stood there. Now eleven, she was tall and gangly, with honey-golden ringlets like her mother, Vickie. Julia had been raised by Tracy and Donny since she was a toddler. Vickie was in and out, and Kylie was sure Tracy was the deciding factor that kept it from hurting Julia. Kylie secretly believed Julia didn’t really want to spend any time with her real mom. Julia felt left out whenever she was gone. For although Kylie and Ally might be technically, by blood, her cousins, they were and always had been her older sisters in reality.
“Kylie? Are you okay?” Julia’s timid voice whispered through them. She was a shy, sweet, kind girl who Kylie made sure had no idea of the kinds of things Kylie partook in outside of the house.
“Hey, Ju-Ju-B. I’m fine. Long week at school with all these crazy hard books to read. I wanted a breather. Come in.”
Julia always managed to cheer Kylie out of her dark, morose, contemplative thoughts. She’d also be damned if innocent, sweet Julia was ever sullied by the things that were inside of Kylie’s head and the things she did or partook in. Kylie grinned in real joy for the first time in days at Julia.
“Wanna play a game?”
“Yes, I want to play a game.” Julia loved old-fashioned board games and was constantly begging or bribing one or all of the household to play with her. Even Kylie couldn’t resist her and it did the trick of lifting her spirits and getting her mind off of school, Tommy, the website, Cadence, and being a whore… or a victim, depending on who you asked.
Tracy smiled and got to her feet. “I’ll let you two keep playing while I escape to make some dinner. Taco salad, Ky?” She asked it gently, as if a quick add-on to her thoughts, but Kylie knew it was the entire point of her thoughts. She always worried how much Kylie was eating and yet understood she could not force it. Taco salad was fine. Not much ever tasted good to her. But she nodded and turned towards Julia and opened herself up for whatever Julia was plotting to beat her at.
Chapter Five
“TRISTAN, WHO THE HELL is the other one?”
Tristan rubbed at his forehead when his grandfather’s voice reverberated through the phone receiver and into his skull. God, could the old man growl in fury. He flicked the pause button on the movie he’d been trying to finally relax in front of. He had no idea what his grandfather was going on about at nearly eleven o’clock at night. Shouldn’t the old man sleep at some point? Most old people his age were long retired, eating early-bird specials and going to bed at nine o’clock. Not still working and chewing their number-one grunt out yet again.
“What are you talking about, Grandfather? What other one?”
“Get on the damn website. Shit!” His grandfather pierced his skull with his sharp howl. Tristan was well aware of only one website that could have Grandfather like this. He leaned over and quickly refreshed his tablet he’d last had it up on. Sure, the post had been bad, but the comments did more than a fine job of neutralizing it. It had taken Tristan about four hours of his tech team and their friends posting comments by various accounts to turn the whole nasty article into a contested pile of shit. They had turned Cadence whatever into a smear on the page who would never dare move forward, for now she knew how the public would react to her. What girl would want to put herself through that? Tristan was sure this would all now disappear and all that would be left was a small ripple lasting for just a few days until this article went to the wayside for some juicier and more substantiated gossip or scandal.
“Who is it?”
Tristan held in the deep need to snap back. Never one to wait, the old man was getting almost unbearable in his demands. “I’m loading it. Hold up, Grandfather.” He watched the site load finally and clicked on the tab with Cadence’s claim. Under it was a growing comment list of over a hundred twenty-five now.
“Kylie? Are you okay?” Julia’s timid voice whispered through them. She was a shy, sweet, kind girl who Kylie made sure had no idea of the kinds of things Kylie partook in outside of the house.
“Hey, Ju-Ju-B. I’m fine. Long week at school with all these crazy hard books to read. I wanted a breather. Come in.”
Julia always managed to cheer Kylie out of her dark, morose, contemplative thoughts. She’d also be damned if innocent, sweet Julia was ever sullied by the things that were inside of Kylie’s head and the things she did or partook in. Kylie grinned in real joy for the first time in days at Julia.
“Wanna play a game?”
“Yes, I want to play a game.” Julia loved old-fashioned board games and was constantly begging or bribing one or all of the household to play with her. Even Kylie couldn’t resist her and it did the trick of lifting her spirits and getting her mind off of school, Tommy, the website, Cadence, and being a whore… or a victim, depending on who you asked.
Tracy smiled and got to her feet. “I’ll let you two keep playing while I escape to make some dinner. Taco salad, Ky?” She asked it gently, as if a quick add-on to her thoughts, but Kylie knew it was the entire point of her thoughts. She always worried how much Kylie was eating and yet understood she could not force it. Taco salad was fine. Not much ever tasted good to her. But she nodded and turned towards Julia and opened herself up for whatever Julia was plotting to beat her at.
Chapter Five
“TRISTAN, WHO THE HELL is the other one?”
Tristan rubbed at his forehead when his grandfather’s voice reverberated through the phone receiver and into his skull. God, could the old man growl in fury. He flicked the pause button on the movie he’d been trying to finally relax in front of. He had no idea what his grandfather was going on about at nearly eleven o’clock at night. Shouldn’t the old man sleep at some point? Most old people his age were long retired, eating early-bird specials and going to bed at nine o’clock. Not still working and chewing their number-one grunt out yet again.
“What are you talking about, Grandfather? What other one?”
“Get on the damn website. Shit!” His grandfather pierced his skull with his sharp howl. Tristan was well aware of only one website that could have Grandfather like this. He leaned over and quickly refreshed his tablet he’d last had it up on. Sure, the post had been bad, but the comments did more than a fine job of neutralizing it. It had taken Tristan about four hours of his tech team and their friends posting comments by various accounts to turn the whole nasty article into a contested pile of shit. They had turned Cadence whatever into a smear on the page who would never dare move forward, for now she knew how the public would react to her. What girl would want to put herself through that? Tristan was sure this would all now disappear and all that would be left was a small ripple lasting for just a few days until this article went to the wayside for some juicier and more substantiated gossip or scandal.
“Who is it?”
Tristan held in the deep need to snap back. Never one to wait, the old man was getting almost unbearable in his demands. “I’m loading it. Hold up, Grandfather.” He watched the site load finally and clicked on the tab with Cadence’s claim. Under it was a growing comment list of over a hundred twenty-five now.
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