“I know. Mom gave me this big lecture about how she messed her life up getting pregnant with me. Don’t worry. I’m nothing like her.”
“I know you aren’t, kid.”
“Stop calling me kid.” I punch him as he gets buckled in and starts the truck.
“Your mom having you didn’t mess up her life. It just changed her path. You’re the greatest thing to ever happen to her. Don’t ever tell yourself no different.”
“You say that, but she doesn’t even believe that herself,” I point out. I crank up the radio and lay my head back. I don’t want to talk about my mom or what a burden I am to her. I want to think about the look that will be on Randa’s face when I dance with Darin.
**
I wake in the middle of the night skin flushed with sweat. The smell of smoke wraps around me as a hand caresses my face. “East?” I whisper confused. It’s late. That much I know.
“Shh,” an unfamiliar voice whispers in my ear. Fury lips brush along my jaw and I scream.
“Wylla Mae?” I hear East shouting as I sit up in bed and look around my room at his cabin.
No one is in my room. It was just a nightmare. I feel stupid but can’t shake the terrified warning sensation coursing up and down my spine. It felt like someone was here with me. I rub my jaw and a shiver passes through me. My bedroom door flings open. East is in his flannel pajama bottoms holding a gun. He flips on the light.
“Christ, are you okay?”
“I think so.” I shouldn’t have been watching a scary movie so late. So stupid. They always give me nightmares. I wipe at my eyes and East is looking at me funny. “What?”
“You um…” his face goes red. I’ve never seen him look embarrassed before but then I glance down, following where he’s gazing at me at. The white sheet is red, stained with my blood. I’ve started my freaking period. I flop back on the bed covering my eyes. I don’t know why I have the urge to cry. It’s stupid.
“Do you um…need anything?”
“I want my mom.”
“You know if I could get her here I would but she’s not even in the same state. What would your mom get you if she were here? I can call Pam or one of the girls at the clubhouse if you’d be more comfortable.”
“I don’t know.” I am so mortified. I want to die.
“I’ll call one of the Old Ladies. Why don’t you take a bath or something I’ll…I’ll just go call Pam.” He runs out of my room like it’s on fire.
I go to the bathroom, my belly cramping something terrible. I take a shower and by the time I’m out I can hear Pam and East talking. He sounds pissed off.
“How could you even think some sick shit like that? She’s a kid. I treat her like she were my own. She got her goddamned period. I didn’t touch her. Why would I call you if that was what was happening here? You know what, Pam, you can take your sick accusations and shove them up your whore ass. You think everyone doesn’t know all about you fucking around on Link with his best friend? Yeah, sweetheart, I know all about that shit. So fuck you.”
“I’m sorry, East. I just. I saw the blood, and I didn’t know what to think.”
“I told you on the fucking phone she needed some pads or tampons. Why would she need that shit if I fucking raped her?”
I gasp as their words sink in. I hurry and get dressed and fly out of the bathroom.
“Pam… East didn’t. He wouldn’t.” I start crying.
“Great, Pam. Thanks a fucking lot. Now I gotta tell Alexa about this shit. You think she’d leave her kid with me if she thought I was some sort of sick pervert? Goddamn.” He goes to the fridge and grabs a bottle of beer. “She wanted her mom, but she’s out of town, so I called you because she knows you. But fuck I won’t ever make that mistake again.”
Pam looks at me and drops her head. “I’m sorr
y. I don’t know what to say. I brought you some pads the bag is on your dresser.”
“Thanks,” I mumble. I stomp back to my room and grab the bag off the dresser and stomp even louder to the bathroom and slam the door shut while they talk. Stupid Pam.
Chapter 7
Wylla Mae