Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Plug it back in, Medusa.”
“If you think I’m halving the power bill for you to sit here and play video games, you’re wrong.”
“You’re the bane of my existence.” He shoved off the couch, took the cord, and plugged it back in, then went into the kitchen. Bottles rattled in the fridge.
I yanked the plug for the PlayStation out, then pulled the console free and tucked it under my arm before marching out of the house.
As soon as the door slammed shut behind me, I broke into a run. He wanted his two hundred bucks for power, then I’d get him his two hundred bucks.
I made it to the bus stop just in time to catch the number twenty-three to Northside. That was the easiest place to steal a car. Lots of crime, not enough cops.
When the bus drove back past Hendrix’s house, he was standing in his drive in just his boxers. His gaze met mine. I grinned, holding up the console. Then I flipped him off.
Chapter 28
HENDRIX
Two hours after she had left with my PlayStation, I sat in the darkening living room, the scent of her pussy and some rich dick’s cologne still on me. My anger bubbled over because this was a fight my dumbass heart wouldn’t win.
We were all or nothing.
Enemies who couldn’t be lovers. Lovers who couldn’t be enemies.
I was too jealous. Too possessive. And while I may have just fucked her like I would kill her if I could, the only thing those angry fucks were killing was me.
With every hard thrust, I’d caught a whiff of that bastard’s cologne. I imagined him on top of her, spreading her legs and sinking into her. I could fuck him out of her as many times as I wanted, but he’d fuck himself right back in.
Any other girl was Novocain—touching them, fucking them numbed the pain. But Lola, she was an amphetamine. One hit of her, and I felt everything. Every-fucking-horrible-thing loving someone who didn’t love you back could bring.
My phone lit up with a text.
Swiping an annoyed hand over my face, I glanced down at the message.
* * *
205-836-1538: My parents are gone if you want to come over and let me show you how good I am with my mouth.
* * *
I’d entertained her for one reason and one reason only. To fuck with Lola. To fuck Lola…
* * *
Me: Fuck off.
* * *
I chucked my phone to the couch, catching another whiff of that damn cologne before I pushed off the couch and went upstairs to the bathroom. When I came out, my gaze strayed to Lola’s open bedroom. Her bed was made, Sid pride of place on her pillow.
I’d spent twenty bucks to win that ugly thing out of one of those claw machines at Wal-E-Mart. And when I ran out of coins, I went around the parking lot for an hour collecting loose change. I’d been pathetic for Lola since day one. And as long as she’d give in to me, I’d stay pathetic. The only way to remedy this was to take a shit on everything we were, and I knew exactly what line not to cross.
The smell of Country Peach wrapped around me when I stepped into her room and snatched Sid’s ratty body off her pillow, then grabbed a pair of scissors from the dresser.
Was this going to be cruel?
Yes.
But I couldn’t take this back and forth anymore. Sid was the sacrificial sloth.
I carried the stuffed animal downstairs with me and took a seat on the couch. This is what it had come to. Me and a sloth. Her and my PlayStation. And betrayal out the ass…
Not too long after I came back downstairs, the front door opened and shut.
Swallowing, I looped my fingers through the scissor handles and placed the blades around Sid’s limp neck. This ride ended here. Now. With Sid.
Lola’s shadow hit the wall before she stepped into the living room. She froze in the doorway, my PlayStation clutched in her hands, and her pretty-as-fuck green eyes narrowed on Sid.
“You wouldn’t,” she said.
“Plug it back in.” I nodded toward the rickety entertainment center, trying to make this seem like part of a petty war instead of what it was. Something desperate to make the pain of loving her stop.
Her jaw ticced right before she lifted the console in the air. “Drop the scissors.”
“I can buy another PlayStation.” I closed the scissors a little more. “You can’t get another Sid.”
“You can’t even pay the power bill.” She lifted it higher. “I swear to God, Hendrix, I will drop this motherfucker and jump up and down on it. Let him go!”
Panic flickered in her eyes. Sid the Sloth was a tattered symbol of who we used to be to each other. The bipolar emotions swinging through me like a wrecking ball were on the verge of driving me to total insanity. “Now would be a real good time for you to learn when not to be stubborn.” God, I didn’t want to this…