Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 148704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 744(@200wpm)___ 595(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 744(@200wpm)___ 595(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
She isn’t angry, her tone bleeding a sadness I don’t see how he can’t feel, yet still, faced with the task of telling the truth, Memphis clamps his lips closed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. I wait, hoping for once he’ll do right by her, knowing it’s too much of an ask for him. And it is.
Memphis says nothing, and rather than drill him some more, Davis looks to me.
“Your brother is the real reason I was kicked out of college,” I offer instantly. “He blamed me and I let him.”
“Crew, what the fuck?!” Memphis barks.
Davis gasps.
I keep talking, my eyes holding hers as I give her brutal honesty, something I should have done a long-ass time ago but thought I had to protect her from. “He’s not only a struggling alcoholic, but a gambling addict. A broke one.” I glare at him, hating to do this, but refusing to hide it from her when she’s asking me to paint his true colors for her to see.
She looks to her brother, shocked, yet a trace of something more in her eyes, almost like she wondered if there was more to the troubles he faced, but never took it a step further to consider what it might be. But then she shakes her head, looking to me.
“I don’t understand. What’s that have to do with the school?” she wonders.
“The day the people he fucked over decided they were done waiting, a couple thugs came looking for him, he just so happened to bail on class, one we had together.” A sickening sense of betrayal I’ve refused to allow myself to feel claws at me. “Three of them found their way into the class, attacked me in front of everyone. It was complete fucking chaos, but I walked out with a few cuts and bruises, and a gash on my chin. They couldn’t even stand. Cops showed up, they were put in the back of an ambulance. I was expelled because, supposedly, I was running a betting ring I didn’t even know existed, and they were my unhappy customers. They said I posed a threat to the school, and that was that.”
Memphis sat back, watched me pack my shit with campus security breathing down my back, and fucking thanked me. I glance at Memphis, who won’t even face me like a man, but stares at my shoes on his feet. “Your brother fucked over the wrong club and sent them to me when he couldn’t pay.” I’d already hated him by then, but that was the moment I was done, ready to let them do whatever they wanted to him. But it wasn’t so simple, especially after what I did to their “punishers” as they called the three goons who came after me.
“After seeing me fight, they used it to their advantage.” Something I could never prove Memphis planted in their head, and the attack was simply them testing the information, but if I were a piece of shit like him, I’d bet on it.
Creases build along her forehead as she processes what I’m saying, her hand subconsciously pressing a palm to her stomach as she remembers what she saw on mine.
I nod.
Yes, baby. The scars.
“They forced me to take fights to pay off what he owed while he was off getting shit-faced and fucking over the next dumbass,” I continue.
Davis presses her lips together, her question low. “How long did you have to work for them?”
I didn’t work for them, I was controlled by them, but I don’t say that.
Masking my expression, I do my best to keep any emotion from my tone, knowing she’ll hurt for me once I tell her.
“Three years.”
A mix between a cry and a gasp escapes her, and she reaches for me, gripping onto my arm to offer her strength, in case I need it.
I don’t, I’m good ,and over the bullshit that came before her, but the gesture is purehearted, and I fucking love her for it. For wanting to take my pain, should I have some, and offer her support.
“Why did you do it?” she wonders quietly.
The answer is simple. “Because they threatened to go after his family if he couldn’t pay, and I couldn’t allow that. The main dude gave his word he wouldn’t go searching for you, if I didn’t give him a reason to, so I didn’t. I did everything I was told until the money was paid in full.”
She stares at me, both our gazes softening as understanding slips over her.
“That’s why you never came back home,” she whispers. “That’s why you stayed away from me.”
Yeah, baby. That’s why.
I hold her eyes for a minute, before looking back to him. “How much, Memphis?”
“Twenty-five.”
I wait, and his head lifts, his stare connecting with mine.
“Thousand,” he finishes.
A humorless laugh leaves me, and I step away, shaking my head. That’s a lifetime’s worth.