Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 336(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
“Well, obviously this isn’t going to be something he’ll ever get over.” He shook his head. “A child by another man? What, were you trying to drive him away permanently?”
That had my back stiffening. “Listen here, asshole. What Mark and I do and don’t do is up to us. Mark isn’t even a part of me anymore. Now, I think it’s time for you to…”
“Sierra,” Mom pinched the bridge of her nose. “I think you need to just go for a little bit. Give me some time to get my head wrapped around this.”
I took one look at my mother, then my father, followed by my brother and realized that this hadn’t gone the way that I’d planned it.
And instead of clearing all the stuff up that I could’ve cleared up rather easily, I gritted my teeth and turned around, walking out of my parents’ house.
By the time I got to my car, I was a powder keg of emotions.
Instead of losing my cool completely, I texted Gabriel.
He answered immediately.
Sierra: That didn’t go well at all. Even my mother is mad at me.
Gabriel: It’ll all work out. I promise.
Sierra: I don’t think that is the case this time. They told me to leave.
Gabriel: They’ll come around. It’s a shock.
Sierra: It was a shock, but they looked at me like they didn’t know me at all. What the hell? Even my brother lost his shit. And he never loses his shit when it comes to me.
Gabriel: They’ll come around.
I rolled my eyes at his repeated use of ‘they’ll come around.’
Sierra: They didn’t even allow me to tell them that I was artificially inseminated. They pretty much called me a slut and yelled at me for not being more careful. They think that I’m a loose goose, Gabby.
Gabriel: Actually, I’d love it if you stopped calling me Gabby. Every time I read it, it comes out like the girl name. Not what you’re intending. Gabe—eee. Just sayin’. And, if it makes you feel better, we can be pretend boyfriend and girlfriend. Tell them that I loved you and left you, and you had no clue I was such a loser.
Sierra: They assumed that it was Mark’s. And I don’t want them to think that you’re a bad person. I will borrow you as the baby daddy, though. They’d understand it more if I told them I borrowed a friend’s sperm and not some random Joe’s off a sperm bank.
Little did I know that our little agreement would turn into something a lot bigger than either one of us suspected.
CHAPTER 4
CSI: Can’t stand idiots.
-Malachi’s secret thoughts
MALACHI
Gabriel,
Today is my 18th birthday.
Want to know how I’m spending it?
At work.
I got a job at the Taco Bell near my house.
I have to tell you, I am totally enlightened.
Also, did you know that the Taco Bell bathrooms have to be cleaned five times a day?
There really is a schedule… and the saying is true. Taco Hell.
If I had to take a gander, I would say that the chances of making it home to use the bathroom are fifty-fifty.
Like literally, no joke.
If Taco Bell was this bad on your bowels, why do they eat it?
There’s one guy that gets it religiously on his way home. He picks up four chicken quesadillas, two regular tacos, and a bowl of beans. He NEVER makes it home. He always eats in his car, then comes in and uses our bathroom.
Honestly, if he’d just wait to get home…
Anyway, today’s bathroom cleaner is me. I’m so excited.
Also, you might want to wash your hands after you read this letter.
LOL,
Sierra
• • •
“Put your hands on your head and step away from the car,” I ordered the kid.
The kid looked at me like he knew he could outrun me.
He couldn’t.
But he looked at me like the teenager he was, and I knew the moment he’d made up his mind.
Between one breath and the next, his body was tensing.
I sighed. “Don’t do it.”
The kid didn’t listen.
He took off instead.
With two running leaps and a bound, he was over the guardrail that prevents crossovers from oncoming traffic.
I followed at a much more sedate pace, calling in the pursuit on my mic.
“Kid!” I called. “Come back!”
“Suspect is running south on Fuller Street away from the high school,” I said as I watched the kid throw something from his pocket into the nearest bush. “He just tossed a white plastic bag away in the bushes in front of Super 1 Foods.”
“10-4,” the dispatcher said. “I’ll send someone to that location.”
I didn’t bother responding, just kept running after the kid, wondering how far he would go.
He turned the corner of the grocery store and ran into a dead end.
I knew it.
He didn’t.
So I slowed down and came around the corner at a much more sedate pace than the kid had.
Seconds after I turned the corner, the kid was turning around and heading my way.