Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
“I’m picturing all the girls in the land lining up for Prince Charming, but getting to the front of the line to find… you.” If anyone else told me that, it’d sound like an insult. Dani sounds like she’s finding a bit of humor in it, even grumbling under her breath, “It serves them right for looking at you like a paycheck.”
I shrug, admitting, “You’re not too far off. It was sorta like that.”
I think back to the girls at school who’d call me, text me, show up at my house, or sneak out so I could pick them up in one of Dad’s cars that I’d swiped from the garage. I treated them like shit, being disrespectful and hurtful, all the while doing dangerous things like partying, drag racing, and fucking around.
I’m not proud of my past, but regretting who I was won’t do any good now. I learned, I grew, and I’m different. That’s the best I can do.
“But girls only wanting me for a good time, or because of my family’s money, got tiresome.” I go quiet, remembering what eventually became my wake-up call. “I was out with my family, eating dinner at a fancy restaurant I didn’t give a shit about, and some girl’s dad came up and confronted me. I didn’t even remember her name at the time, but he was screaming, calling me an entitled brat who treated girls like toys.” I look at Dani as I confess, “I laughed at him, not because he was wrong, but because he was right. And not just girls. I treated everyone that way—friends, girls, family—because to me, they were disposable, interchangeable, worthless… just like me.”
“Kyle—”
I don’t let her tell me anything that’ll make it sound okay, because it’s not, or absolve me of the guilt I feel over my behavior, because it’s deserved.
“We got home, and Dad was yelling at me. I didn’t give a fuck. It was the same old song and dance—he expected better of me, I was an embarrassment, and my brothers would never do something like that.” I grit my teeth at that one. Dad always liked to compare me to my older brothers, who by then were successfully working for him, killing it in college, taking the world by storm, or generally doing something Dad deemed worthy of a Harrington. “I stomped out of the house, taking one of his cars, and drove off hell-bent for destruction—my own.”
“What happened?”
I lick my lips, not wanting to tell her this part, but if I’ve gone this far, I might as well go all the way. “I went to that girl’s house, and she came right to me, running out with her dad yelling at her from the front door as she got in the car. I was cocky as shit and knew she would, so I laughed at him as we pulled away, right through their front yard. She said she was ready to go wherever I wanted. I told her I was going to hell, and she smiled, laughing like I was kidding. I was serious.”
Dani lays her hand on my thigh, and I lean back, putting my hands in the grass behind me and staring at the sky. “We drove forever, music blaring, singing along, and laughing at nothing. It felt good, like freedom and rebellion. At some point, we stopped at a gas station and she went in to pee. She came back out, waving a white stick around and grinning with tears in her eyes. She told me she was pregnant and the baby was mine.” I close my eyes, putting myself back in that moment. For a split second, I’d wanted her to be telling me the truth. It would’ve been the ultimate way to piss off my dad. But I’d known it wasn’t my baby, even as she held up the test. “I looked her dead in the eyes and told her I knew she was pregnant from her ex. Her best friend had told one of my friends that she was gonna pin the pregnancy on me to get at my family’s money, and he'd told me about her scheme right away.”
“Holy shit,” Dani whispers, her hands covering her mouth.
“I think I wanted to see if she was really gonna go through with it, and when she did, something in me just snapped. The only thing she valued about me was my parents’ money. So much so that she was willing to lie.” I swallow down all the pain I felt then, putting it back into the deep, dark pit I force it into. “I gave her a couple of hundred bucks, told her to take an Uber back, and left her there. I didn’t go home at first. I kept driving, for hours and hours, miles and miles. But eventually, I had to go back. Mom was panicked, Dad was furious, but that was nothing new. And that night, when I was lying in bed, I knew something had to change. I had to change. So I did.”