Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“How’d you manage to disappear like that?”
“I hopped over a few fences but stalled out when I twisted my ankle. I was in the back yard of a house that belonged to this amazing LGBT family, and they took me in and nurtured me for a week while my ankle healed.” After a pause, he said softly, “It was really nice, actually. I like to think I don’t need other people, but…I don’t know. Spending time there made me question some things.”
“You’re not alone though, right? You mentioned a mom and a best friend. Where are they?”
“Back home in Kansas.”
I glanced at him and asked, “So, you actually stayed in the Midwest after your mom’s trip to California was cut short?” Of everything he’d told me, that part really hadn’t felt like a lie.
“We didn’t have a choice. We had no money and no car, so we ended up in a homeless shelter for a while, until Ma found a job and got on her feet.”
“There wasn’t a friend or relative that could help?”
“She tried asking for help,” he said, “but people suck, and ultimately you can only rely on yourself.” I thought that belief summed up a lot about him. “It turned out we didn’t really need them anyway. Manhattan, Kansas was a perfectly fine place to grow up, and Ma and I took care of each other.”
“Did she know what you were doing to contribute to the household income?”
“Of course not. I told her I was earning money by doing odd jobs around the neighborhood. I did get caught shoplifting once when I was ten, though. It made her cry, and I swore I’d never do it again. What I actually meant was that I’d never get caught again, and I learned to become a better thief.
“Now she thinks I work as an assistant to an interior designer, and that I move around a lot because he’s always getting jobs in different cities. I even went so far as to make a fake website for my fictitious employer. I feel bad lying to her, but I’d feel a thousand times worse if I broke her heart with the truth.”
I asked, “Why’d you tell her you’re an assistant, and not a successful interior designer?”
He grinned at me and shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe because it seemed more believable?” After he took another sip of coffee, he asked, “Does your mom know about your illegal gambling operation?”
“She does, but she’s willfully oblivious to the fact that I’m a criminal. She likes to think of it as an anti-establishment, stick it to the man type of thing—screw the big casinos and the government, power to the people.”
“Hey, whatever helps our mothers sleep at night.”
“Exactly.”
Jack glanced at me and said, “Look at us, actually having some stuff in common.”
“I’m not surprised. In fact, we probably would have been great together.”
That seemed to throw him off. He looked away again and stayed quiet for so long that I ended up starting the engine, leaving the gas station, and merging onto the highway.
After a while, he turned back to me and said, “We could still fuck, even if you despise me. Hate sex might actually be fun.”
“I don’t despise you. Sex takes trust, though.”
“How much trust did it take to get your dick sucked in that Starbucks parking lot?”
For a moment, I had no idea what he was talking about. But then I remembered the lie I’d told him the night we slept together and admitted, “That never happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“I lied about some random encounter to make it seem like casual sex was no big deal to me. I didn’t want to admit you were the first guy I’d hooked up with since my four-year relationship ended.”
He shifted around so he was facing me and asked, “How long ago did it end?”
“It’s been about six months.”
“And I was the first guy you slept with? What were you waiting for?” When I shrugged, he asked, “Are you still in love with him?”
“No.”
“You sound really certain.”
“I am.”
“So, who did the dumping?”
“It was a mutual decision,” I said. “We fought all the time and made each other miserable. It was painful when it ended, but in a lot of ways it was also a relief.”
“But then, why did it take you six months to get back out there?”
“I’d been out of the game for several years, so at first, getting back into it felt awkward. Later on, I was dealing with Greco and the threat to my business, so my sex life got pushed to the back burner.”
“For the record,” he said, “I wasn’t being truthful either when I told you I’d had sex with someone the day before you and I hooked up. It had actually been a few weeks. But I didn’t want to tell you that, not after you mentioned you’d gotten a BJ six hours earlier.”