“What?” She’d never once thought he’d been doing it to help her. “You put yourself and your future at risk for me?”
“Worth it to keep that motherfucker’s hands off you.”
“Even after I told you I couldn’t leave without Danny?”
“I intended to take him with us. We’d find a small town somewhere in a distant state and we’d make a life, far away from your parents.”
“We’d be fugitives.”
He shrugged that off. “Who would blame us for saving Danny the same fate you’d suffered? I was happy to pay the price to save you both.”
“Did Desiree know about your plan?”
“I had to tell her when she demanded I pay her off. I told her the money was for you and Danny. She didn’t care. She said it would never happen, that you’d never leave her behind.”
Lucky pressed her palms to her knees, reeling. “She hates me but she can’t let me go.”
“You’re the only one who’s stood by her all these years. I never understood why. She’s such a bitch sometimes.”
“It’s a defense mechanism.I’ll hurt you before you ever get the chance to hurt me.”
“Yeah, well, she fucked my life and has kept me from my daughter.”
“Then help me take her down. I know the drugs that knocked me and my family out were most likely yours. I know Desiree was the one who killed them. I know she framed you, but you never threw her under the bus.”
He shook his head. “Every time I thought I had the upper hand, she put me in my place.”
“She got rid of the knife with your prints on it.”
“Exactly. She set me up, then at the last minute saved me, but still let me go to jail for the drugs to keep me away from you.”
“Did she steal the drugs from you that night, or before?”
Neil didn’t look like he wanted to talk about it at all, but with her steady glare on him, he relented. “She showed up at my house after school around four and snuck in through my window like she always did….”
Neil was lying on his bed listening to music and readingThe Great Gatsby. He had to write a paper on it next week but couldn’t get into the story. He heard the tap on his window and cringed. She was back and it pissed him off. He’d told her the last time, it was over. She didn’t listen the time before that, or the one before that, or any other time he told her how much he hated deceiving Lucky.
He loved Lucky. He wanted to be with her and only her. And every time Desiree showed up and coerced him into cheating on Lucky, he felt another piece of his heart break, his self-loathing rise, and the anger and frustration that built had nowhere to go because she had him by the balls.
“Hello, lover.”
He hated when she called him that. There was no love between them. He didn’t fuck her to make some kind of connection or because he wanted her. He did it to keep his secrets, so he could save his girl.
Lucky needed out. Now. She couldn’t take much more of the abuse her father inflicted on her. Every bruise and cut, every putdown, every push and shove was tearing her broken piecesinto pieces. She was always so sad and lost and desperate to keep her brother safe, fuck herself. He didn’t like that. But he admired it.
Since the cops wouldn’t help, he’d have to take matters into his own hands.
“I see you’re brooding over Miss Perfect again.”
“I’m not doing this with you anymore. It’s not right. If she finds out, she’ll be heartbroken. Not just because of what I’ve done, but because you did this to her, too.” The argument was the same, and so was her answer.
“Then do what I want and she’ll never find out.” She crawled up the bed toward him, a smile on her lips that only revolted him. Her hands planted on his shins, then his thighs as she moved up his body.
“You’re the fucking worst friend. All you do is fuck with people.”
“Exactly. It’s fun. And I want to have some fun with you.” She palmed his flaccid dick, rubbing it up and down, trying to get a response from him. Though his brain and heart said,never going to fucking happen, his dick rose to the occasion, happy to be pet.
His stomach rolled as his own body betrayed him. Exactly what he deserved for doing this to the girl who stole his heart and loved him like no one else ever had.
