Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 106754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
June's got me on an allowance now, which makes me feel like a goddamn kid. But it won't be this way for too long. In my mind, I've already changed things up for when we're married. She won't have as much freedom as she does now, that's for damn sure. And she'll be the one with the fucking allowance like she's thirteen, not me.
"Come join me?" I pat the seat next to me, but June shakes her head with disapproval. "What's wrong?"
"Why aren't you taking this job seriously, Parker?" she wonders out loud. "I thought you were interested in working at the company. I thought you wanted to learn the ropes."
I throw the controller aside and groan, running my fingers through my hair. "June, why can't we just have fun together?"
"Because that's not what Mom and Mark would've wanted," she mutters. "Wildfox Miller Inc is a family company, and you know that."
"So?" I scoff. "They're not around anymore, are they? They don't get to call the shots from the freaking grave."
"Parker!" She looks so fucking scandalized it makes me laugh out loud. "How can you talk about them like that?"
I shrug. "It's in the past, little sis. No point in dwelling on those things."
"It's not right," she mutters.
"Not right?"
"No." She crosses her arms in front of her body. "It's not right how you're acting. My mom loved you."
"I know she did." I nod.
"So did your father." I can only laugh at that, and she shakes her head with sadness and disbelief. "Look at yourself, Parker. What would your father think if he could see you now?"
I tell myself June can't possibly know this is a sore topic for me, but the red mist still descends, and before I can stop myself, I've gotten up and advanced on her. She takes a step back, surprised by my sudden animosity.
"You don't know anything about my father," I tell her coolly. "You were just a kid back then. You didn't know anything."
"Like that he loved you and Kade more than himself?" she asks. "That he'd do anything to make sure you were taken care of?"
"You're so beyond wrong," I hiss. "You don't have a fucking clue, June."
"About what?"
"About anything!" I groan. "You didn't know him like I did. Didn't know what he was capable of."
"He was just a simple family man who—"
"Is that really what you fucking think, little sis?" This time, when her nickname falls from my lips, it's filled with venom. "You were his innocent little girl, and Kade was the prodigal son. But not me. He hated me. He thought he could change me. Well, he thought fucking wrong."
"What the hell do you mean?" June whispers. "What are you talking about?"
"This, June!" I grab my gray V-neck and rip it off my body. I'm so fucking angry it comes off in one piece, ripping down the middle. And then she sees it, sees who I really am.
My chest is covered in scars from his beatings. I still remember the sting of his leather belt as he hit me over and over again. The blood trickling down my chest. Him telling me the scars would serve as a reminder for all the bad shit I'd done in my life so far. A warning. A silent memento of him. Forever.
"Parker, I..."
"Look at me," I demand, and she does. Her eyes widen in horror as she takes in scar after scar after scar. "Look at what he did to me when none of you were looking."
She looks so pale; I think she might throw up. Her trembling fingers reach out, coming to rest on my chest as she whispers, "Mark did this to you?"
I nod. I don't have it in me to speak right now. June swallows thickly, her eyes finding mine as she begins to shake her head.
"No, no, it's not possible."
"What?" I glare at her. "You don't believe me?"
"Mark would never do this." She sounds so certain; I almost believe her myself. But my memories don't lie.
"You have to believe me." I sound desperate now, scrambling, grasping at fucking straws. "June. He beat me. From the age of fucking seventeen, he beat me."
"No," she whispers. "He wouldn't..."
"June." I make a grab for her hand when she pulls back, but she snatches it out of my reach. "Please, June. Listen to me. Let me tell you the truth. The whole truth."
Instead, she focuses her eyes on mine, and whispers, "I don't even know you anymore."
With those words, she leaves the living room, and me standing frozen in the middle of it. Her bedroom door slams behind her. My head is pounding, and so is my fucking heart. I can't believe her betrayal, can't believe she'd take Dad's side over mine. In my wildest dreams, when I thought about telling June the truth, I never thought she'd deny it. But that's exactly what she's done.