Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Theo isn’t in the kitchen, so I check the living room and stop dead in my tracks. I feel the blood drain out of me.
“Thank you very much,” my mother says as Theo hands her a glass of water. She sits there on his couch right next to my father, who is holding a beer in his hand.
“Of course,” Theo replies, “the pleasure is all mine.” My feet feel like they are stuck to the floor. He turns to look at me, and all I want to do is put a bubble around him and make sure that nothing touches him, especially my parents. “Well, there she is,” he says, and I wish I had told him not to let them in. I wish I had the balls to tell him that I don’t ever want to see them. But I guess, deep down, I was still defending my parents.
“What are you doing here?” Those are the only words that escape me as I make my way to stand next to Theo.
“Now, is that any way to treat your parents?” my mother chides, shaking her head. “We were looking for you at home and, well—”
“We heard in town that the two of you were shacking up,” my father states, and I can feel the tightness in my neck. “So we thought it was the perfect time to meet him.”
“Are you okay?” Theo whispers in my ear.
“Yeah,” I lie to him, “I’m fine. Why don’t you go and get in the shower?” I smile tightly. “Then we can eat.”
“Um.” He hesitates, looking at me and then at my parents. “Are you sure?”
“Oh yeah.” I need to get him as far away from my parents as possible. “Go shower.”
“If you’re sure,” he double-checks, and I just smile while he bends to kiss my lips. “I’ll be out soon,” he tells my parents. My father takes a long pull of his beer, and my mother bats her eyes at him.
I wait until I can hear the water running before speaking. “What the hell are you two doing here?” I whisper-hiss. My father looks all smug. “Actually, scratch that, I don’t care. I don’t care why you are here. All I care about is the two of you leaving and never coming back here again.”
My mother rolls her eyes at me as my father finishes the beer in his hand. “You don’t think we’re going to just go away without anything, do you?” He puts the empty bottle on the table. “You know better than that, sitting up here in the lap of luxury.”
“I have nothing to give you. Nothing. You took it all, remember?”
My mother looks away, knowing that I know it was her who forged my signature.
I try to keep my voice as calm as can be. “You stole my check.”
“You gave us that check,” he reminds me.
“Don’t sit there and pretend I’m talking about the one-hundred-dollar check. I’m talking about the thousand-dollar check you guys took and forged.”
My father smirks.
“My rent bounced.” My body shakes with nerves and anger. “And now I have to pay for new tires since insurance didn’t cover it.”
“We all go through tough times.” He looks over at my mother.
“Yeah, everyone goes through tough times.” She looks pointedly around. “But it looks like the tough times are behind you now.”
“This is not my house,” I hiss at them, wondering how much longer he’s going to be.
My father gets up and grabs the empty beer bottle, pulling every last drop out of it. He sidles close, his voice lowering. “You need to ask that man of yours to take care of you. And he needs to make sure he takes care of us.” He points to me. “It’s only fitting since we took care of you all your life.”
I want to yell and scream at the top of my lungs, but I need to get them the fuck out of here before Theo comes back.
“Yes,” my mother murmurs, getting up, “it’s only fitting that you help your poor folks out, now that you’re rolling in dough.”
“I’m not rolling in anything,” I snap in a near whisper, not wanting Theo to hear. “I work every single day, like everyone else. And every time I think I’m getting ahead, the two of you”—I point at each of them—“come in and fuck up everything.”
“Watch that tone.” My father’s eyes are beady as he looks at me. “We’ll leave for now. But next time we see you, it would be nice if you helped your poor folks out.” He looks toward the hall to the bedroom. “I would hate to go directly to the source. How would that look?”
He walks past my mother, head high. She gives me one more sly look before she follows him out. I hang my head because it’s the only thing I can do.