Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Kaye aims her words with the precision of an expert marksman and I have to dodge them to avoid being maimed by the sharp weapon that is her wicked tongue. I want to deny the painful truths she hurls at me. I want to strike my own blows. I don’t want to believe that some things in life are so unfair that they make you weep in anger and sorrow.
“That’s fuckin’ bullshit.”
Kaye laughs. “Face it, Piper, you’re playing pretend. You’re the Rolling Stones, and I’m The Beatles. You can afford to be wild because you’ll always have a security net to catch you.”
Kaye’s behaving like I grew up with a fuckin’ silver spoon in my mouth. That with one snap of my fingers, the world would be my motherfuckin’ oyster. My parents didn’t give me anything. Everything I have, I’ve clawed for myself.
“Fuck you, Kaye. You’re acting like I’m some senator’s kid. I haven’t talked to my mother in years. It’s not like they give a fuck about me.”
Kaye holds out her hand, palm up. “Give me your phone.”
I smirk. “Why, you wanna put in your digits?”
“Just give it to me, Piper.”
Rolling my eyes, I remove it from my back pocket and it to hand her.
“What’s the passcode?”
“Zero-five-two-zero.”
“Looks like mommy calls you at least twice a week.”
“I never said she doesn’t call me. I said I haven’t talked to her in years.”
Kaye sighs and hands the phone back to me. “That’s my point, Piper. You could treat your parents like shit, and even with their uptight, holier-than-thou mentality, they’d still be there for you.”
“My mother doesn’t call me because she wants to have a loving relationship with me, Kaye.”
I press play on one of the many voice messages my mother has left me, this one from three weeks ago. “Piper Elizabeth Hughes, you better stop what you’re doing. You look like nothing but a common whore. And those lyrics! Lord, have mercy on your soul, little girl, because you’re an abomination and will burn in hell.”
I hit the end message button. “I think you got the idea. The rest is her going off about how I’m abusing my body. That’s meant for my husband, by the way. She’s still in denial about me being a lesbian. I’m sure if she could, she’d ship me off to one of those conversion therapy camps to get right with the lord.”
“Piper,” Kaye whispers. “I’m so sorry.”
“For what? It’s not your fault my mother is a sanctimonious cunt. Or are you sorry for assuming I’d bend to the wishes of people like Rebecca Hughes?” A sardonic laugh escapes my lips. “I know it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, but never in a million years did I think you’d accuse me of tethering myself to my parents’ judgmental wagons.” I finger a strand of hair that’s escaped her uptight bun and brush it behind her ear. “Guess you never knew me at all, huh?”
Kaye steps forward, and I retreat until my back is against the wall. Her full lips turn up into a sly smile. God, I missed that arrogant smile. Her fingers slide up and down my arm, creating goosebumps over my flesh. “I always knew who you were, Piper. The problem was that you never bothered to know me.”
The nerve of her. I push off the wall, and Kaye staggers back. Her breathing speeds up, and her dark pupils dilate. Part of me is satisfied that she’s still affected by me because, goddamn, she makes my blood boil even after all these years. “How quickly you forget. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be in the closet, pretending you want to be some loser man’s stay-at-home wife.”
Kaye’s eyes narrow, and she sticks her chest out.
“You trying to entice me with those breasts, Kaye? I’ve seen nicer ones since you last saw me.
Kaye shoves against my chest, not enough to move me, but enough to point out her disdain for my proximity. “Apparently, your ego grew in the last decade.”
“I’m the lead singer of an indie band that’s gotten such a cult following that they invited us to open for the biggest rock band in the world. Did you ever think I’d be here? I sure as fuck didn’t. I was the daughter of bible thumpers who thought the biggest my world could get would be moving to another town. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be here. So you better believe my ego grew. My ego grew so much that I went from thinking crumbs were good enough to believing I deserved a ten-course meal and then some.”
Kaye shoves me again, forcing me to stagger back, providing her with space. She straightens her prim, proper, pristine suit jacket before glaring at me. “I’m happy for you.” She pushes past me and walks out the door, leaving me alone with memories that never vanish.