Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
He slams the door of the fridge hard enough to make the entire thing rattle. When I was a kid, he’d scare the shit out of me with his loud mouth and his violent behaviors. Mom would rush me out of the room or try to shield me with her body, but I could still hear his shouts, his fists against the table. I guess I’ve seen and heard so much, he doesn’t have the ability to move me anymore. I see him for what he is—insecure and pathetic.
He throws himself onto my sofa, puts his dirty shoes up on my wood coffee table, and reaches inside his coat pocket to pull out a flask.
I rub the spot between my eyebrows and swallow a sigh. “Why’d you ask me for something to drink if you already had a supply?”
“I might need this later.” He wiggles the silver container in the air. “I’ve got some faculty function I agreed to do.”
“Why?”
“You know how much shit I’ve gotten the last two years for not showing up here? Your mom is all over social media getting praises for best mom, true mother shit because she dropped you off while I can’t even search my name without seeing someone curse me out.”
“So, your team thinks that you making a surprise visit and a few photo ops will, what, magically bring about a special role in a Spielberg movie?”
“Nah, he’s old now. I want in on this—” He cuts himself off as he realizes, belatedly, that he just revealed the true reason he is on campus. “Anyway, I’m here to see you and donate some money.”
I shake my head. “You do what you want, but I’m not gonna be a part of it.”
“The girl you were with, where’d you pick her up?” He continues as if I hadn’t spoken. “The scholarship section? Is this some kind of humanitarian act?” He barks out a laugh. “You must be into some dirty kind of shit to be scraping the bottom of the barrel like that. Those girls will do anything for a dollar.”
He waits for a sign of approval from me because that’s what he lives for. I fold my arms against my chest and contemplate whether throwing him out my window would cause too much drama.
When he gets zero response, he heaves a big sigh and gets to his feet. “Fine. I’m here because I want to take some pretty photos so that a social justice warrior will cast me in her next movie. She’s got a period piece with big funding that the Academy is already saying is going to sweep the awards show, and I would be perfect for the lead role.”
“You’re forty-five.”
“Perfect age.” He hitches up his pants, and I spot a slight gut that he didn’t have before. He notices where my eyes have fallen and covers his stomach with his hand. “Now that the cat is out of the bag, let’s just talk like real men. We need to get you a girl. Take me to one of the sorority houses, and we will pick one out.”
“You can’t shop for a woman like you do a pair of shoes.”
“Sure you can. You just go over there and say you’re my son, and you’ll have the pick of the crew.”
“First of all, I don’t need you to pick up women. Second of all, I'm not doing that. I’m not doing anything with you. You just need to go home.”
“Christ, you are so difficult.” He throws his hands in the air. “I don’t know what you were doing with that piece of trash you had in your room, but girls like her aren’t worth spending time on. She looked like she dressed out of a garbage bag of clothes that were left outside of a church that even homeless people didn’t want.”
“I don’t really care what you think.” I open the door to throw him out and meet Autumn’s shocked and hurt gaze.
“I guess this is why people say that eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves.” She pushes away from the wall she was leaning against and bends down to pick up her bucket.
“Hmmmph,” I hear my dad huff over my shoulder.
“You should never listen to anything Nick White has to say because he’s never had an original thought. Pretty sure that was a line from a movie he was in, but I wouldn’t know for sure since I don’t watch them.”
“What the hell are you saying, son?”
I pull the bucket from her hands. “I’m going to clean that last room. You go on now and don’t come back until I tell you to.” I try to say it gently so as not to add to her hurt, but I need to get her out of here before my dad thinks she’s a convenient target.