Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 131209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
My eyes widened.
“Yeah, Brooke, the night we don’t speak of, ever. I’m sorry that—”
“Shut the fuck up! I’m out of here!” I yelled, grabbing my car keys and purse. He grabbed my arm as I was opening his bedroom door and roughly shut it in front of me, turning me around to face him and caging me in.
“Hell no! You’re not running away from this. You’re not running away from me. You want to point fingers about me playing victim? Why don’t you look in the mirror, Brooke, because that’s all you do!” he sneered, making me hold my chin up higher.
“I’m so sick of this shit. For an entire year, I have done nothing but be at your beck and call, waiting and praying for you to finally let me in and be with me.”
“I am with you!”
“Fuck that! You give me your body, you give me your pussy,” he countered, cupping my sex. “When are you going to give me this?” he asked, placing his hand over my heart. “Huh? I want it so fucking bad, baby; you have no idea how much I want it. I want it more than anything. What do I have to do? What more can I do?”
I swallowed the saliva that had pooled in my mouth. “I’m not made like that.”
“Bullshit! Just because your dad has another life doesn’t mean you can’t have a normal one. How do you not see that? What is it going to take for you to realize that I’m not him? I won’t hurt you. I would die before I would ever hurt you.”
“You know nothing about me or my family. NOTHING!” I screamed, turning, but he held me firmer.
“I know everything, I know how you love to be touched, I know what makes you smile, I know how to make you laugh, and I know what makes you cry. I know that your dad loves your mom and that he loves his children… all of them,” he stated, emphasizing the words.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Brooke, why don’t you just tell them? Why can’t you just tell them that you know? Maybe it would help you. Keeping it bottled up inside has done something to you and it gets worse and worse every fucking day; the more time goes by, the more I lose you. The more everyone does. Please…” he whispered, placing his forehead on mine.
“I’m fine. I will be fine. My parents have nothing to do with it.”
He shook his head. “They have everything to do with it. You shut me out. You shut everyone out.”
“Landon, let me go. I want to go home,” I countered, trying to break free of his hold.
“It doesn’t matter, does it? It doesn’t matter what I say or what I do, it’s always going to be this way, isn’t it?” He paused. “Answer the fucking question… isn’t it!”
“YES! I don’t love you! I don’t believe in it and I want no part of it! So if this isn’t good enough for you, then it’s over.”
He stepped back and I had never seen him look so hurt, so defeated.
I turned and opened the door.
“No, baby,” he announced, stopping me. “I’m tired of you turning your back and walking out on me.” He stepped in front of me. “It’s my turn,” he declared, walking out the door, and leaving me alone.
Exactly how I wanted him to.
CHAPTER SEVEN
<>D<>
A year went by since I had taken over the bar. I learned a lot in that short amount of time; the first and foremost being to never fuck your employees. I know that seemed like it would be common sense, but it wasn’t. I learned that lesson the hard way. The bar was as profitable as it was manageable. The years of working as a bartender shaped me in a way that made what I was doing now much easier.
The bar literally landed in my lap. I was able to pay for Lauren’s college for graduate school and she was twenty-two years old. And Alexis had followed in my footsteps, attending UF at nineteen years old. She wanted to pledge Tri Delta but Mom told her we couldn’t afford it; sororities were crazy expensive, especially ones at UF. I hated seeing her upset and decided to turn the bar into a nightclub from Thursday through Sunday. I went from working somewhat normal hours to working around the clock.
But Alexis got to pledge and was accepted into the sorority. The smile on her face was worth it to me. Besides… I never slept anyway, so the night owl hours worked for me. Liv just turned sixteen and I bought her a used Honda that had 30,000 miles on it and was in mint condition; it looked brand new. She also wanted to join the drama club at school and I was able to pay for her to have a hobby that she was so passionate about.