Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
“And he read them and burned them. He doesn’t want a relationship with you, Daddy. Not after everything that happened. Just give him some space.”
“Sarah, honestly, if you think about this shit, really look at it closely, this is all your fault.”
“My fault? How?!”
“Kage was this close to killing me. You think you’d have some loyalty and would have instilled in him when he was young that this is where he was to be. By my side. I forgave him. He owes me. He had no father. I could have been his father, and raised him!”
“Oh, like how you raised Reeves?!”
“How dare you. That’s comparing apples and oranges. You should have never had him! All the trouble he’s caused. I told you not to date that trash of a man. I told you that Kage’s father was bad news! Kane was a thug! A criminal! Rubbish! He lived by the sword and died by the sword. I TOLD YOU THAT HE—”
“Well, Daddy, Kane is dead! What more do you want, huh?!” Her voice trembled. “You want me to dig him up so you can kill him again?”
“I told you then, and I’m telling you now that I didn’t kill that man.”
“If it wasn’t you, you had one of your little butt kissers do it, Daddy… I’m not stupid. Kane threatened you. Everybody knows you don’t take kindly to that sort of thing. The last person that tried to blackmail you disappeared.”
“That’s a damn fact, but I did no such thing to Kane. I knew you loved him, regardless of my personal feelings about the man. I promised you that I wouldn’t touch him. So, I spared him. Just like I spared your son as long as he was placed in that hospital for insane youth.” He flicked ashes into a snake-shaped ashtray. “I have told you this several times. You don’t believe me, but I’d own it if I eliminated that motherfucker, Sarah… Proudly. He damn sure deserved it. Kane made plenty of enemies, bein’ the head of that motorcycle gang and all. You act as if I was the only one that hated his guts. There was a list a mile long.”
“Well, whoever killed him made sure it was done good ’nd proper, ’cause ain’t no comin’ back from the dead. Kane been dead since Kage was five months old, and not havin’ his father affected him. There were things he didn’t understand, that I couldn’t teach him. Stuff only a man would know. I didn’t want you to raise him. I wanted Kane, to raise his one and only son! I know you hated him, Daddy, but he was excited about his baby comin’ into the world, and he doted on the child so much after he was born.”
“Well, don’t you wear those rose colored glasses well? That man couldn’t even bother with a pack of diapers and a bottle! Isn’t this just rich?” he scoffed.
“I saw that man cry when he held Kage for the first time. Kane ain’t never shed a tear… not even when his own mama died. And who knows? He may have walked on the straight and narrow path if he’d had the chance! He was cut down before he could spread his wings. And yeah, maybe he did some bad stuff, Daddy, but we were young, okay? Kids do stupid stuff. Y’all have a lot in common, so don’t throw stones.”
“Oh, bullshit!” Grandpa scoffed. “He was White trash, and happy to stay that way! You were young. He was old enough to know better. He was also unreasonable, just like my grandson, the child you birthed into the world and that turned around and tried to fucking kill me. TRASH! BOTH OF ’EM. His bloodline is tainted. Just like all the men you let slide into your bed… the bed that I pay for!” He heard his daughter sigh on the other end. “You haven’t had to work a day in your life, Sarah. Silver spoon in your mouth, and you chose to lay down with lowlifes! You could’ve been a lawyer! A teacher! Anything! Instead, you chose to chase bad men. You know what they say. Lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas. I pay for that mortgage, that Lexus in your driveway, that—”
“Daddy, I’ve had ’bout a damn ’nuff.” He heard her puffing on a cigarette. “Now I love you… you know I do, but I’m sick of this. You’ve been takin’ your anger at my son out on me since he was thirteen. Kept threatening to cut me off if I didn’t jump when you told me to. I did that for a number of years, but now I’m all burnt out, man. Problem is, my son is just as stubborn as you, and you can’t stomach it. You can call me to lecture me about how you foot my bills, ’bout the men I choose, or to talk shit about my boy to me until the cows come home. Go on right ahead. I’ll be your punchin’ bag, but it won’t change anything, now will it?”