Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 75891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
If I thought I didn’t want to be bothered before, that paled in comparison to what I felt when my sister and brothers converged on me like condors on a battlefield of the dead and, right in front of my enemy, started questioning me about my situation.
I tried cutting them off with headshakes and words whispered through gritted teeth, but these bastards just kept going. My sister, the self-proclaimed therapist, studied me like a specimen under a scope for what felt like an eternity before making her diagnosis.
“What the hell is going on? You weren’t in love with him.”
“What makes you say that?” My hackles rose because even though her assessment was accurate, the way she said it sounded way too dismissive for the circumstances.
“I know you, so let’s have it; what happened?” I looked at Julius, who was pretending to wait for my Dad to bring whatever it was he came over here for, but I knew he had his nose deep in my shit. I don’t know why, since he’s always treated me like an annoying little cousin or something.
I tried to ward off my sister until he left, but she wasn’t having it. With her son on her hip, she went into Gestapo mode and started spouting off rapid-fire questions. I was not about to answer any of them in front of him, though, but since my siblings know me so well, they were all but answering their own questions and coming pretty close to the truth.
“Can we wait until Mom and Dad come back and there are no strangers around so I can tell the story once?” I made a point of glaring over their heads at Julius, who was pretending not to care.
“Oh, please, like Julius Blair cares about our little lives. Are you sure you don’t need Toby? That’s the reason I came. I thought for sure you’d be out for blood.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You sure? Because I think the fact that you weren’t in love with him makes the situation even more dangerous.”
“How do you figure?”
“Well, if you loved him, no matter how much he hurt you, you’d still try to protect him from us. But since you don’t love him, you wouldn’t care, so this little innocent act isn’t selling. What do you guys think?”
“I’m just waiting for the spinning head and the pea soup projectile vomit.” My idiot brother Hunter said that around a mouthful of banana, and while my siblings laughed, that jackass Julius snickered, and I’m sure I saw him shake his head with disdain out the corner of my eye.
“Do you mind?” I snapped in his direction but was brought up short by the drill sergeant, also known as my sister.
“Don’t be rude. You see, I think you do need Toby. Your façade is wearing off, and you’re starting to attack innocent bystanders.”
“Who the hell is Toby?” Well, he held it in long enough.
“None of your business, Julie….
“The robot she made.” Zade snitched.
“She what now?” The rest of them were only too happy to fill him in on the illegal robot I had built from scratch, starting at age fourteen. I’m not sure why they trust his ass so much to be sharing family secrets, but I was not amused.
He had the nerve to look at me with something approaching admiration in his eyes. Not the kind of admiration one would accept, though; no, this was more like the surprised look of someone who had learned that the village idiot could walk and talk at the same time. Forget Toby; I’m gonna smash his face in.
JESSICA
“No, I do not need Toby.” I gritted the words out through my teeth while glaring my family into submission. I wanted to tell them that I was actually fine until they stuck their nose in, but again, we had an audience. I was so focused on my siblings that I all but forgot Grandpa and the uncles, who, until this point, hadn’t said much of anything.
“Looky here, where’s this boy at now?”
“It’s fine, Grandpa, I promise. I don’t know why everyone else is making such a big deal out of this. It’s not like this is the first breakup I’ve had.” I mumbled that last bit because, again, unwanted audience.
“Yes, but this is the first time you’ve been cheated on.” What in the hell?
“Blade, you…” I raised my fist to knock my brother into next week, but just then, Mom and Dad came back into the room with the supposed folder the enemy came here for.
“Hey, Julius, sorry it took so long; I had to compile this stuff since I got distracted earlier.” Dad looked my way as he said this.
Why is my family set on embarrassing me in front of him? If my face got any hotter, you could fry an egg. There’s nothing worse than being made to look like a damn fool in front of the person you least want to see your weakness. He took his time answering while I prayed in three different languages for the floor to open up and swallow me. Or better yet, I might be transported to another dimension where my new family was sane and knew what a filter looked like.