Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
I remembered coming in as a kid and running to that wall. There was always some sort of candy on it, and I would always get a piece. Whatever candy was on the Wall of Deals usually didn’t make it home.
But with the superstores coming in, it became harder to rationalize taking the time he took to do that. Then with his death, there was no one else who could take over, and soon the Wall of Deals was replaced by a lottery machine, an ATM, and a community pegboard. All necessary items, I guessed, but none as fun as that Wall of Deals.
The space had closed between us even more, so that our thighs were touching now. As she spoke, our eyes were locked on each other, and I felt the inevitable draw of her, like a planet to a sun, and knew I was going to make a move soon. It was a matter of when, not if.
“You know,” I said, “I’m very happy you came over.”
“I am too,” she said. “I have enjoyed this.”
“Is there anything else I could do to make you enjoy it more?” I asked.
Our lips were close now as we leaned on the back of the couch. My arm was behind her, and she was leaning into it. We were so close to an embrace I felt like just taking her in my arms. But I wanted that moment. I wanted the moment where she gave in with me.
“I think,” she said, “this is where I will use my right to avoid a question.”
I smiled. She returned it and leaned in.
Finally, our lips touched, and I tasted her. I sank into the kiss and reveled in the pressure of her soft lips on mine. Slowly, my arm curled around her, my hand settling on her shoulder to pull her tighter. She didn’t resist.
There was a knock on the door.
Our lips parted suddenly as I sighed and hung my head.
“Let me take care of this really quickly,” I said.
She nodded but didn’t move. She wanted to see where it went too. Unlike last night, she wasn’t running from it.
I crossed over to the door, expecting one of the neighbor ladies, and opened it up. But it wasn’t a neighbor. It was much worse. Much, much worse.
It was Sarah.
14
MELANIE
The woman at the door looked at Victor and then inside at me and huffed before stomping in. I stood up immediately, wondering what the hell was going on. I was struck by how familiar she was acting in his home. She was young, roughly my age, and beautiful. Big brown eyes glared under dark eyebrows, and long black hair was pulled into a ponytail. She was exceptionally well dressed, wearing a pair of heels that had to be worth hundreds of dollars.
She swept in like she owned the place and stood in the center of the room, glaring at me then back to Victor. No one had said a word yet, but she was making frustrated sounds that were starting to give me a clue as to what was going on. My heart felt like it was clutched in a vise.
She stopped and eyed me up and down before turning fully to Victor, her back to me.
“Sarah,” Victor said in a stern tone of voice.
Sarah smiled a mirthless smile and stood back on her heels, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Don’t you ‘Sarah’ me,” she said. “You gave up that right, Victor. But you know what right I still have? I still have rights to our money. Money that you used to buy a grocery store? Seriously, Victor. Of all the things you could have invested in, you chose a failing grocery store in Murdock? This piss-ant town that you finally left to make some semblance of a man of yourself?”
“Sarah, you need to leave,” Victor said, clearly trying to keep his composure. “You don’t have any right to tell me what to do with my money. And that was my money. Not ours. Mine. I invested it how I saw fit.”
“That’s not what my lawyer says,” she said. “You didn’t take my name off the account before you decided to start spending that money. As far as the banks were concerned, you just transferred money from one account to another. And my name was still on it. So that means whatever you spent money on, you spent money that wasn’t just yours to spend.”
“Sarah, we can talk about this later. Not here. Not now,” Victor grumbled. His eyes flickered over to me.
Slowly, Sarah turned on her immaculate heels and looked at me again. Her sarcastic smile turned into a sneer. She was tall, almost as tall as Victor, and intimidating in her designer suit and earrings that looked like they cost as much as my car. She had the air of someone who routinely looked down on other people. Currently, she was looking down on me.