Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
I wonder what would happen if a guy ever approached her for sex. Granted, he would have to be the most hard-up guy in existence—and probably blind—but I’m sure there’s somebody desperate enough. I doubt they would get too far; she would probably lie there like a corpse. I doubt she could even get up the courage to scream. Would she keep her lumpy sweater on the whole time?
I really need to stop thinking about this.
When the music cuts out all at once, the sudden difference shakes me out of my nauseating train of thought. A moment passes before my phone rings, hooked up to the truck’s Bluetooth. The word DAD flashes across the control panel on the dashboard.
A chill touches my skin before I answer. “You know you don’t like me talking on the phone while I’m driving,” I remind him, only half joking.
He’s not in the mood for banter. “You wanna tell me why I got a call from your stepsister, telling me she needs a ride to school?”
The little bitch.
“Good thing we were already on the way home,” he continues. “I’ll do it today because the girl needs to get to school somehow. But this is the last time I do you a favor.”
“How are you doing me a favor? I didn’t know it was my job to get her where she needs to be.”
“You are going to the same place. It’s the least you can do.”
“Then the least she can do is be ready on time and waiting for me when we need to leave,” I fire back. “I waited for her.”
“Did you? How long did you wait?”
“I didn’t have my stopwatch in hand, but it was at least five minutes.”
“Wow, five entire minutes?” He blows out a high-pitched whistle that sets my teeth on edge. “I hope the entire rest of your day hasn’t been thrown off schedule.”
“But—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” he almost barks in my ear when I try to defend myself. “You are going to stop acting like a petty child. You are going to be a functioning member of this family. And every day, you will make sure your stepsister gets to school and back again. Do you understand me? This is not a negotiation. This is your father telling you what you are going to do if you expect to continue living under this roof—and I don’t think it’s much to ask,” he adds.
I should never have answered my phone, especially not while I’m trying to drive without killing everyone in front of me. I can barely see straight through the fog of growing rage.
I can put up with a lot of shit. One thing I’ve never been able to take is being forced into something I don’t want to do. It’s bad enough I have to accept the gold digger and her freak offspring as members of my family—the idea makes me want to gag.
Now I have no choice but to fall in line if I want to stay in my own home. My home. Not Irene’s. Not Elliana’s.
“Is that all?” It’s only going to piss him off worse, but I can’t sit here and take this without making sure he knows how pissed I am. What the fuck is so special about her that I have to wait around until she decides it’s time for us to go to school? If he loves her so much, why doesn’t he buy her a car? Then I would only be forced to see her in Psych and around the table at home. I could almost deal with that. It’s this being forced bullshit that makes me grind my molars before slamming the heel of my hand against the horn when the car in front of me waits too long after the light turns green.
“You are on thin ice,” he warns before ending the call. Music floods the truck’s cab again, but it doesn’t ease my tension this time. Nothing could.
I practically had to bite my tongue off to keep from reminding him I’m not some punk he dragged in for an interrogation. Though it’s pretty fucking clear he wants to treat me like a stranger, that’s not who I am. Whether he likes it or not.
He finally has the family he always wanted. I was only a placeholder.
Instead of sprinting across campus like I thought I would on arrival, I’m marching, punishing the pavement with every footstep like that will do anything to change the shitstorm my life has become. I have no control over anything—or at least that’s how it feels. Being told what to do, where to go, how to behave.
I can’t even make the decision to leave the house when I need to without having my ass chewed for it.
I bet she couldn’t wait to call Dad for help. It didn’t hit me until now. She could’ve called me, but she called him. The little bitch.