Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“I don’t like to kiss and tell but in my college days and halfway through medical school, I went through a man whore phase. I think I was making up for lost time because I was such a geek in high school.”
“You?” She looked at him incredulously. “I find that hard to believe.”
“I’m serious. I had skipped a grade in elementary school, so I was always one of the youngest kids in my class and I was small for my age. I didn’t hit my biggest growth spurt until my senior year of high school. But I was so focused on getting good grades because I knew the only chance I had of going to college without being riddled with debt and putting a financial burden on my mother was to get a scholarship.”
“In college, I had more of a social life, and I got caught up in hook-up culture. But honestly, that got old after a while. Besides, the quantity of the partners isn’t what matters, it’s the quality.”
Amina sighed. “Well, I can’t say I’ve had quality or quantity. My first partner probably didn’t last a full minute and for a long time afterwards, I wasn’t sure if we’d actually done it. And then Mark…”
“What did I say about mentioning that fucker?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s relevant to the conversation. Let’s just say he wasn’t a generous lover. He never performed oral on me because he said it was dirty, but he expected me to service him because men’s organs are external. Yes, that was his actual excuse. And even the act of intercourse wasn’t that satisfying. I thought there was something wrong with me.”
He cupped her face between his palms. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are perfect just the way you are.”
A tear slid down her cheek. “No one other than my grandmother has told me that.”
He wiped her tear away with the pad of his thumb. “Well, your grandmother was right.”
Ethan became aware of the stickiness between his thighs. “Shit.” He groaned.
“What? What’s the matter?”
“I just realized we didn’t use protection. Fuck, Amina, I got so carried away that…I can assure you that I’ve had a full panel of STI tests performed on me since my last partner and that’s been quite a while but if by any chance there are any other consequences, I’ll take responsibility.”
A small smile curved her lips. “That’s really sweet of you, Ethan, but I’m fine as far any pregnancy scares. Mark insisted that I get on some form of birth control because it’s the woman’s responsibility to take care of her own body.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? What a tool. It’s both partners’ responsibilities. How did you put up with that jackass for so long?”
Amina lowered her head and remained silent.
Ethan wanted to slice out his own tongue for speaking so callously. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
“It’s okay. The truth is, I’ve been unwanted most of my life. I never met my father because his relationship with my mother was a casual fling, or at least that was my understanding. By the time I came along he was enlisted in the military and ended up dying shortly afterwards in some freak accident. Something about friendly fire was mentioned.”
“My mom abandoned me because she wasn’t ready to be a mother, so my aunt took me in. I later found out she only did it because she got a check from the state for taking care of me. I was never treated like a valued family member.”
“Despite getting a check to take care of me, I never got any new clothes for school, just my cousin’s hand-me-downs. When she took her children out to eat, I was left home, and I was only allowed to make myself peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I never got to try any of the fun snacks she bought for my cousins. I remember…” She broke off with a cry.
Ethan wrapped his arms around her. “Sweetheart you don’t have to keep going. It’s okay.”
She shook her head as tears glistened in her eyes. “No. I want to say this. I haven’t shared any of this with anyone except my grandmother and even she never knew the extent of all that had gone on in my aunt’s house.”
“My cousins gave me a hard time and would blame everything on me, and I’d get in trouble for them. I never got a single Christmas present from my aunt because she told me the gift was a roof over my head. I’d watch my cousins open their expensive presents and I pretended to be happy for them but it hurt. I’d cook and clean while no one lifted a finger to help.”
“I’m sorry you went through that.” The more Ethan heard about Amina’s past, the angrier he became. How could someone treat another human like that, especially a relative?