Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“I’m talkin’ about a group of jocks harrassin’ her at school and God knows what else—”
“I never heard anythin’ about that,” he replied, throwing his hands up in the air. “If I had, I woulda done somethin’.”
“Sure you would’ve,” I spat.
“I didn’t want to be around her,” Curtis said, dropping his arms. “But I still watched out for her.”
“Why the fuck wouldn’t you want to be around her?” I asked. “We’ve been best friends our entire lives.”
Curtis didn’t respond, he just stood there staring at me, his jaw clenched. The longer he stayed quiet, the clearer the picture became.
“You have a thing for Kara?” I asked in disbelief. “Bullshit.”
“Had,” Curtis ground out. “Always did.”
“You never said a fuckin’ word,” I replied, still confused as fuck.
“Course I didn’t,” he replied with a laugh. “You fuckin’ loved her, man. I just wanted to see her naked.”
I took an involuntary step forward.
“Not sayin’ I do now—I don’t,” he said, lifting a hand to stop me. “I think it probably had somethin’ to do with the way she wanted me.”
He wasn’t doing himself any favors.
“This is comin’ out wrong,” he said in frustration. “It was nice knowin’ I had her waitin’ in the wings, ya know? So when she wasn’t—” Curt shrugged. “It was weird. I got confused for a bit.”
“Confused,” I said flatly.
“Yeah,” he snapped. “Confused. Suddenly, you two are sneakin’ off and she’s not lookin’ at me anymore. She’s lookin’ at you.”
“You sayin’ you were jealous?”
“I’m sayin’ that I was a fuckin’ teenager, man,” he replied. “And part of me was wonderin’ if I’d done what you’d done, if she’d still be lookin’ at me like I was the best thing since sliced bread.”
I stared at him. Dumbfounded.
“Obviously, that’s not the case. I’m not a fuckin’ kid anymore and neither are you. It was always supposed to be you and her and I knew it back then. I just got bent outta shape when it all changed.”
“You got bent outta shape because she chose me,” I said bluntly.
“I got bent outta shape because everythin’ fuckin’ changed, brother. You and her started sneakin’ off together when it had always been the five of us and right after that you went inside and it was just fuckin’ me,” he said, pointing to himself with his thumb. “Stupid? Yeah. I was a fuckin’ idiot back then. But I figured my shit out and I watched out for her.”
“You told her you wouldn’t go to jail for her just because she wanted to suck your dick,” I replied in disgust.
The look of surprise on Curtis’ face wasn’t fake.
“No, I didn’t,” he said. “I’d never fuckin’ say that. Jesus.”
“You did,” I replied.
“Draco,” he said, leaning forward a little. “I’d never fuckin’ say that, especially not to Kara.”
“You callin’ her a liar?”
“Kara told you that?” he asked in confusion.
“Where else would I have heard it?”
“Ask Charlie,” Curtis said. “You ask Charlie if that ever happened.”
“She wasn’t there.”
“I’m tellin’ you, I’ve got no idea what the fuck Kara’s talkin’ about,” Curtis replied.
“She said you were drunk,” I said, watching his expression for any sign of recollection.
“Fuck,” he said, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair. “Fuck.”
“All comin’ back to you now?” I asked sarcastically.
“No,” he replied shortly. “I was black out drunk more times than I can remember after you got locked up.”
“Right,” I bit out.
“I still wouldn’t have left her ass out to dry,” Curtis said. “I never did. I kept an eye out.”
“You did a shitty fuckin’ job,” I shot back. “Because what I saw tonight—”
“What the fuck happened tonight?” Curtis said, standing up straight.
“We ran into some guys from school,” I said, trying and failing to remember their names. “Kara freaked out.”
“Freaked out?”
“Went pale as a fuckin’ ghost when one of ’em started talkin’ to her,” I said tiredly. “Charlie saw ’em and started yellin’, Gramps had to throw her ass over his shoulder and carry her out before she started a bar fight.”
“Damn,” Curtis said. “Wish I woulda seen that.”
I glared at him.
“They tell you what it was about?” he asked, leaning against the wall.
“Charlie said back in high school, she caught them hasslin’ Kara,” I replied. “Wouldn’t let her leave and were detailin’ all the shit they wanted to do to her when Charlie found ’em and started swingin’.”
“Why didn’t they tell me?” he asked in frustration.
I thought about the expression on Charlie’s face as she’d told me what happened while Kara yelled at her to shut up. The puzzle pieces were beginning to fit.
“I’m bettin’ Kara made her promise not to,” I said with a sigh. “I’m also pretty fuckin’ sure that wasn’t the only time they fucked with her. Goddamnit.”
“Jesus, Draco,” Curt said. “I swear, I had no clue.”
“I’m guessin’ no one did,” I said quietly. “Why the fuck would she keep that shit a secret?”