Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
I get out of the car and follow them inside the bar where we find a quiet booth and order a round of shots. I still haven’t said anything, but as I sit across from them, watching them stare at me in confusion and concern, I know I have to say something soon or they’re likely to call someone.
“Thank you for picking me up.”
It’s all I can think to say.
Waverly smiles, her face bright. She’s gorgeous and friendly, and I can see the wild streak in her. I know because I used to see the same one in myself. “You’re more than welcome. Is everything okay? Were you coming from the club?”
I nod, reaching up to rub a sore spot on my forehead where I hit the ground as I rolled from the table. The image of Cohen pushing me burns into my soul, the feeling bitter and ugly. It creates a pain in my chest I don’t fully understand.
“You look like you’re going to have a good bruise there,” Zariah says, narrowing her eyes. “What happened there this morning?”
“Cohen and I ... You could say we don’t see eye to eye. We got into a fight.”
“Cohen did that?” Waverly asks, her eyes wide. “I will go in there and cut his fucking balls off if he did.”
I smile. I can’t help it.
I think I’ll like her.
“It wasn’t what you think. The two of us have some pretty big problems, I guess you could say.”
“I’ve heard,” Zariah answers, giving me a sympathetic look. “We’ve all heard your story, Aviana. I’m sorry.”
“The funny thing is,” I mutter, taking a shot when the waitress puts them down, “is that nobody actually knows my story, do they? They only know what they’ve pieced together.”
“Well,” Waverly says, taking a shot too, “I guess it’s a good thing we’ve got a lot of shots and all afternoon.”
Cheers to that.
I swallow the burning shot down as the other two ladies do, too.
This should be interesting.
“WAIT,” WAVERLY SAYS, sitting beside me, leaning in close, swaying a little as she does. “You were stuck with that man for like five years?”
“Yep,” I say, taking another shot even though my head is swimming from the amount of alcohol we’ve consumed in the last few hours. “Cohen had me sent away, and I ended up in the hands of a man who wasn’t so nice to me, but the problem was when I tried to get away, I had absolutely nothing. I had no home, no job, no money and ended up on drugs, on the streets. I found myself going back to him, being the only thing I knew. He could be cruel, but he kept me safe. I guess you pick your battles, huh?”
“Why didn’t you run away, find a job, and start somewhere new? Or come home?” she asks, her eyes wide.
“Because I had nowhere to go. I had no family left to run to, my aunt had died. I was literally stuck with nothing and no one – there was no way I could make it back here, I was thousands of miles away. Not only that, but I had no money, no experience and quite frankly ... I was broken. I was just so broken.”
Waverly’s face softens and she leans in closer, putting her arm around my shoulder. Zariah left us about half an hour ago when Kendric came to get her. She had only taken a few shots but told us she can be a messy drunk and didn’t want to have anymore. She made us promise we’d stop `soon, but we’re touching upon evening now, and I feel like we’re only just getting started.
“I’m so sorry, my gosh. I can’t imagine what that was like. I hear the stories about the girls who were with Dax and I think wow, they had it so hard, but what happened to you ... it was awful. How did you get back here?”
I laugh softly. “It was quite funny, actually. The man I was with, Vaughn, hired a woman to clean his house. She was British and travelling around the world, you know, a tourist I suppose. She worked in each town for money, doing whatever she could, and he hired her as a housemaid for six months. She and I, we became friends. When I told her my story, she helped me get out of there and took care of me until I got home.”
“Seriously?” Waverly gasps. “That’s incredible. Where is she now?”
“She is traveling around. I hope I’ll see her again one day because I owe her my life. She saved me during a time when I honestly thought I was going to be stuck in that hell hole forever.”
Waverly’s face softens a little. “The man who had you, was he horrible?”
“If you call beatings and rape horrible, then yes, he was. It wasn’t all the time, though. More often than not, he let me have free reign over the house. I cleaned and cooked, kept the gardens in order. It was doing that that gave me the confidence to run. The first time I ran, I wasn’t prepared. I ended up on the streets on drugs, like I said. I also got attacked, and that’s when I knew I had to go back or I’d be killed. I certainly hadn’t thought my plan through. So, I went back.”