Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Alex’s jaw straight dropped.
“I’d tell Omma, and Omma would punish her, but that just fueled Sue’s fire and made her more resentful of me. The parent who favored her was gone, and now she was stuck with the parent who favored me—and that was just unacceptable.
“By middle school, she was running around calling me Appa-fucker.”
“What the hell?!”
I just gave him a see? I hated her long before you did look. “She always waited until the teachers turned their backs to say it, and when I flipped out on her, she’d feign innocence—knowing I was never going to explain what she said, or what it meant. But that didn’t stop my friends and classmates from hearing that nickname.
“At first, they thought Sue was talking about Appa, that flying bison from the anime. They figured I just really liked that show, but then we got to eighth grade, everyone got cellphones, and they found out Appa has another meaning in Korean—Dad.
“The first time a kid asked me if it was true I fucked my father, I marched straight up to Sue and punched her in the face.” I smiled grimly thinking of how hard she went down—screaming and wailing. “We got into a fight—which Sue lost—and Omma stopped questioning if we needed to be sent to different schools.
“I went to Titan Prep,” I said, shocking him, “and Sue went to the local high school. I am the one who approached you that day in the auditorium, made that crack about Micah’s fly being down, and scored a date with you three.”
“Holy shit.” His goggle-eyed surprise would’ve been funny, if there was anything about this story that was funny. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. It was me you guys felt a spark with,” I said, “but that day, Sue sabotaged the stage with our face on the video cameras, and framed me. The principal didn’t believe it was her. And after Sue’s tutor swore up, down, and sideways that Sue was with him the whole time, my mother didn’t believe it was her either.
“I was thrown out of the house the next morning, and Sue went on that date with you guys.” I held out my hands, lifting my shoulders. “The rest is history.”
“Wow...” Alex stumbled back. “I just... wow.”
“It’s okay. I wouldn’t know what to say either. None of this seems real. Like, how could there be a real life that someone is living with evil twins, pedophilic clowns, homicidal mothers, and the twisted schemes and plots that destroyed all our lives. It’s like something out of a movie, except it isn’t,” I said. “It’s real and I know it’s real because no one is ever going to gaslight and make me doubt my reality again.
“Ever since I got my first recorder, and then my first cellphone, I’ve recorded everything.” Dropping the bag, I took out my phone and showed him the screen.
Alex paled when he saw my recording app open and doing its work.
“Everything that people say to me and all that they do, I keep it all, Alex, and that’s how I know... you love me.”
He snapped up, his chest heaving as his body tensed and coiled like a snake.
“You, Rhodes, and Micah. The way you laugh with me, joke with me, tease me, touch me, and hold me—it’s real,” I said softly as I closed the distance to him. “And I know this because even before you started making nice with me to protect yourself, you had already started thawing. You probably thought I missed your covered laughs and smiles when I made a joke, or how your eyes always followed my ass out of a room.
“You want me, Alexander Montgomery. You wanted me that day in the auditorium, and you want me just as much if not more now.” The veins shown stark in his neck and forehead. He tracked my approach with bared teeth—a predator backed into a corner, readying to strike. “What we have now isn’t three-fifths of a family, it’s a whole one. A real one. And it’s one worth fighting for, so this is what’s actually going to happen now.”
Taking his hand, I dropped the drive on his palm. His surprise compounded when I followed that by dropping the bag at his feet.
“You didn’t kill my mother.” As it left my lips, I knew it was true. “Because the man who was falling in love with me just wouldn’t do that to me. He’d never hurt me like that.”
Alex looked from me to the drive—agog. “Just like that? You believe me?”
“I do.” I cupped his face, smoothing out the lines between his brows. “It’s over, baby. It’s finally over. The cops have their killer, and I’ve had enough of being Soo Fucking Min,” I groaned. “First thing we’re going to do is move out of that hotel, and start packing this place up. You guys can get started on putting the manor for sale, and I’ll contact the lawyer as myself, collect my inheritance, and finally give Omma the funeral and goodbye she deserves.