Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“Ahh,” Barton said. “That makes sense. You strike me as a loner.”
I chuckled. “That I am, sir. Have a good day.”
May you rot in hell for what you’ve done.
He showed me to the door, and I had the crazy urge to head back down the stairs and rampage through their house so I could expose all of the man’s secrets.
But, since I wasn’t willing to make it any worse for the two sisters downstairs, I left.
I had a call to Gentry to my ear almost immediately after the door shut behind me.
Six
I think deep down inside, Scotty knew.
—Eddy’s secret thoughts
Eddy
“Are you sure you won’t stay with us, Antoinette?” our mother asked as we headed for the door.
“Not this time.” Nettie smiled. “I promised that I’d help Edith with a few things at work. We’ll be back tomorrow sometime.”
“Okay,” our mother sighed, really laying it on thick. “It’s just that you know we don’t see you all that often. We miss you.”
“I know, but it’s Edd—Edith’s turn.”
The slip of the tongue had us both wincing.
My mother and father HATED when we used a nickname instead of our full names.
They hated even more that we wouldn’t use our full names when addressing each other.
“All right,” she said. “Brunch in the morning?”
“Uhh.” Nettie hesitated. “I’m probably going to say no to that one. Maybe dinner. I’m jetlagged, Mother.”
“Okay.” My mother knew what we were doing. She always knew. She was more than aware that we couldn’t stand her. But you always had to play the part. “See you tomorrow, Antoinette.”
“You’ll see us both, Mother!” Nettie called out.
The door shut behind us, and Nettie latched onto my hand tightly.
She didn’t say a word until she was in my car with me. “You almost got caught!”
Nettie knew everything.
I’d told her about everything I’d learned the moment I left the sheriff’s department.
“You’re lucky that vacuum is ancient as fuck, or they wouldn’t have fallen for that,” Nettie continued.
“I know,” I mumbled as I drove us down the street of our parents’ pristine road.
“Let’s go to a bar,” Nettie said. “I need a drink.”
I didn’t argue with her, because she was right.
That had been close.
Too close.
“I think he must have known that I was there,” I breathed.
“You know about his abhorrence for technology,” she disagreed. “I really, truly do think it was a coincidence that he came home when he did. Good idea leaving me in the car, too. If I was in there with you, he’d have definitely been even more suspicious.”
I groaned. “I can’t believe you missed one of your games to be here.”
“I’d miss them all if it meant making sure you didn’t get caught.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t want them to be our parents.”
“Your words to God’s ears.” I sighed. “Hopps Bar, okay?”
“Hopps is great,” she replied. “Did you know that electrician guy? He was hot.”
“No,” I answered. “I just met him today.”
“You should ask him out,” she suggested.
“Yeah, because someone really wants to date the daughter of a pedophile,” I muttered.
She had nothing to say to that.
Neither did I.
We pulled into the parking lot of Hopps and we both bailed out of the car.
She pulled her sweatshirt’s hood closer around her face as we got to the door and said, “It’s fucking cold.”
I shot her a laughing smile.
“Miami weather spoiling you?” I teased.
“I don’t know that I ever want to come back,” she admitted.
I knew that she didn’t want to come back. But that didn’t make hearing the words any easier.
I missed my sister, and I had a feeling that even if she wasn’t playing professionally, she’d still make her home anywhere but here.
“But without our parents in the picture,” I pointed out. “You wouldn’t be as unhappy if you were here.”
She pulled open the door before saying, “I guess you’re right.”
Nettie and I hadn’t had an easy childhood. We both had to fight for our lives to stay out from under our father’s fists. The only thing that saved us was that we had to be able to show up to every Sunday sermon no matter what.
And luckily, we were both really good at soccer, otherwise we wouldn’t have been permitted to play. It would’ve looked weirder had our father kept us from playing seeing as we were the best damn players in the area, let alone the state.
We’d been known as Hell on Wheels to the Olympic committee.
However, where Antoinette had succeeded, I had not. I’d torn every ligament in my knee my freshman year of college and had to have extensive reconstructive surgery on it to the point where I knew I’d never play again.
My sister had threatened to quit with me because “it wasn’t the same without me” but I’d forced her to stay.
At least one of us was going to accomplish our goals. And she’d done it. She’d succeeded to the point where she was playing on a professional women’s team.