The Big, Bad Bet

Chapter 14

Jessica’s POV

“He’s dead.” I sobbed into my hands.

Once he opened the door for me, he immediately led me up to his room without a word. Just when my ass touched his mattress, I broke down. I couldn’t even believe that I held my tears this long.

Ryan rubs my back, “Do you want to talk about it?”

I remove my face from my hands, and looked him in the eye, “I’m so sorry, Ryan.” I apologize, “I lied to you!” I blurted.

“What?” he looked at me disbelievingly.

“I lied to you! I’m the worst girlfriend imaginable!” I sob, tears running down my face, as I placed my face back on my hands.

“Jessie, Jessie, look at me.” Ryan gently removes my face from my hands, “Jessie, look at me.”

“Yeah?” I tried to hold back the tears, but it was hopeless.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he looks me right in the eye, “It’s okay if you don't, you know, I could just get you some ice cream. We have some in the fridge and---“

“I want to talk about it.” I decided, wiping the tears in my eyes.

“Okay.” Ryan rubs my back.

“I guess I should start from the top.” I sniff, “I wasn’t planning on telling you, to be honest, but you deserve to know.”

“Okay.” He nods.

“I can’t really explain everything, but I’ll tell you what I can, the rest of those will be for another time.” I exhale, “First of all; I lied to you.”

“What?”

“Don't interrupt me, okay?” I gave him a quick glare.

“Okay.”

“I lied to you, Steven isn’t my uncle.” I admit, “Lemme start from the beginning; my mom and dad are kinda not together.”

His eyes widened, and if I wasn’t in a break down, I was sure to have laughed at his face.

“When they were together, my dad was pretty much an asshole.” I admit, “He would go out and drink each night, and come home around five in the morning, waking us all up. He would beat up my mother as well, for the littlest things possible, like for not giving him painkillers when he got home, for not wiping the windows spotless, for always working, the list goes on, really.”

I could feel the tears coming, but I held them back, and Ryan rubs my back, trying to soothe me.

“My mother never left him though, still believing that that moron was the man she fell in love with years ago. So she never did anything about it, she just let that idiot beat her for every little thing.” I clenched my fists. “One day though…” I trail off.

“It’s okay if you---“

“I want to talk about it, Ryan.” I assure him, and he nods. “Anyway, one night, mom caught him… at some bar, with another woman.”

Ryan’s eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of his head.

“He confessed that he’s been seeing Wendy, the girl at the bar, for a while, that he loved her and that they had a daughter already. He just didn’t know how to tell my mom.” I frown, “My mom couldn’t take it anymore, she wanted to file a divorce, but dad didn’t want to. He didn’t want his reputation ruined, and he even threatened to beat Jacob and me, if she filed for a divorce.”