Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Stepping out of the shower, I took the towel that I had found in a pile of dirty laundry they hadn’t taken. I had washed it and the set of twin sheets that she had stripped from one of the boys’ mattresses. I was just thankful she hadn’t wanted to take them with her. The sheets were all I’d had to make a space on the floor to sleep on. I’d folded the extra towel and used it as a pillow. I was lucky that it was the summer and warmth wasn’t a requirement.
I started to dry off when I heard footsteps, causing me to freeze, staring at myself in the mirror as if my reflection could tell me who it was. I listened carefully, my eyes shifting to the bathroom door that I hadn’t locked. It had to be Nick. I wrapped the towel back around me and stood there, waiting to see if he called my name or said anything.
He sounded as if he’d walked into their bedroom. I cringed. I’d never seen Nick angry. Not really. The look of disgust and disinterest I was accustomed to, but when Iris made him mad, he usually just walked out the door and didn’t return for days. Several minutes passed, and I didn’t hear anything.
Reaching over, I grabbed my discarded shorts and tank to slip back on. I couldn’t stay in here forever, and he had to know I was here. He’d have heard the shower running when he came inside.
I hung the towel back up to dry and took a deep breath before opening the door. Stepping out into the living room, I looked over at the room he had shared with Iris.
I never spoke to him first. He’d taught me long ago that he didn’t like the sound of my voice. Being left here with just him was strange. We’d never lived together alone—at least that I could remember. The few months after my mother’s death, I had been an infant, and I wasn’t sure what he’d done with me during that time. Again, things he hadn’t told me. We had no relationship.
His tall form filled the doorway. There was a duffel bag in his right hand. He looked at me with the same color green eyes as Carina’s.
“You’ll need to be gone by the first,” he told me.
This was what I’d been worried about the most at night while I lay awake.
“Where are you going?” I asked him. My voice cracked, and I hated showing this man any emotion at all. Especially a weakness. I’d spent so many of my earlier years trying to find ways to please him, only to have him ignore me and my attempts.
“Away,” he replied, then started walking toward the door.
Panic at the reality of the situation hit me. This was happening. He was leaving me alone.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” I told him.
He stopped and glanced back at me. “You’re a grown woman now. Not my problem anymore. Iris did her job. Got you raised. Now, use that fucking face of your mother’s and find a man to take care of you if you can’t do it yourself.”
My mother’s face? He’d never once mentioned her or that I looked like her. That wasn’t the focus here though. He was walking away. I was about to be homeless.
“I can’t use my face to get a man to take care of me! What does that even mean? I need time to save for this. I have been helping Iris pay the bills. I don’t have money put away to just go get a place to live.” I sounded like I was on the verge of tears, but I couldn’t help it.
He was my father. Somewhere deep inside, he had to care about me a little.
He sighed heavily. “You’re nineteen years old, and you’re not that fucking naive. You know what I mean, and you know what the fuck you look like. Learn to use it. I’ve got other responsibilities.”
Not once in my life had this man ever insinuated that I was even pretty. He’d never complimented me. I was the invisible family member where he was concerned. Now, he was standing here, telling me that he believed my looks could hook some man to take care of me.
I shook my head in disbelief. “What is it?!” I shouted. All the pain in my chest that I had kept down all these years from his neglect seemed to burst out from me at once. “What did I do to you? Why do you hate me? Why can’t you even manage to care about me at all? If this were Carina, you’d be busting your ass to take care of her. But me? You tell me to go what, become a prostitute?” Hot tears rolled down my face.