Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Of course.”
“Mom, they were never nice to me. Not once, not ever. In fact, they went out of their way to be mean and nasty.”
“I’m sure you misunderstood their intentions.”
“They walked around calling me a stuck-up bitch.”
“Language,” she warns.
“I’m only telling you what they said. They used to push me around, all sorts of things, but I never did a single thing to them. I swear,” I insist when she arches an eyebrow.
“You expect me to believe those nice young men, who, by the way, offered to drive you to a job interview, went out of their way to bully you? Besides, even if they did, that was a long time ago. People do change, you know.”
I knew she’d go out of her way to misunderstand what I was trying to say, but I had to try. “Mom, I’m just saying they hate me. You don’t hear the things they’ve said already behind your back—”
Suddenly, she slams her hands against the counter, and I jump in surprise. “You listen to me,” she whispers, drawing close until she’s looming over me while I cower against the refrigerator. “I will not let you destroy this for me, understood? I don’t want to hear your complaints. I don’t want to hear your sob stories where you make a victim out of yourself.”
“I wasn’t trying—”
“You’ve already ruined my life once,” she hisses. “I will be damned if I let you do it again.”
She thrusts an arm toward the doorway. “Now get out of my sight and stay that way.”
This is the woman I know. The woman I was so glad to have two weeks away from. It didn’t take long for her to show her true colors, but then James is nowhere around, so I guess she feels like she can get away with it.
I waste no time going to the stairs, then take them two at a time and practically run down the hall to my room. Thankfully, nobody follows me, and I check both the bedroom and bathroom are empty before using the chair again to barricade myself in.
I ruined her life. She was singing a different tune a few years ago. Back then, I was ruining her life if I didn’t make it onto the Olympic team. “Fifteen is already cutting it close.” She never missed an opportunity to remind me of that, and it was her voice that always rang out in my head when I was the last one at the gym. When it was late at night, so late even the cleaning crew left. I used to set the alarm before leaving the building rather than make them wait for me to finish up. Even they used to shake their heads at each other like they felt sorry for me while I worked and worked until my entire body hurt, until my muscles were at the edge of their endurance and closing in on exhaustion. Fifteen is already cutting it close. This is your last chance.
Only knowing how she’d never forgive me if I didn’t make the team kept me alone at the gym. Pushing through the pain, running my routines “just one more time,” though it always turned into two or three more runs. I had to be the best. I had to be a champion, or else I’d ruin my mother’s life.
Nobody ever told me I’d end up ruining it either way.
CHAPTER 5
I knew this was a bad idea as soon as the guys offered me a ride. Nervously, I shuffle my feet around at the front door. Looking down at the watch on my wrist, my annoyance grows exponentially. My interview is supposed to start in five minutes, and we haven’t left yet.
I’m just about to start walking when I finally hear the guys coming down the stairs. Neither one of them is in a hurry, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. I guess I thought they wanted to take me to this interview to make sure I do not leech off of them.
“You do know that if I don’t get a job, I can’t get my own place, right?”
“Shut up and get in the truck,” Nix snaps.
I suppress an eye roll and follow them outside to a matte black F-150 parked in front of the garage. The sleek truck probably cost more than my entire college tuition would. Nix uses the key fob to unlock his truck before he gets into the driver’s seat. Colt walks around to the passenger side, and I get into the back.
The engine roars to life just as I buckle up. It’s good that I didn’t waste any time because Nix pulls out of the driveway like a madman, and if I wasn’t buckled up, I’d be slung through the cab like a rag doll.
“Did you fuck that chick from the party last weekend?” Nix asks his brother like I’m not even in the truck.