Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I’m seeing someone,” I say. “But he’s not making me do anything. He knows about the camming, and he supports me.”
Gerald sits back down, hard. “Who is he? Is it that gym guy you used to date? Is it someone at the law firm?”
I shake my head. “You wouldn’t approve of him.”
My dad shoots daggers at me.
“Try me.”
I look him dead in the eye, and it comes out clear and true. “I’m dating Jack Landry. Your friend.”
There’s a second of stunned silence, the kind that feels like the whole world’s holding its breath.
Then Dad’s voice, soft and lethal: “How long?”
“A few months now,” I say. “We’re in love, Dad. I know it’s weird, but I—”
He’s up again, pacing the perimeter of the room. “That son of a bitch. He’s been grooming you. He’s been—”
“He hasn’t!” I shriek, louder than I thought possible. “He never touched me when I was a kid. He never even looked at me that way until I was legal, until I made the first move.”
“You’re twenty-one,” Gerald says. “He’s forty-five. He’s twice your age!”
Nancy squeezes my hand, desperate. “Are you sure he’s not pressuring you, baby? You can tell us. We’ll help you, no matter what.”
I pull away, shaking my head. “You don’t get it. Jack listens to me. He makes me feel like I matter. He’s the only person who treats me like an adult, and not some child you can control.”
Dad’s face is purple. “You’re moving out. Tonight.”
I swallow. “Fine. I’ll get my stuff and go.”
“Don’t you dare go to him,” he spits. “If you do, you’re dead to me.”
“Gerald, stop!” Mom pleads, but he ignores her.
“Call him right now,” Dad thunders. “I want to hear what that son of a bitch has to say about his relationship with a girl half his age!”
I reach for my phone, fingers icy cold. Jack picks up on the first ring.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he says, and just hearing his voice nearly undoes me.
“My parents are here,” I say, my own voice trembling. “I have you on speaker. They want to talk. They know about us.”
Jack doesn’t miss a beat. “Put Gerald on.”
I do. Gerald’s voice is steel and fire: “You piece of shit. You’ve been screwing my daughter behind my back? How could you do this to me?”
Jack’s voice is steady. “I love Eliza, Gerald. I respect her more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
“You’re a predator. If I ever see you again—”
“I understand you’re angry,” Jack cuts in. “But you don’t get to decide who Eliza loves.”
There’s a brutal pause, then Dad hangs up and chucks the remote against the wall, where it explodes into pieces.
“Love? Are you fucking kidding me? That man has a trail of women behind him, discarded and used. And you!” he thunders. “You’re a young woman who knows nothing! You don’t even know when you’re being manipulated.”
“Jack’s not manipulating me,” I respond in a steady voice. “He loves me—”
Gerald’s eyes bulge from his head.
“You know nothing about love. Get out of my house,” he snarls. “Right now.”
I don’t wait for another word. I head upstairs, and start yanking clothes from drawers. I can hear my mom sobbing on the couch, my dad stomping around like he’s about to rip the banister off the wall. I shove everything into a duffel, skip the sentimental shit—no point in nostalgia when you’ve just been disowned—and pause at my dresser, hands shaking.
There, propped against the mirror, is a photo of me and my parents at the Science Museum. I’m maybe six, missing a front tooth, beaming up at Dad as he holds me on his shoulders. Mom’s behind us, smiling soft and tired.
I stare at it until my eyes sting, then slide the photo facedown in the drawer and zip up the bag.
I go down the back stairs, and slip out into the yard.
As I step into the dark, the cold hits me like a brick. The air is sharp, but it smells like spring, like possibility. I text Jack: Can I stay with you tonight?
His reply is instant: Always.
I walk to my car, feeling the burn of tears but not letting them fall. Not yet. I’m not the child they think I am. I’m not a fuck-up, nor a victim, nor a dirty secret.
I’m just Eliza. And for the first time in my life, I’m done hiding.
14
CHAPTER 14 – SAFE HARBOR
Jack
Some sounds you never forget. The scream of an F-16’s afterburner at takeoff, the whump of a C-130 dropping onto tarmac, the panicked, wordless yelp a person makes the second before a crash. And the sound at my front door at 11 p.m.—three sharp, uneven knocks, spaced for maximum anxiety—joins that list instantly. I know it’s her even before I check the security camera, because I’m so attuned to Eliza now that I’d know the curvy girl anywhere.