Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“Believe me, I would be if Jameson hadn’t run off with my stash.” I have to smile at that one.
“What do you mean, run off with your stash?” Iris asks.
“He took every bit of alcohol I had in the house! He also took my car keys so I couldn’t go to the store to get more!”
“Yeah, well considering what just happened, that’s probably for the best, Mom.”
I can hear the anger in Iris’s voice slowly starting to come down. She’s still concerned and pissed as hell, but now that she sees her mom is all right, she’s starting to get ahold of herself and the situation.
It must have been painful for her to have gone through things like this with her mom for all these years. I saw glimpses of it before I left but was never this close to it. I was a lot younger back then. But all that time, Iris was forced to look after her mom in ways someone that age never should have to. And these last three years, she’s still been doing it.
“Does he still have my keys?” her mom asks.
“I don’t know! Probably!”
“Well, I need them back, Iris!”
“Why? So you can just rush off to the store and stock up on more alcohol?” I hear Iris spit back. She’s getting heated again. “You know what, Mom? No! No, I’m not going to give you your keys. You know what I will give you? A ride to rehab.”
“Rehab?” her mom scoffs. “If you think I’m going to one of those vile places with those horrible people–”
“Oh, and you’re so much better than they are?” Iris is practically screaming now. I might have to go step in if this gets much worse. “Look at you, Mom! You could have killed yourself last night if Jameson hadn’t just happened to come looking for me. The house is a total wreck. The only reason it isn’t a complete slum is because of me! You are barely even sober anymore. You can’t even hold down a job. How can you not see that you need help!?”
“I need help? You’re the one working at a goddamn whore house!” her mom screams back. Uh-oh. “Taking your clothes off for money and disgracing yourself in front of those pigs down there at that filthy shack—”
“What the hell did you just say, you bitch!?”
Time to get her out of there.
I rush inside and scoop Iris up around the waist, just as she’s picking up a pile of magazines off the coffee table. Thankfully I manage to pull her from the room before she can throw them at her mother.
“Put me down!” she screeches, thrashing back and forth as I drag her back to the car. “I’ll kill her! That bitch!”
I can’t help but laugh just a little as I open the passenger door with one hand and cram the squirming Iris into her seat and buckle her in. Rarely does she ever get into a state like this, but when she does, it always has to do with her mom.
“Take it easy,” I tell her. “She didn’t mean any of that.”
“Oh no? That’s the second time she’s called me a whore!” I quickly go around and slide into the driver’s seat and pull away from the house. “Who is she to judge me? Even if I was at Jaguars? What’s she do other than lie around and drink all day while her daughter takes care of her? And how’s she gonna complain about where I get my money—money I give her when she won’t even go get a job of her own?”
“All valid points.” I nod, placing a comforting hand on her knee. “Just don’t let her get to you.”
Iris sighs and leans against the window. I can practically see her fighting against the emotions stirring inside her. I can feel the tension in her as well, and I gently massage up and down her leg to try and calm her. It seems to work, and as we get closer to my house, she puts her hand on mine and takes a breath.
“Thank you so much.”
“For what?” I smile.
“You know for what. If you hadn’t been there, there’s no telling what I would have done.”
We arrive at the gate, and I enter the code to let us inside. I pull up to the front of the house and park, then look over at Iris. Despite the fact that she has her hair up like she hasn’t showered and is still wearing the sweatsuit she was wearing when I dragged her away from the club, she looks so gorgeous to me. It goes beyond just the physical: it’s our bond together, tugging at me ever since she left here last night, and now that she’s back at the manor, I have her right where she belongs.