Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Like, everyone else manages it.
But my rage is pointless. I grit my teeth and return my attention to my laptop. I find a few promising openings. A waitress at a diner. A shelf stacker in a grocery store. Shitty, low wage jobs, but better than being stuck here with him. I fill out the applications to a couple of openings, hit send, and shut my laptop.
I pick up my cell phone, ready to text Lucy to see what she’s up to tonight. I might see if I can go over to her place. She lives in a clean and tidy little house and her parents are normal. They work for a living and her dad only drinks a glass of wine or two with dinner and the occasional nightcap. Like a normal man.
I hear Dan stumbling back along the hallway towards my room again. I put my cell phone down. Great. What now?
“Do you need something, Dan?” I call, hoping he just wants a sandwich made.
I hate that I’m practically Dan’s unpaid hired help, but if making him a sandwich gets him away from my bedroom, then right now, I’ll happily do it.
My door has no lock, and he opens it without knocking just as I stand up from the bed. He grins at me and blinks twice, fast. I frown and he does it again. Oh God, he thinks he’s winking at me. It should be tragic, but it’s not.
It’s disgusting.
3
AMELIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGVZOLV9SPo
“I’ve been thinking,” he says, then pauses.
I nod tightly for him to go on, feeling that’s what he’s waiting for.
“You want me to notice you.”
My eyes widen and my mouth drops open. For heaven’s sake. What on earth is going on with him today?
“Don’t give me that butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth look. You strut around here in your little, short shorts and your skimpy little tank tops, tempting me. What else can it be?”
Has he gone stark raving mad? The only thing I’ve ever worn that even vaguely matches what he’s saying is a pair of baggy shorts that are about six inches away from my knees, and not once have I strutted in them.
I swallow the thousand different sarcastic things that fly into my head and make the mature decision not to respond. If I try to reason with him, he’ll just get mad and who knows what could happen. I’m trapped here for the moment, but Mom should be home soon. I just have to keep him at bay until she gets here.
“I’m going to make a sandwich. Shall I make one for you?”
Dan doesn’t seem to notice or care I’m not responding to what he’s saying. He just keeps right on looking at me like he’s undressing me with his eyes.
“I’ve tried to resist your coy advances, but I mean I’m only human, Amelia. I have to give it to you; you played your cards well. You knew I wouldn’t be able to resist you for long. And I mean your mom is great, one in a million and everything, but she’s not what she used to be, is she?”
My mom hasn’t changed one bit in the time he’s known her. Dan takes a step into the room, and I take a step backwards, the backs of my legs meet my bed. He grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. His eyes are suddenly hard and nasty, lecherously moving up and down my body.
“You win,” he grins. “You’ve worn me down.”
I feel sick. Ugh! This is my mom’s man. I’d rather die than have sex with him.
He steps closer again.
I try to think what to do, but my mind has kinda gone blank.
He takes another step into my tiny room.
I have nowhere else to go. Dan reaches out and caresses my cheek. My stomach rolls with nausea. His fingers smell of stale cigarette smoke and beer, and his palms are rough, although I have no idea why – it’s not like he’s ever done a hard day’s work in his life.
“I’ll be honest with you, Amelia. I’ve wanted this for as long as you have, but it felt wrong, you know? Still… now you’re eighteen, you’re a woman now.”
“I’m only seventeen,” I say in a panic. “I’m not eighteen for another five weeks.”
He smiles and does the blink thing again. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
My whole body goes cold with dread. I want to hit him, but I don’t want to escalate the situation. There must be a way to extricate myself without resorting to violence. He’s drunk, but there is no way I could win against him based on sheer brute force.
Dan reaches out and pulls me against him.
I have to resist the urge to retch as his hard beer belly digs into my body. He tries to kiss me, and I turn my head to the side. He slobbers on my cheek, leaving it wet. His breath stinks of stale beer and something dirtier than that. I can almost feel bile rising in my throat as Dan lunges his lips at me again. I try to wriggle out of his arms, but he’s shockingly strong and his vice-like grip is impossible to escape.