Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of that soon.”
“You better. ’Cause if you don’t, I will.”
Chapter Three
Styx
“Bathroom’s just there.” I carried Jolene to my room and put her down in the bedroom next to the adjoining bathroom door. “There’s everything in there you need for a bath or a shower. Take your pick.” She looked up at me, then to the door, but made no move to open it. I sighed, then did it for her. There was a combination shower/bathtub in the corner. Not swimming-pool size, but large and spacious with plenty of room for a comfortable bath if she wanted to soak. She seemed to have lost her bravado, and I hated seeing her like this. I got the feeling the real Jolene was more like the woman who’d declared she was gonna “take care of those shithill Hatfields.” This girl, this lost, broken girl, still needed to lick her wounds. I just wasn’t sure how to help her.
“I’ll be out here if you need me. You can leave the door open if you need to.”
She nodded but only wrapped her arms around herself, moving to the vanity. She gazed at herself in the mirror. No secret she was a mess to look at. Mama had cleaned up the cuts and scrapes, but her face was bruised and swollen. Her hair was matted with duct tape, and she was still grimy. Glancing around, she opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors.
“Honey,” I said, moving to take the scissors from her. “Why don’t we save that for last. I’ll see if I can help you with it.”
Without a word, she started hacking off hair above the tape. I winced and lunged for her, but she just threw out a hand to hold me back.
“I got this,” she said softly. Then she kept cutting until all the tape was out. That left long hanks of hair that reached nearly to her ass. If washed and brushed, I was sure they would brush the delicate swell of her cheeks and beyond. But not once she got finished with it. She cut all the length, tossing lock after lock into the trash can beside the vanity. “Stupid hair just gets in the way anyhow,” she muttered as she continued the grim task. Tears streamed down her cheeks with every single cut she made.
When she was done, her hair was almost in a pixie cut, cropped all over her head only a couple of inches long. She was trembling and silently crying, but she looked determined to not be upset about what she’d just done. She looked fierce, but vulnerable. The image she presented made me want to wrap her up and put her behind some kind of impenetrable defensive shield. But that was impossible. Didn’t mean I couldn’t use my own body as her shield. Between her and the rest of the world.
Once she set the scissors down, I picked them up along with a comb and snipped off strands of long hair she’d missed. She let me until I had everything cleaned up. Then I placed my hands gently on her shoulders.
“You need a bath, honey. Do you want me to run it for you?”
“I’ll never be clean again, you know,” she said, almost as if she were in a trance. “I’ll always be dirty.”
“You ain’t dirty, Jolene. A bath will help you cleanse your mind. Soothe your muscles. But you were never dirty. They’re the dirty ones. And they’re gonna pay.”
“They made me dirty.”
“Wrong again, baby. They tried, but you survived. You were brave enough to let me bring you here and to let people you didn’t know help you.” I was silent until she met my gaze in the mirror. “Now you’re gonna keep letting us all help. But most especially me. You’re gonna let me fumble my way through this and let me be what you need me to be. ’Cause I ain’t goin’ away.”
“Why, Styx?” she asked softly. “Why would you want to be with someone like me? I’m used up.”
I shook my head. “You ain’t. You’re just a little broken. But you’re strong. You have fire. I’m gonna help you heal, then I’m makin’ you mine. You get me?”
She shook her head, closing her eyes. “Don’t say shit like that. You don’t want me, and I ain’t gonna be a pity fuck.”
“Ain’t nobody said you was. And there ain’t nothin’ ’bout you to pity.” I sighed. “Got some stuff to tell you later. But trust me when I tell you, I know the kind of person you are. You’re special. In that whole clan of Hatfields and McCoys, you’re probably the only one of ’em worth a good Goddamn. Never seen a more kind and giving person than Jolene McCoy.”
Her lips parted. “You know me? I don’t know you.”