were lying in blood on the living room floor. Protective services allowed me to believe that. My caseworker never lied to me; she just let me believe what I thought I saw.”
The tears begin to fall just like they always do when I think about the day that turned my life upside down. Kid scoots even closer to me and places a tentative arm around my shoulder.
“I found out years later while snooping through my case file that it was a murder/suicide.”
Tighter he holds me.
“They just had that shit written in your file and left it where you could read it?”
“Worse,” I say. “They had a scanned copy of the suicide note in full color, blood and all, in that file.”
“Fuck,” he mutters more to himself. “How is that dodging a bullet?” he asks softly against the top of my head.
I remain silent. Saying the words out loud is much harder than the truth bouncing around in my own head. He allows my contemplative mood for a bit, but true to Kid form it doesn’t last forever.
“Tell me,” he begs.
“The note said my mother had discovered my dad was having an affair. Had been for a while. It said he had a whole other family. When she confronted him about it, he used the opportunity to tell her he was leaving her. He was going to desert us and go take care of his other family.”
I wipe my eyes with my hands before continuing. “She wasn’t going to let that happen. Her note said she didn’t mean to shoot him.” He stiffens beside me. “She never even mentioned me in the letter. Just that she was angry that he cheated, and she killed him; then she turned the gun on herself.”
“Oh, Sweet Girl,” he says and wraps both of his arms around me, so I’m fully in his embrace.
“She felt like she owned him, that his life was hers to take, so she did.”
“Were you so angry at me that you wanted to do the same?” he asks. “You wanted to kill me because of what I did with Snapper? Because believe me I wanted to kill myself when I remembered what I did.”
I shake my head no and wiggle out of his arms. “That’s the difference, Kid. I don’t own you.”
He reaches up and cups my face in his hand. “That’s where you’re wrong, Sweet Girl. You do own me. Every inch of my soul belongs to you. I love you with every fiber of my being.”
I shake my head no again. “You can’t love me. Nobody does.”
Chapter 40
Kid
Her anger and fear run bone deep from the mistakes her parents made, from the life she’s had to endure since their deaths. She believes love is a poison, only good until it’s not, only beneficial until someone fucks up so bad it destroys them. Until someone does exactly what I did to her.
I pull her to my chest again and hold her, even as she struggles to get away. Eventually, she calms and cries into my shirt.