Read It Was You for Free Online Page B

over my head. There is definitely more to what he says but it's not my business. I have to remind myself of that over and over. I'm not typically a nosey person but Jaron intrigues me like no other.
    When Christensen Park is in view I feel an anxiousness wash over me. I don't want to go home. I don't want five o'clock to come around. I don't want any of this. The closer my escape date is in sight, the more I find myself wanting to disappear.
    Jaron keeps the bike idol as he parks off to the side of the road. I climb off the back and hand him the helmet. "Thanks again," I tell him, this time with a small smile. It was nice to get away for a little while, even if I'll probably have some kind of punishment for it later on.
    "I have tomorrow off." There is a hopeful gleam in his colorful eyes that I'll hang out with him tomorrow, but it's just not worth the risk.
    Even though I only work in the morning, I tell him, “I’m working all day.”
    Instead of looking disappointed he smiles softly. "Alright Ravyn, if you say so."
    "What is that supposed to mean?" I ask. He doesn't answer though, instead he slides his helmet on and takes off, leaving me in his dust. I stare at him until he's back onto the tar road and disappearing out of sight. Immediately I feel lonely, the typical empty shell of a person that I tend to feel more often than not.
    Bruce is inside the kitchen when I return. He glances over at me with bloodshot eyes as I walk past. "Hungry?"
    "Just ate, thanks."
    "Glad you can afford to eat out," he mentions with a hard tone. He hates anyone that can do anything for themselves, mainly because he is a junkie that lives off state benefits, all the while my mom goes to work five days a week and actually somewhat provides for us. Mainly for him.
    I've always hated my mom for throwing away the life we had for someone like Bruce- a person who pretends to be a man. Who is controlling, obsessive, and uses her. Who may have never laid a finger on Mom, as far as I know, but is equally as abusive. He uses her emotions, tempts her with drugs, and forces her to do things I never would have pictured my mom doing when I was a child.
    If my dad saw how things changed since his passing away, I can only imagine the rage he'd have. I wish he could come back, even for one day, just to wake Mom up. Show her how fucked up she is- and how everything that she’s allowed into our lives has affected us all.
    It obviously won't happen though, no matter how hard I hope and pray, so just like the situation with Kyler, I let it happen. I know one day it'll all disappear, at least for me. One day that is finally so close- yet still so far away.
    "Why don't you get some cleaning done then? This house is a fucking mess," Bruce tells me the moment I settle on the brown couch, straight from the eighties. The house is always a disaster, no one picks up after themselves except for me.
    The first time Kyler asked to come to my house I was insanely embarrassed. I had never let anyone visit me before except for Dawn. She hasn't even stepped foot into my home since we were fifteen, and never once spent the night. How Kyler doesn't curl his lips in disgust each time he enters my home is beyond me. I somehow think he likes it though, since he's here far more than I am at his house.
    Standing from the couch, I walk into the kitchen and start to fill the sink with warm water and soap.
    "Can't even respond to me?" Bruce asks.
    "Sorry," I mumble.
    He stares at me, shaking his head back and forth. "You're lucky you're not my daughter. I'd back hand you for the disrespect."
    "I wasn't being disrespectful." I peak over at him, waiting for the blow. He's never laid his hand on me either, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he did. I know it wouldn't hurt nearly as much as Kyler's touch- he's fragile and weak, due to all the things he injects into his body.
    When he first got with my mom he actually had meat on his body. That disappeared long ago.
    Apparently my