Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 74379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“He’s dressed like a thug,” my mother growled, gesturing toward Tobias’s leather vest. “I just wanted to come eat here, and he offended me. He’s in a biker gang, for Christ’s sake. Who do you really want to believe here?”
“He’s in a motorcycle club,” Ghost corrected. “And he’s a police officer. He’s been one for years now, and before that he was a Navy SEAL. Trust me when I say that you’re barking up the wrong tree. And don’t think I didn’t notice the multiple complaints you filed against him, his house, his fucking dog. I also saw you check his mail…which I might add is a federal offense.”
That was news to me. I hadn’t realized that she was doing that.
I wanted to beat my head against the carpeted floor underneath me.
When would she fucking learn?
It didn’t, however, surprise me.
My mother viciously yanked her purse back up over her shoulder and turned around, only to turn back around and glare.
“You better be careful, Officer Hail. I hear it's bad out there for cops right now.”
With that she was gone, sending a glare my way as she moved.
I could tell that she wanted me to follow, and I would…when I felt like it.
I was thankful as hell that I’d be leaving, though.
All of a sudden, I knew I couldn’t handle it anymore. I couldn’t handle her bat shit crazy self, and to be honest, I didn’t want to. I wanted out of this fucking farce of a family.
My father wasn’t all bad, but with the way he blindly let my mother lead him around by the balls, it was quite depressing.
He was going to go along with something stupid she did one day, and he’d be fucked right along with her.
Audrey, who’d been standing silently behind Tobias, tried to move past him, but he caught her around the waist and yanked her to his side. “Don’t,” he growled. “It’s not worth it.”
“She just threatened your life!” she cried out in indignation. “You heard that, didn’t you, Officer Tooch?”
Tooch?
“I can file a complaint, but that’s really all I can do. You know that.”
“You just remember everything she said in case you ever get called on to be a witness,” Tobias said darkly to the policeman.
Officer Tooch nodded solemnly as he turned to me. “Ma’am, can I help you up?”
He offered me his hand, but before he could even extend it all the way out, I scrambled to my feet.
My blonde curls bounced with the movement, and I offered Tobias an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry, y’all.”
He smiled at me, just like he always did. He was always so forgiving.
Dammit, my mother really sucked.
“I know that you can’t control her…or him,” he added. “Don’t worry about it.”
I grimaced. “I told them that I was transferred to a different post, and she flipped a freakin’ lid. She was on a tangent before she even arrived here.”
“So that was what that was all about?” he asked.
I sighed.
“I told them that while I was stationed out of the country, they needed to behave. You can obviously tell how that went.”
Tobias just shook his head.
“Audrey, this is Krisney Shaw.” Tobias introduced his new girl. “Krisney, this is my girlfriend, Audrey.”
I held out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The smile that I gave Audrey was a genuine one.
Audrey took my hand hesitantly. “You’re Reed’s girl?”
My face flamed. I could practically feel the heat rolling off of it. “Negative, Ghost Rider.”
Tobias started to laugh.
“You keep telling yourself that, girl. Let me know how it works out for you.”
I grimaced. “See you later.”
I walked out the door to my mother’s van and anger started to flow through my veins.
A new determination started to seep into my bones, and I breathed a sigh of relief later that night when I packed the final thing in my bag.
When I zipped it up and turned, it was to find my father at the door.
“You’re happy.”
I shrugged. “I can’t deal with this anymore. She needs help. She needs to figure out that this isn’t the way to go about dealing with all of this. I realize she’s sad. I realize she’s upset, but Dad…he was raping his sister for years. Can you really blame him?”
My father didn’t know that my brother had done some pretty creepy things to me when I was younger. He had taken that a lot farther with what he’d done to Reed’s sister. He didn’t know that I had been abused, and I wouldn’t be telling him.
It’d break something inside of me to know that he didn’t care anymore than my mom had cared when I’d told her.
So, I never told him…but maybe I should have.
Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have left things so unfinished.
And I wouldn’t have felt so guilty that I didn’t try to make my father see reason before I left. Because maybe if I had, I wouldn’t be getting the news of my parents’ deaths two days later when I arrived in Germany.