Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 44031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“And I have two jobs because I get bored really, really easy. You’ve seen me. You know me. I rarely go to bed early, and I’m always the first out up and out. I’ve always been pretty active. I used to drive my parents crazy, and no matter what they got me to do, I’d always struggle to get to sleep.”
“Parents suck big time.”
“You really don’t have a thing for parents. You sure you can’t forgive him?”
“Nope. There’s no way I’ll ever forgive him or my stepmom. I can’t do it. They’re both fucking, two-timing bastards. There’s no way I’m ever going to let them for a second think what they did was forgivable. They don’t even deserve to be called dad and aunt.”
“Oh, wow,” she said.
“Yep. My mom died of cancer, and before the end of the year my auntie was moved right in. Those bastards were having an affair behind my mom’s back. You know what my dad said?”
“No, I don’t. You didn’t tell me that.” She heard the pain in his voice as he spoke of them. She wished she hadn’t brought them up.
“‘A guy has needs.’” Jax snorted. “Fuck me. I haven’t even thought about that horny piece of shit in so long. It’s kind of surreal to be talking about him now. Clearly, I’m sick because I don’t give him any air time at all. He’s a piece of work, you know. Like I want to hear that because he needed to get his dick wet, he cheated on my mom. I don’t need to hear that kind of shit.”
“No kid needs to hear that.”
“I know, right? Piece of fucking shit. It pisses me off is what it does,” he said.
“You’ve not seen him?”
“I go back every single year on her birthday. My mom’s birthday to attend her grave. They must go, as I don’t know who cleans it. I don’t see them. I’ve not seen them since I packed a bag on graduation. My dad didn’t want me to go. Told me I was making a mistake. I just looked him in the eye and told him there was no way I could stay in the house with someone that would do that with Mom. That he made me sick to my stomach.”
She heard the passion in his voice. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s why I don’t stick around with the same woman. People think I’m an asshole, and I probably am, but it’s for a woman’s good that I don’t try to keep her. I know my mom, and I know if she had ever known, it would have broken her heart. I think it’s why she died. You know? Why fight something that you knew was pointless? Her sister and her husband wouldn’t have ever stopped then when she was well. He’d have kicked her out. Piece of shit. Fuck, I’m tired. I really need to sleep.”
She helped him into bed, and as he fell asleep, she stared at him.
That had been a bit of a revelation. She wondered if he even meant to tell her any of what he just did.
Chapter Five
One week later
Sitting in his apartment after a long day, Jax stared at his blank television screen without saying a word.
What was there to say?
He was going fucking crazy. For three days Dani cared for him while he was spewing his guts up, sick to the bone, and a mess. She didn’t complain once about the vomit she had to clean away or the sheets she washed, the soup she cooked. She’d cared for him, and he was touched that she had.
Tonight at work was his first in a few days, and he was feeling a little out of it.
Three women came on to him.
Three women that he’d have spread out through the night.
The blonde had been on fire and so damn horny and desperate, he’d have taken her around the back.
The redhead he’d have done in the back seat of his car.
The brunette he’d have brought home.
He did none of those things.
Not a single one.
Instead, he worked his shift and drove home with Chinese food.
Dani loved Chinese food. She really enjoyed the pork and shrimp dumplings that were now on the coffee table.
She wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and he felt strange.
No sex.
No roommate.
He was all alone.
After the past week, he wasn’t feeling himself.
He didn’t know what the hell was wrong with him.
He’d shared a great deal of personal shit with Dani as well. That he couldn’t run away from. He’d been open and honest about his life with his family, or lack of one.
Whatever.
Now he was buying food because he wasn’t much of a cook.
That’s a lie.
His mother had been a great cook, and he’d been taught everything he knew from her. She’d spent hours preparing home-cooked meals, sharing her love of food with him and her family. His aunt, the treacherous bitch, hadn’t even been able to boil an egg. His father had laughed and said that Jax could cook from now on. The next day when he’d been expected to cook them all a meal, like his mother used to make, he’d dumped ten bags of noodles into a bowl, microwaved it, and then served it up on their plates.