I Still Hate You by Marie Skye (top 100 novels .txt) 📕

up and that’s when I noticed he was handing me a cloth napkin. Apparently, I had been crying. “We’re going to fight it. We’re going to do everything we can, that’s why we need you.”

I suddenly flinched when a hand grabbed mine. Jacqueline. I snatched my hand away and she had the nerve to look offended. “You honestly think I’m crying over you?” She started to say something but as usual, since it involved actually speaking to me, she didn’t. “What is it?” I finally asked.

“Lymphoma. So far, we’ve been doing treatment, but it’s not always successful. Her physicians have stated a bone marrow transplant would be best; however, because of Jacqueline’s rare blood type. Finding a donor is next to impossible.”

“So, you’re here to ask me for mine?”

“Precisely. We only—”

“Do you always speak for her, or does she hate me so much that she can’t speak for herself?” I suddenly snapped. Gerald shrunk back as he looked to Jacqueline. Jacqueline looked to me, eyes welling up with tears and even still, she struggled to say something. In that moment, I willed her to say something, I deserved at least that much. She was my mom, at least she was supposed to be.

She didn’t.

I left.

14

Ash

I can’t believe my cousin conned me into going with her to see Barbie on Ice. “You’ll love it, Barbie’s in it.” That was the hook presented to me to get me to go with her and my niece. And since I was damn near putty in my niece’s hands, well, here we are.

I was about to look for a way out of it when I spotted Perrie across the street. At least it looked like Perrie if I squinted hard enough. I watched as she took a long swallow from the wine bottle she had. It was Perrie. I turned to Bria. “Hey, I’ll be right back.” I didn’t wait for her to respond as I ran across the street and slowed my gait as I got closer.

“Perrie?”

She looked at me slowly, eyes glazed over as she held up the wine bottle. “It’s empty,” she said almost in a whine.

I crouched down in front of her. “What’s going on?”

“Ma’am, you can’t have an open container in the park,” an officer that approached said as he took out his pad as if he was going to write her a ticket, or worse... arrest her.

“I’ll take her home,” I rushed out.

He glared at me. “You know this person?”

I assured him I did, and that I would take full responsibility for her. After a few minutes, he finally nodded for us to go. We walked past Bria, and I whispered, “Something’s wrong.” She nodded in understanding as I helped Perrie walk to my bike. I paused. Could I trust her to hold on to me? I guess we would find out.

She stared at the ground not saying anything. Finally, she slowly lifted her head, and while she had tears in her eyes, she never let them fall. “Can you take me to get a drink?”

I nodded. That, I could do.

Taking Perrie to a bar was out of the question, so to say she was surprised when I took her back to our place was an understatement. If I didn’t know any better, I would even say she was about to throw an epic tantrum. “Calm down, rebel, I have stuff here you can drink.” She seemed to be content with that answer.

She followed me into the kitchen, and I pulled out a bottle of Jack from the freezer, and two cans of Coke. When I turned back around, Perrie was leaving the kitchen and heading into the living room with the bottle of Jack in her hands, the two cans of Coke be damned. Before she sat down, she had already taken one healthy long drink. I sat next to her, and we both stared at the huge screen in front of us. She handed me the bottle, and I took a shot. “Did you want to watch a movie or something?”

She shrugged as she reached for the bottle again. I reached over her, grabbing the remote. Fuck, she smelled good, even with the alcohol undertones. I turned on the television, flipping through random channels, before finally turning on Netflix, and choosing a comedy—A Night at the Roxbury. I laughed at the fact that I selected that one since I was dressed like that in the picture I had sent her. I figured something lighthearted might be the way to go here. I watched from the corner of my eye as she took another swig of the Jack, before she moved all her hair to one side, leaving her neck exposed on my side. She was most likely feeling the warmth from the Jack. This could either be good or bad.

She picked up the deck of cards from the coffee table and started shuffling them. She turned more to face me, and sighed, eyeing the bottle of Jack. “We have a lot of Jack to finish.” I didn’t miss the evil glint in her eyes as she held up the cards. “High or low?”

My eyes narrowed. I could hold my liquor, but could she? “High or low?” I repeated back to her.

“Surely, you’ve played.”

“Oh, yes I’ve played… when I was in high school.”

She rolled her eyes. “So, here are the rules” she started, clearly ignoring the fact that I told her I had played the game before. “If you guess wrong, then you drink. If you guess right, then I drink.”

I might as well feign some sort of interest. I tilted my head at her suggestion. “So, either way, we’re both going to get fucked up.” I took the cards from her, shuffling them more. I placed a card down between us face up, and another card face down. The card showing was the Ten of Hearts. She watched as my hand hovered over the card, ready to flip it over. “Higher or lower, Perrie?”

She stared