Kelsey pulled down her skirt in a vain attempt to hide them. “I scraped them across a wood bench,” she said, turning around to face him.
“Bullshit. Your new boyfriend do that shit to you?”
“No. Look, no one asked you to come in here acting like my fucking dad or something. Leave me alone. I’m tired.” She placed a can of pop against her mouth and drank.
“Leave her alone. She’s a slut, but at least she’s bringing in some money.” Wanda lit up another cigarette.
Kelsey laughed, her eyes flashing as she looked at her mother. “You’re right. I am a slut and a cunt. I’m my boyfriend’s slut.”
“What the hell you talking about? You’re fucked in the head,” Jerry said.
She ignored him and went into her room, slamming the door behind her. He shook his head and went to her bedroom door. “Your boyfriend got a name?”
“Mark.”
The gasp was audible through the door. “What’s wrong?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. See what you made me do? Now I’ll be punished. Leave me alone.”
Strains of anger curled around him. “You letting him do that kind of shit to you?”
“Leave me the fuck alone!”
Jerry stood by the door. “Let her be. Come sit with me,” Wanda cackled.
Slowly, he walked into the living room, pissed that Wanda had fucked them all up. “You need to take better care of Kelsey. She’s fuckin’ outta control, and you’re her goddamned mom. Fuckin’ act like one.”
“She don’t pay no attention to me. What can I do? I’m sick. She should be helping me out, not whoring around. I’m the one no one cares about. All you think about is her. What about—”
He opened the screen door. “Where you going?” she asked.
“Home.”
“You got some money for me?” Greed lit up her eyes.
“Ask your daughter’s john. You’re pimping her out, aren’t you?”
With Wanda cussing up a storm, Jerry jumped down the porch stairs and straddled his bike. In his peripheral view, he saw a glint of gold and he whipped his head around. Nothing. Sitting still for several minutes, he strained his ears to pick up any sounds that may be amiss. Nothing. Only the muffled voices from television sets, and the moans from fucking. Just a usual evening at Cedars Trailer Park. He turned his Harley around and headed back to his apartment.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When Kylie pulledinto the garage, she was surprised to see her dad’s Harley parked there already. Glancing at her phone, she wondered why he was home at four o’clock. A tightness formed in her stomach and she hurried inside, thinking something may have happened to Belle and the baby. She walked into the kitchen and saw her dad seated at the table, his normally cheerful eyes icy and hard.
“Hi, Dad,” she said as she opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of orange-flavored water. “Is Belle okay?”
“She’s fine,” he replied curtly. “Sit down.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Sit down,” he ordered.
Complying, she pulled out a chair and plopped down, scanning her father’s face. He didn’t look too happy; in fact, he looked downright pissed.Oh, shit. He found out about Jerry. Damnit!Their blue gazes locked, and he took out a book he had in his hands under the table and slid it toward her. “This yours?”
Looking down, her stomach dropped and a deep red flush crept across her cheeks.Oh, fuck.She was mortified that her father knew she had such a book. She nodded.
“You fucking Jerry?”
Kylie’s impulse was to lie, but she suspected her dad already knew so she didn’t want to add insult to injury. In a low voice, she said, “I did. We aren’t together anymore.” She kept twisting her hands and squirming in her chair. How had he found the book? She kept it under her mattress. Then a single, brave thread of anger slid up her spine. “You searched my things. How could you?” Her look accused him.
