When we first got to Vegas it was amazing. We found a little motel to live out of and both of us found jobs. Since I was too young to gamble, I managed to save most of what I made, but my boyfriend, Chase, turned to spending his money on drugs and then finally hookers. I will never forget the night he brought one back to our hotel. He was stoned out of his mind and pulled a knife on me. I was so astonished that I couldn’t believe it was really happening.
His breath smelled of liquor and vomit as he shoved his face against mine and told me I had to take my clothes off and be with the dirty half-dressed skank standing across from me. I did what I had to do to survive.
That next morning, I was on a bus on my way home. Since I wasn’t in love with Chase, it really didn’t hurt me at all. I was more angry at myself than anything.
My mother disowned me for what I’d done, but my father was more forgiving. In that year, he had settled down with a woman who was in her thirties and they were expecting a child together. He seemed happy and I just wanted something solid in my life, so it was easy to accept her.
Unfortunately, after giving birth to their son, and being married for only two years, she died of breast cancer. My father told me she was one of those people that just refused to go to the doctors. By the time she found the lump, it had spread throughout her body.
With a small boy to raise by himself, my father went looking for a new wife immediately. This time around, he settled for a woman from church that he’d already known for a while. She had a boy the same age and together they made things work. I’m still not really sure if they are actually in love with each other, but they make each other happy.
Following my move home, my father made me work in the hardware store. He agreed to pay for cosmetology school if I promised to stick with it. I felt so bad for being irresponsible that I put all of my focus on getting my license. I’ll never forget the day I graduated. It was pouring down rain, like the kind of rain where you have to pull over your car because visibility is so bad. My hard headed father had insisted on keeping the store open until the last minute and then coming to my ceremony. He showed up a half hour after I got my certificate completely drenched and looking like a wet dog, with a hand full of flowers. My father was a hard man. He didn’t offer hugs or supportive talks, but I knew somewhere inside of that armor, he loved me very much.
Unfortunately, his attitude toward me after I got my license to cut hair never changed. I’d gotten a job at a hair salon outside of town right away, but wasn’t making very much money. When I got home at night, he would expect me to still help out. I didn’t like answering to his new wife and helping watch my little half-brother or her son. I should have just listened and did my share, but I was rebellious and wouldn’t let either of them get the final word in. I started going out after work and only going home once I knew he was in bed.
My little plan worked for a while, except after time, I began to party a bit too much. Several times I woke up and didn’t know how I got where I was, or even where I was at all. That’s when I met Rick. He was older by six years, but didn’t look it. I think I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, was around six foot three and had huge muscular arms.
We met at a bar that was doing line dancing. He watched me from across the room for over an hour before speaking to me, and when he finally did, I couldn’t control my lust for him. For someone that was trying to be responsible, I’d done the opposite and ended up sleeping with him in the back of his truck outside of the bar.
We were hot and heavy for the next six months until my furious father demanded that I be more responsible. He hated Rick and begged me to stay away from him.
That just pushed me right into his arms faster. Without my father’s blessing, I ran off and married Rick the next week.
After that my father disowned me.
So here I was, sitting on Miranda and Ty’s couch, with bruises all over my body, just hoping they didn’t notice. After begging me to tell her what happened and feeling like I wanted to just walk out the door, in comes the hottest thing I had ever seen in my entire life. The man that walked in was wearing a backwards hat with a freaking tractor on it, no shirt and a dirty pair of jeans. A six pack wouldn’t have even begun to describe this man’s chiseled body. It was more like a twelve pack that I couldn’t help but want to touch. His skin was tan with random tattoos all over it, and as he got closer, I saw the most beautiful light colored eyes I’d ever seen. I knew who this guy was. She’d talked about him from the first day I’d met her, but I had no idea he looked the way he did. I had to focus to try not to let him see me drooling over him.