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)
If it wasn’t for Colt and Nix sitting across the table and ruining my appetite, I would wolf this down like a starved animal. But thanks to their presence, each delicious morsel lands heavy in my empty stomach.
Completely oblivious to the tense mood in the room, my mom goes on about how great of a week she had. “I just love working at the office. Everyone is so nice. It makes the day go by in a breeze.”
“Everyone is nice to you because you are so amazing.” James smiles, placing his hand over my mother’s, who giggles like a little schoolgirl.
They look so happy, and I am glad my mom finally found someone who makes her feel this way. I just wish he didn’t have kids, or at least different ones.
CHAPTER 3
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you clean up?”
“Yes, I’m sure. You just go and settle into your new room. We moved all your stuff from your old room. Well, everything that survived the move. We had to replace a lot of stuff.”
“Oh…” I’m not sure what to say. I wasn’t particularly attached to my old furniture, but with all these sudden changes, I was kind of looking forward to my familiar bed. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“We didn’t want your moldy old furniture in our house—”
“Nixon!” James snaps at his son. “Stop being so rude.”
“What? It’s true.” He shrugs, completely unapologetic. “Maybe we can replace some of her clothes too?” He looks down at my shirt in disgust.
“We could go clothes shopping this weekend,” my mom interjects. “Girls’ day?”
“Sure.” I force a smile. Anything to get away from these two assholes.
“Perfect! Do you want me to show you to your room?”
“We’re going up anyway,” Colt offers. “We’ll show you where your room is.”
“I’m sure I can find it myself.” Grabbing my backpack off the floor, I stand up, looking for a way to escape this place.
“It’s upstairs, the last one at the end of the hallway,” James explains.
He has barely finished giving me directions when I start speed walking out of the dining room and up the stairs without looking back.
Only when I’m on the second floor, and I don’t hear anyone coming after me, do I sigh in relief.
“Last one at the end of the hallway…” But he didn’t say which one. The staircase leads into a wall with hallways on either side. I try my luck on the left side.
As I walked down the hall, I count the doors, wondering whose room is behind each one. I pass five before I get to the sixth and last door. If I took the correct turn, this should be my room.
Lifting my hand, I reach for the doorknob. My index finger brushes over the cool brass, the small hairs on the back of my neck lift, and a shiver runs down my spine.
“Wrong room, love bug,” Nix whispers behind me.
I spin around so fast that I lose my footing and stumble backward until my back hits the wall. Nix takes one large step toward me, eating up the distance between us.
“Don’t call me that.” Love bug might seem like a cute pet name but knowing why he calls me that leaves a bitter taste on my tongue for simply hearing it. After my accident, I had to wear a bulky back brace. Someone had the bright idea to call me a stink bug since I had an outer shell, and in the summertime, I would smell like sweat, no matter how much I tried to cover it up with perfume. Nix and Colt turned stink bug into love bug at some point, but they say it with the same kind of disgust still.
“I’ll call you whatever I want. After all, you are in my house, and you’d do well to remember that. Don’t walk around and stay in your room. I don’t want you touching my stuff.”
“You think I want to be here? I didn’t even know about any of this until a few hours ago.” I try to push past him, but he places his hands on either side of me, caging me between him and the wall.
“I don’t care what you know or what you want. All I care about is getting rid of you. You and your gold-digging mom need to find some other guy to leech off.”
He dips his head low, leaning into my face until his nose brushes against my cheek. “You don’t belong here. Go back to your trailer park.”
“Trust me, I’d rather live in a run-down trailer than here with you.” I shove against his chest as hard as I can, taking him by surprise. Ducking under his arm, I take off down the hall, past the stairs to the other side of the floor.
When I get to the last door, I don’t hesitate to open it. I rush inside the room, slamming the door shut behind me. Dropping my backpack on the ground, I reach for the lock, only to find none.