Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“But, since she wanted us to do this drug test outside of town…”
“Exactly.”
“Okay. Let’s go,” she said, practically bouncing as she located her phone and purse. “You have a helmet for me, right?”
“Of course.”
With that, I followed her down the road to where my bike was parked and climbed on.
Tessa fiddled with the helmet strap before jumping on behind me. There was no hesitation as she scooted in close to me, legs wrapped around the outside of mine, her arms around my midsection, and her head against my back.
It wasn’t exactly a romantic date—going to get a piss test together—but I was excited as I turned the bike over.
Tessa’s arms and legs tightened around me as I pulled off from the curb.
It seemed like she was excited too.
I took it slow at first, but as we got on one of the main roads, Tessa’s legs tightened harder, and her legs left my midsection.
She threw them up in the air, letting out a long laugh of joy as the wind whipped around us.
My answering smile was wide.
And, damn, for just a few minutes, I finally felt like a normal person. Someone who didn’t have to answer for everything they did. Someone who wasn’t constantly worried about the fate of their last remaining loved one. Someone who wasn’t faking a marriage with a woman he knew all the superficial details about, but nothing deeper than surface.
Someone who was free. And happy.
We got to the testing center too quickly. And reality came back just as fast.
Then it was all about paperwork and little cups and private rooms where we weren’t allowed to bring anything so we couldn’t contaminate our samples.
“Sorry again about this,” I said as we walked out of the building.
“It’s not the first time I’ve peed in a cup.” At my raised brows, she shrugged. “My mom used to make me do it so she could keep custody of me. Really fucked up cycle, that.”
“Would you have preferred going into foster care?”
“I think that answer would have changed depending on the day.”
“So there were good times?” I asked as we both moved to walk down the street, passing quaint mom-and-pop stores.
“There were times when I was more comfortable with the devil I knew,” she told me. “My mother was never really a mom to me. She was selfish and, at times, outright cruel. I don’t know if that was the drugs or just… her.”
“She was never sober?”
“Well, there were times when she was actively detoxing because she couldn’t earn, steal, or suck her way to the money to get her fix.”
Jesus.
She said it so casually, too.
“Was the club her supplier?”
“Which club?” Tessa asked, shaking her head. “Sometimes, yeah. Other times, no. It probably sounds like it should be the opposite, but it was better at the clubs where the drugs weren’t supplied.”
“Why? Was she better detoxing?”
“She was better when she wasn’t willing to do any favor asked of her, or me, for her next fix.”
I honestly didn’t know what to think of that, what conclusions to draw. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that my mind went to the darkest place possible. Because there were a lot of places in the world where a pretty young girl was very valuable.
“Tessa…”
She glanced over at me, the hurt filling her eyes.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “But also… no.” I thought she was going to leave it at that. But after we crossed a road and got away from the small crowd we’d been waiting with, she went on. “The deal was made. I was led into the president’s room. Unlike my mom, though, I had my own way of getting drugs. And I crushed them up and slipped them into his can of beer.
“When he came in, I convinced him to finish it. He did. Within a few minutes, he was slurring. Within half an hour, he was out so cold that he didn’t even flinch as I undressed him, tossed a condom in the garbage, and left.”
“I’m sorry. Your mom deserved jail time for that. How old were you?”
“Fourteen.”
Christ.
“How did you prevent it from happening again?”
“By stealing the drugs the same way I had to drug the president with. I kept her high enough to not get desperate then stayed as out of sight as possible. Though, eventually, someone did notice all the missing pills. They blamed my mom. We got kicked out.”
“Seems like that was maybe for the best.”
“Depends on how you look at it,” she said, but it was clear from her tone that she wasn’t about to elaborate on that. “Wait, did we walk away from the bike, or—oh,” she paused, looking in the window beside us.
I turned too, finding a plate glass window with a trio of different white dresses draped over the bodies of mannequins.
“Wanna check it out?” I asked. “You’re gonna need a dress eventually.”