Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 120513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 603(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 603(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
And the third.
Sam threatened her by saying if she said a word about what he was doing, what he did, no one would believe her and her “parents” would kick her out onto the streets. He said time after time that blood was thicker than water. He reminded her that Syn wasn’t blood to them. Sam was. She was just a “silly” child who would be considered a troublemaker and a liar. Who would believe a child over an adult? No one.
He also said her parents would be angry with her for causing problems. For lying about Sam and trying to get him in trouble. For trying to break their family apart. They would put the blame on her instead of where it belonged.
She closed her eyes and suddenly felt that larger-than-life hand covering her mouth. Smothering her, making her struggle for breath. The endless stabbing, sharp pains as if her insides were being torn apart.
The heavy weight crushing her. The drops of sweat dripping on her face and mixing with her hot tears. The low grunts. And that final thrust always accompanied by a long groan and followed by panting, his hot breath assaulting her skin.
After what seemed like forever, he’d collapse on her and pat her head, telling her she was a “good girl” and that good girls took good care of their uncles.
Good girls took good care of their uncles.
He wasn’t her uncle. He wasn’t anything but a massive piece of shit who needed to be flushed down a toilet and sent down into the sewer where he belonged.
Once her “parents” figured out she was pregnant, it was too late to do anything about it. They forced her to tell them who she had “slept” with like it had been her choice. They wanted the family of the “boy” who “did this to her” to pay child support.
Funny that.
When she told them who it was, they didn’t believe her at first. They called her a liar.
They even accused her of seducing Sam.
As if she would want a thirty-something year old man stabbing her insides hard enough to cause her to bleed and have debilitating cramps, while he sweated on and suffocated her to keep her quiet. In the end, eventually getting her pregnant.
Sam’s fucking excuse? He didn’t realize she was old enough to get pregnant.
He didn’t realize she was old enough to get pregnant. Like that would have made a difference.
She was already five months pregnant when they discovered it. They immediately moved and removed her from public school to homeschool her. To hide her pregnancy. To cover up what Sam had done.
She lost all respect for the family that had taken her in once they claimed Maya as theirs. Once they let Sam get away with what he did.
Did his visits stop once the truth came out? Yes. Was he forbidden from babysitting Syn ever again? Yes.
But by then the damage had already been done. They did nothing to right that wrong. Not a damn thing.
They only made things worse when they took what didn’t belong to them.
The couch sank beside her and warm, long fingers once again wrapped around the back of her neck, squeezing. Reminding her she didn’t have to deal with this alone any longer. She would have people on her side for once.
But this whole discussion was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to talk about this and why she only wanted to concentrate on getting Maya back. She did not want to fall back to the bottom of that deep, dark well.
“They still live in the same place?” Dodge asked.
“I’m pretty sure they do. Every once in a while, I go back and try to see her. It’s been a few months, but the last time we were in the area, I had Rex drive the skoolie there. I begged them to let me see her. They slammed the door in my face and threatened to call the cops on me for violating the restraining order.” She had forced herself to remain on her feet instead of collapsing and wailing like she really wanted to do.
Not only would it do no good, the guys would’ve witnessed it and demanded she tell them what happened and why.
“The guys know?” Dodge asked next.
She shook her head. “No, I made an excuse each time. I was afraid they’d want to break up the band so I could get another job. But they don’t realize… Right now, my music is all I have. It’s the only thing keeping the cracks in my soul from widening to the point where I’d just disintegrate into nothing. I’d become dust in the wind.”
He cupped her face and turned it to face him. Once their gazes locked, he said, “You got us now, Syn. You now got a whole damn army behind you.”