Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 35767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
She’d changed into a pair of jeans and long shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
“How is your ass?” he asked.
“Still where I last saw it,” she said, turning toward him.
He chuckled.
“It’s fine. A little sore, but I shouldn’t have run upstairs. Don’t worry, I’ll be a good little girl.”
“You’re dangerous.”
“No, I’m not. What made you buy this place?” she asked.
“I needed somewhere that was out of the way, and this was the only place that was available at the time. Also, it was going real cheap because the guy that lived here before had run it into the ground.”
“So, you got it for a good price?”
He sighed. “I could have got it for a good price. He put it on for a ridiculously low price. I’m fair, and I offered him the correct market value for it.”
She laughed. “So the big, bad businessman couldn’t even steal from a desperate man.”
“Not all businessmen are bad people.”
“Not all of them, but most are. The most I’ve seen are only after what they can get.”
He wondered if she talked about Ryan, about her mother. From what he remembered of Ryan, he’d not been a bad guy, but her memories were not the same.
“Are you talking about your parents?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I was. Everything was always money to them. What deal would make them more and I get it. Money is all most people think about. Those that don’t have it want it, and those that do want to try and stop others from having it.”
“It’s not all bad.”
“It’s not all good either. I don’t even know how you can defend them after everything you’ve been through. You were cast out by the very people you helped make money. Don’t you feel angry? Hurt? Anything?”
“I did.”
“You don’t anymore?” she asked.
“It … I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Why not answer it with the truth? If you could go back, would you have gotten into that fight that scarred your face? I mean, why didn’t you press any charges? The guy shoved you through a window. He changed your entire world for the rest of your life, and for what? Sleeping with his wife.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Does it bother you? Were you in love with her?”
“I didn’t have any feelings for the woman. I was a cocky piece of shit. You think I was any different from them? I could wave my money, and men and women would flock toward me. I loved the power. Relished it and used it for my own gain. I didn’t think, nor did I care about anyone else. This scar, I hate it. Nothing can be done about it though. They can try and repair the damage, but they risk making it worse.” Glass had gotten under the skin, and splinters had made the cuts rough and not even. Surgery had been an option, but he’d seen plastic surgery go wrong.
He wasn’t willing to risk it.
So, he lived with the scar.
Rather than stay and fight, he’d run.
“Mom said that your face now matched your personality. That you were a monster on the inside and your face looked the same. She’d always laugh as if she done some great thing by pointing it out. I saw your picture, and I didn’t think you were ugly. I thought you were still handsome, and I felt sorry that the entire world had turned against you.”
He brought the car to a stop.
There was a tiny little lake near some trees. It had been a long time since he came here as every time he did, he’d see his reflection in the water and he hated it.
Mavis climbed out of the car, her hands in the pocket of her jeans.
“The bastard that did this to me, he doesn’t deserve my time. I don’t like talking about it because it’s my own weakness that caused this. I shouldn’t have slept with the man’s wife, and I should have walked away. I was as much a part of the fight as he was. I could press charges, but I would have gotten the same back at me. I was scarred, damaged, and I wanted it all to stop. Your mother was always a bitch. She didn’t like that I could see right through her bullshit act. I saw who she really was, and she didn’t like it.”
She laughed. “I know.”
“You’ve not cried?” he asked.
“I don’t need to cry.”
“They were still your parents, Mavis.”
“What exactly makes a parent? Is it blood? Is it that they feed their kid breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Take them shopping? The simple title on a birth certificate?” She shrugged. “They are known as my parents, but they didn’t do what parents do. I know you have your memories of my dad, but … I didn’t know him. I only know what they showed me. How they acted with each other. I wasn’t a good enough kid for them. I was always too quiet, too fat, too ugly. I looked like a zombie when I was a kid. The black hair and pale skin. Mom used to get so angry. She even tried to find the right lotion to make it look like I had a tan, and that didn’t work. How can I mourn someone I never loved? Someone who … hurt me. Forgot me, and hated the very ground I walked on?” She stared out at the lake.