Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Gash didn’t know, and he still doesn’t know,” she said.
“He still doesn’t know. You’re the woman from his dream. The woman he had sex with, and can’t remember it.”
She nodded.
“I was away when Gash was arrested. I got a promotion, and that was why I was out of the country. When I got back, I discovered he was on trial and I was going to testify on his behalf. I’d been feeling sick, and the only explanation I had was being pregnant. I took a kit, but Jeff was there, and Rebecca.” Her cheeks heated. “Before him, I was a virgin, and I’ve never been with anyone else. Sad really, I know.”
“That’s not sad. Everything that comes with you returning, that’s sad, that’s unbearable,” Whizz said.
“Everything had gone to shit in the time that I was away. Gash was being done for murder and rape. I knew he was capable of murder, but not out of jealousy. Gash didn’t give a shit about Rebecca, or who she screwed.”
“How did you know?” Whizz asked.
“He came around one night when she was entertaining another man.” Charlotte laughed. “I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even talk. Anyway, Rebecca was always really loud. He came and laughed. Said Rebecca was an easy girl, and he’d wait his turn. No jealousy. He even picked up a cooking magazine, and read it while Rebecca was screwing another guy. Then, when the two came out, Gash shook the man’s hand, and grabbed Rebecca.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that.”
“Not everything is written on a computer, just like you said,” Charlotte said. “He’s not a rapist. Gash would never hurt a woman.”
“Yet he hurt you.”
She cupped her neck and shook her head. “I guess I’m not considered a woman in his eyes.”
“And yet for a short time, you were the mother of his kid.”
Charlotte flinched. “That’s a long time ago.”
“He or she would have been seven years old, entering his eighth birthday.”
Tears filled her eyes, and before she could hold them back, they fell down her face. “Please, stop.” She started to shake as the pain took over her entire body. For a little over two years she hadn’t experienced this. Two years, at least she’d known a struggled peace.
“Gash doesn’t know what he lost.”
“He wouldn’t believe me.” She wiped the tears away.
“You need to tell him.”
“You knew all of this, so why didn’t you tell him?”
“Some things are best said by the person who suffered through it.”
Charlotte snorted. “He tried to kill me.”
“Did he really try to kill you?”
“He had his hand wrapped around my neck, about to choke me.”
Whizz sighed. “I didn’t know him before prison, but something tells me if Gash intended to kill you, you’d be dead. He doesn’t leave people alive if he can help it. He’s a hard ass.”
“So, I should be grateful he didn’t want to kill me?”
“No, you should think about the fact he hasn’t.”
Charlotte licked her lips, staring back at the screen. “Why didn’t you tell him this?”
“I believe people deserve second chances. My wife, Lacey, she was going to kill me—well, she couldn’t kill me. It’s complicated. Anyway, I don’t believe you and Gash got your chance. Now it’s time for you to get your shot together.”
“He doesn’t want me.”
She stared down at her large figure and sighed. When she was trapped in a mental ward, she’d actually slimmed down to a size eight. She couldn’t eat, and the doctors ended up forcing her to eat. The moment she got out of the hospital and started making her way in the world, she promised herself she’d stayed slim. Then her pain would only be eased by baking and cooking in the kitchen. Her size eight didn’t last long. She had remained a size sixteen for the past two years, and she no longer believed in diets. Her life had already sucked enough without taking out her love for food.
“You’d be surprised what a man wants.”
“We’re looking for Rebecca and Jeff.”
“I get it. Okay, let’s go and invite Gash back into the room before my wife tries to kill him.”
“Lacey? She’d kill him.”
“Lacey’s an interesting character. I love her, but Gash, he doesn’t like her smart mouth.”
She smiled.
Following him out of the nerd room, she saw Gash was glaring across the counter in the kitchen as Lacey sang out of tune at the top of her voice.
“Getting her out of the clubhouse hasn’t been good for her,” Gash said.
“What? I love her singing.” Whizz walked toward Lacey, kissed her on the mouth, and smiled at his wife.
Charlotte’s chest hurt. She had never experienced that kind of love.
Her own life was all about work and sleep.
Life truly sucked.
****
“We want to find Rebecca and Jeff,” Gash said. He’d had enough of hanging around Lacey. Just being around the weird woman irritated him. After everything that had happened to her, she was too damn happy. Charlotte wiped her cheeks again, and he noticed her eyes were red. What the fuck had Whizz said to her?