Crave Me (The Good Ol' Boys #4) Read Online Free Page B

that a red light? Fuck, I can’t see.”
    “Ooohhh! You said a bad word. Daddy, she’s in trouble!”
    “Daisy, enough!” Dad yelled at me, placing his hand over the phone.
    Now they were both making me mad.
    “No! I want a shower! I don’t want a bath! I'm not a baby! I don’t want one! I want a shower! I don’t want a bath!” I screamed, kicking my leg against the booster seat over and over again, my feet slamming into the back of Mom’s seat.
    “Daisy Julissa Mitchell Martinez!” she roared in Spanish. “I swear if you say one more word…”
    I didn’t like it when she said my full name. It meant I was in big trouble.
    “No! I don’t care!”
    “Daisy, you don’t talk to your mother like that.”
    “I hate you both, I really hate you! I wish you would just go away and leave me alone!” I yelled, regretting it immediately.
    She instantly turned around and looked at me wide- eyed with a tear running down her face. I had never said that to them before. It just came out. I didn't mean it, I loved them both. I felt really bad. I was about to apologize and tell her I loved them, but I was cut off.
    “AMARI!” Dad yelled out, grabbing the steering wheel. “This fucking idiot—”
    The loud crashing noise that followed made me want to put my hands over my ears as my body was thrown forward. The car spun, whipping Mommy and Daddy’s bodies all around. I wanted to cover my eyes. I think I was screaming, or maybe that was my mom? My head hit something hard and my body felt like it was on a roller coaster ride, as we tumbled and tumbled and tumbled. I didn't know which way was up and which was down.
    For a second, I caught a glimpse of Mommy's face in the mirror, and I swear she mouthed, “ I love you. ”
    It all happened so fast, yet it played out in slow motion in front of my eyes. I heard glass shattering all over me, pieces flying through the air. The sound of crushing metal drowned out our screams.
    When we finally stopped, an eerie silence filled the car. All I could hear were raindrops hitting what was left and rumbles of thunder in the distance. I was really dizzy and tired. It was hard for me to open my eyes, but when I did, what I saw…
    Would forever haunt me.
     
    ***
     
    A week went by before we stood in the pouring rain. A black umbrella placed high above our heads, a man I had only just met holding it securely in place behind us. I watched the raindrops fall, forming puddles all around us, shuddering with every single drop.
    She said he was her baby brother who loved me very much but he was a very busy man and couldn’t come visit us. He always sent me gifts for my birthday and holidays so I always believed what my mommy had said. But now I wasn’t so sure.
    He never smiled.
    He didn’t laugh.
    He barely even spoke to me.
    I don’t think he liked me very much, but I still wanted to reach for his hand to hold it. I still wanted him to wrap his arm around me so I could hide inside his big arms and feel protected from what was happening all around us.
    I bowed my head in remorse and shame.
    “Are you ready, Daisy?” Uncle Alejandro’s rough voice filled the air from above me.
    I nodded, lying. I wasn’t ready. I would never be ready. It surprised me when he reached for my hand. My gaze quickly followed the length of his arm up to his cold, dark eyes that never held any expression or emotion.
    “The real world is a fucked up place,” he said in a neutral tone out of nowhere, making my eyes widen and my head jerk back by the way he spoke to me.
    It didn’t faze him. “It’s better that you learn that now. You can’t stay a little girl forever, Daisy.”
    “My name is Briggs,” I declared.
    No more Michael.
    No more Amari.
    No. More. Daisy.
    A part of me knew he wasn’t looking for an explanation. I didn’t say anything as we stepped forward, taking one last look at where my parents were laid to rest. Knowing I got my wish.
    I had put them there.
     

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