Total pages in book: 212
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
“That’s familiar,” Gigi whispered. “Lots of my mother’s boyfriends or my daddy’s friends would be the same. Always pawing at the girls. Gross.”
“Yeah, I’ll say. Said she couldn’t afford to move out. She had a good job, but she had an expensive clothing and shoes habit. She told me more about this handsy uncle just before a party at Summer’s ma’s place. His sisters had this thing about not doin’ anything about his shit. All this talk about how great he was when he was sober. Since he paid the lion’s share of the rent and bills, Chelsea and her ma put up with his shit. Had I known he’d be there we wouldn’t have gone. But I later figured out she took me there knowing what the vibe would be, made sure all the facts were fresh in my head, so I’d do something about it. She fed on drama like it was a chemical dependency. Loved getting me to wade into shit even before that, knowing I had a short fuse when it came to anyone fucking with her.”
“And the uncle fucked with her, obviously.”
“Yup. Got shitfaced and made a pass at her right in front of me. Though in hindsight, she baited him. Shook her ass in front of him like she wanted to get a rise out of him. Didn’t think of that till later but at the time I saw red. He was actin’ like he didn’t know who she was. Like she was just some chick there that was fair game. Chirped me when I told him that was his fuckin’ niece. Sayin’ I just wanted her for myself and he’d fight me for her. So fuckin’ absolutely out of it he was sayin’ shit like ‘I’m gonna fuck that sweet little piece’ to anyone that’d listen.”
“Yuck.”
“Yeah. So, I taught him a lesson. Her mother and aunt were tryin’ to settle things down, but Chelsea egged me on, telling me about all the times he put his hands on her. About how he’d done it to Summer, too. Their other cousins. French kissing them when they were fuckin’ eight, nine years old. He laughed, blood spurting from his nose, then he leaned over and grabbed Chelsea between the legs while looking me in the eye. Lost it so bad, nearly killed him.”
“Disgusting.”
“Her mother called the cops and lied and said it was unprovoked. Chelsea moved in with me, her mother kicked her out because she said she was testifying against the uncle. Summer and her ma, Chelsea’s aunt stood up for me in court, told the truth. Chelsea told me she’d wait the two years for me to get out for doin’ that for her. Said she loved me so much she’d wait twenty if need be. But she didn’t wait.”
“No?”
“She fucked a good friend of mine not even two months later. He came to see me and admitted it outta guilt. He wrote me a letter about a month or so later. Wasn’t gonna read it, I’d been throwing out her letters without lookin’ at them. Refused to see her when she tried to visit. Something made me look. My ex- buddy wrote he still regretted it and warned me that if she did any sweet talkin’, not to trust her. Not only had she instigated shit with him, she’d also moved back in with the uncle. Because he bought some swanky new house with a pool after getting an insurance settlement.”
“Oh my God, Jesse. What a cunt.”
“Yeah. Don’t regret beating the shit out of the child molesting uncle, but regret giving her my cock, my time, any of my headspace at all. Woke up for almost three years thinkin’ about her as soon as my eyes opened, not able to shake feeling shit for letting myself get fucked over like that. Wondered if I’d ever wake up without tasting that bitterness the minute my eyes opened every day. Wakin’ up, needing to remind myself I wasn’t in a cell and wakin’ up thinking about how she got me put away for two fucking years. And that’s how I have to see it because she fuckin’ went right back to livin’ under his roof.”
“I hate that, baby. What a bitch.”
“Yeah, the bitch had no problem taking another man’s dick not two months after I go down, askin’ him to pay her rent. Then moves in with the uncle so, what, so she can go back to mooching off him? Ma heard Summer tell someone he’s drinking himself to death in that big house and Chelsea is just stickin’ around to claim whatever’s left of his money when he goes.”
She bit her lip.
“Stopped waking up thinking of Chelsea the first night you spent in my bed. Before you were even mine.”
“I wanted to be yours real soon after we met,” she whispered. “Didn’t think it’d ever happen.”