Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“Yes, I am.”
“But you haven’t known him that long. What about love?”
I looked him in the eye because I thought he was having a brain aneurysm. “You’re serious! Dad, how long did you know Mom before you two got married?”
“Five years. We met in high school, you know that.”
“And you two were madly in love, weren’t you?”
“Of course, she’s the love of my life.” I stared at him, begging him to see the irony without having to spell it out. I didn’t know my Dad was this thick.
“And where did that get her? Divorced from the so-called love of her life. A broken shell of who she once was, robbed of who she could’ve been had she not married a spineless jerk.”
Now this man has known me all my life and knows better than anyone that I give no shits, and yet he looked taken aback. Maybe it was the tone I used. Calm, level, with no real intonation. “It’s not the same.”
“Damn straight, it’s not the same. I’m walking into this with my eyes wide open; I guess I should thank you for that because, after the shit you put Mom and me through, I’ll never allow anyone to do that to me and my kid.”
“Are you really still this angry about the divorce?"
"I'm not just angry about the divorce but also the way you did it. You fucking broke my mother she’s my mother. I had to grow up knowing that you would rather raise another man’s daughter than your own; you rejected me when you rejected her, don’t you get it? You tore our family, the very fabric of my young life, apart for some Helen pussy, and knowing that bitch it couldn’t have been that good.”
His mouth was all the way down to his damn chest bone. Like bitch, what did you think? “So you hate me.”
“No, not anymore. I used to until I came to realize that I don’t have to feel anything for you. You didn’t feel anything for me when you destroyed my childhood. Why should I care about you?”
“Don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh? It’s been years.”
“Bruh, every second you spend being married to Helen is a second more that you’ve chosen them, don’t you get it? Every day, you are with her; you are choosing her. I know; Mom told me that Helen threatened your job, but that means shit to me.”
“All it means is that you chose your job over us as well, so no, I don’t hate you. You just simply don’t exist beyond the fact that some fluids from your balls helped to form me. Tell me more about your love now.”
I got up and walked away because I wasn’t about to let him spoil my mood. I know most people think I should be over it by now, but if I had cancer at eight and that shit wasn’t treated, I would still have cancer.
He broke my heart and did fuck all to fix it, so how the hell am I supposed to just move on from that shit? I’m not into rug sweeping and being the bigger person. This motherfucker is bigger and taller than me; let him do that shit.
“What did you do to him?” Garrett approached me at the rail with a glass of champagne.
“Who?”
“Your Dad, he looks crestfallen.”
“Oh him, nothing; I just told him some hard truths that he seemed unaware of.”
“Are you okay?”
“Aren’t you one of those types who think I should get over it by now?”
“No, I’m one of those types who will always be on your side; even when you screw up, I’ll be on your side. I’ll tell you when you’re wrong, of course, but yours will always be the side I choose.”
“I’m a little bit confused. You’re going to tell me when I’m wrong but still choose my side?”
“Well, yes, I can still love you when you’re wrong. We’re not perfect, but I don’t think one thing should eliminate the other. Say you rob a bank. I’ll tell you it was a fuck stupid thing to do, but I’ll pay any amount to keep you out of jail.”
“What’s your boundary? Your line in the sand?”
“Any egregious act against a child.” I looked at him in shock.
“That’s it? What about murder?”
“Who do you want dead, and what did they do to you?” Lord, I done agreed to marry Dexter.
ALYSSA
He kept us out on the water until dark. The others had a blast, but I was well aware that he did that shit, so I couldn’t run away. He plied me with enough champagne that I couldn’t even remember my name, and when I woke up in the morning, my room was already filled with his people that he’d sent to harass me.
He'd hired stylists and makeup artists not only for me but the other women as well. The rest of my family that had been invited arrived late last night and early this morning, and none of them knew about the change in groom because it was none of their business.