Homework can wait.
Mom cursed. “Fuck, D.J.! I just wanted to have a nice night with you. Why did you have to come in here and blow a gasket first thing?”
D.J. snarled. “You cuss at me one more time and I’m going to show you exactly what dirty mouths like yours deserve.”
“Oh, really. A threat to hit me? Like you don’t do that enough as it is. You keep slapping me around enough and I just might hit back!’
“I’d like to see you try, you pathetic excuse for a woman.”
I shook my head as I slipped out of bed. I stored my snacks underneath my bed for a rainy day, then changed my clothes. I put myself in the only sundress I had. I wanted to feel the cool summer air on my legs as I walked around. Because being anywhere right now was better than being here. D.J. was hot, then cold. Good, then bad. One week, he brought over flowers and money and gifts. And the next week, they were fighting downstairs until he decided to beat on my mom. I felt it coming, too. The beatdown. The cold to his hot.
And if I was here for it, I wasn’t too sure I wouldn't try to kill him.
“Just get out!” Mom yelled.
Something crashed against the wall before D.J.’s voice sounded.
“You’re lucky that didn’t land, you little bitch.”
I heard my mother on the verge of tears as I slipped into my tennis shoes. I pried open my window, feeling the cool summer breeze against my legs as I slipped out onto the roof. I shimmied down the drain pipe, dropping to my feet. And after smoothing my dress down over my knees, I took off for the road.
I couldn't stand it any longer.
I had to get the hell away from this place.
12
Clinton
I pulled into the driveway of my father’s mansion and sighed. Ten o’clock at night, with the party just getting started, and Marina’s parents had to ruin the whole fucking thing. I mean, come on. Women were practically fighting over me. I was teasing them to the high heavens, too. Acting like I’d kiss them, only to turn my head and start flirting with another. Chicks loved that shit. Loved working hard for a man they wanted. And I was working them in the hot tub like magic.
Until Marina’s parents busted the damn thing up.
Roy got to stay, though. I watched the way he sucked up to her parents. The way he started rattling on about trying to keep everyone safe and keep Marina away from the ‘ruckus.’ Oh, he sucked up well to them. Kissed their asses so much they actually let him stay. Roy! Of all fucking people! The boy who was fucking their daughter in the middle of the damn football field after school, and they let him stay. All because he knew how to put on a good show. All because he knew how to appear like the good boy before seducing his girlfriend.
I wish I had a girl to have some quality time with.
I shook the thought from my head. I got laid enough as it was. Quality time with a girl would only dampen shit like that. Once a guy started cuddling with a chick, that’s all she wanted to do. Cuddle. I’d have to start begging for blowjobs after that. And fuck that nonsense. Clint Clarke didn’t beg. If anything, women got down on their knees and begged to give me one. Just to say they had the pleasure of tasting my cock in their mouth.
The thought made me grin as I swung my leg over my bike.
Nope, there was no point in going steady with a girl. I hadn’t done it before now, and I had no intention of doing it later on in life. I didn’t see the point in it. Fucking around with one girl and her getting pissed off if I saw a nice ass walking by me. What was the point in that? Why spend my time begging to get fucked when I could go out any night and be guaranteed a fuck? Relationships were pointless. They destroyed people. Turned them into shadows of their former selves.
I should know, too.
I watched it happen with my mother.
I opened the garage door to get inside and paused. Seeing my father’s cherry red convertible in the garage made me groan. What the fuck now? Why the hell was he home? What the fuck did he want to shove up my ass this time?
I braced myself for whatever I was walking into as I approached the side garage door.
“About damn time you showed up.”
His voice hit my ears as I walked through the door. I stood in the sprawling kitchen, seeing him and Cecilia sitting at the table. There was food out. A plate set for me. Their plates were clear of any food they might have been eating and everything had grown cold. I snickered as I closed the door behind me. I shrugged as I slid my bike keys into my pocket.
Then I licked my lips. “Didn’t know family dinners were our thing.”
Dad narrowed his eyes. “Where have you been?”