Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
My father’s friends, on the other hand, were drunk lechers who always looked at me like I was going to be their next meal. When they came over, I usually locked myself in my room and tried to pretend that I wasn’t listening to all the shit they said about me. It was gross, hands down.
“Are they coming here?” I asked quietly.
“Now why the hell would they come here? You’ve got no food for them,” he snapped. “We’re going to the bar. Not that it’s any of your damn business.”
“Okay, Daddy. Just remember that I paid a few bills yesterday and today. We have to pay a fee every time we overdraw the accounts.” I flinched when he turned his head and fixed me with his angry glare. Casting my gaze down to my food, I shifted uncomfortably on the couch.
“I need you to wash my clothes tonight. So whatever plans you had, cancel them. Wash my sheets, too. Rosaria is coming over tomorrow, and I need clean sheets.”
“I didn’t make any plans, Daddy. I’ll be happy to do the laundry.” It was on my to-do list anyway. It was easier to get the cleaning done when my father was out. I didn’t have many friend left and my boyfriend was working tonight, so what else was there to do anyway.
After cleaning and putting away the dishes from dinner, I reached above the refrigerator for the jar of quarters up there. There was a coin laundry in the apartment complex, although half the machines didn’t work and I was pretty sure that they were designed to eat the quarters. As I wrapped my hands around the jar and grabbed, I squeezed my eyes shut. It was so much lighter than it was supposed to be.
Three days ago, the jar was full. Now there were barely enough quarters to get one load done.
Great. Now I was going to have to start hiding the coins.
“By the way, you have to move out at the end of the week,” my father said coldly as he walked by the kitchen and down the hall.
I couldn’t have heard him right. Confused, I called after him. “What was that, Daddy?”
“I said, at the end of the week, you need to move your slutty ass out of my apartment. Rosaria is moving in, and there just isn’t enough room for the three of us. Not the way we do things.”
I shuddered. With these thin walls, it was impossible not to understand his meaning. “How are you going to pay the bills?”
He smirked. “Rosaria just got a raise. She makes more money cleaning than you do slutting it around at the Grill and Fry Hut.”
“It’s not like that, Daddy. I’m not. You know that,” I said desperately, reaching out and grabbing the frame to the door.
“Please,” he scoffed. “You’re just like you’re fucking mother. She’d spread her legs for every man if it meant paying for her next score, and you’re no different. I see the way men look at you. You think I don’t know?”
Hot tears gathered in my eyes. Usually, my father didn’t accuse me of being like my mother until he was good and drunk, but even sober, I could tell there’d be no convincing him that I wasn’t like that. “This is my home, Daddy. Where will I go?”
“That’s your problem. You’re eighteen. Just make sure you pay rent before you go. It’s the least you can do for all that I’ve done for you.” He grabbed his wallet and hat and stomped out of the apartment. As the door slammed shut, I let the tears fall.
One week? How was I going to find a place to live in one week? My entire paycheck was going to go to his rent. There wouldn’t even be enough left over to pay for one night as a sleazy hotel, let alone find a new apartment.
What was I going to do? Wrapping my arms around my body, I slid down the wall as hot tears burned my eyes and trailed down my cheeks.
Chapter Two
Brick
From my window, the people below looked like ants. Little working ants, running down and across the streets, struggling to get from one place to another. Little angry ants, since it was New York City. Cars honked and brakes squealed as the traffic slowly crept across the four lanes. I watched them grimly. These days, the scenes below were my only form of entertainment.
My bed had been empty for far too long.
With the recent buyout of JVW Bank, I’d been busier than ever. Meeting after meeting, plane rides and board rooms. State hopping and press releases. The opportunities were certainly there to relieve some stress. I was one of the most eligible bachelors in New York, which always seemed a little laughable to me. I was definitely a bachelor, but an eligible one? That implied a wish to marry, which I didn’t have, but women always seemed to think that they could change that. There was more than just lust in the eyes of the women around me. I was a catch. As the CEO of The Bank of Manhattan, I had money and prestige, the sort of face that made most women steal second, third, and fourth looks, and a reputation to make women melt in bed.