The Unloved by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online

before. I’d even allowed him to take my virginity. That was when things began to go downhill.
    It felt like after he’d gotten what he’d obviously wanted from the start, he changed his mind. I’d been a conquest. Another notch in his belt and nothing more.
    Shortly after, he got sloppy with his sales and I’d found out the truth behind who he really was. It had been infuriating, knowing that here I was being the most loyal girlfriend I could possibly be and falling head over heels for this guy, while behind my back he was secretly selling my mom the pills that she craved. The pills were part of the reason she didn’t feed us like she should, being the parental figure and all.
    It had been almost three months since Vincent and I broke up. I still see him every now and then when he stops by the house to visit my mom for another deal. It sickens me, but mostly because I know the way that my mother was most likely paying him for his drugs—with her body. Either she was giving him a private dance each time or a Charlotte whore special.
    Either way, Vincent was dead to me and also the reason why I didn’t date. I’d learned as a kid that once you let people in, they hold the power to disappoint you, upset you, and break you. Vincent had been a reminder that I was already broken enough from my home life, and that a heart could only handle so much before it gave out.
    “How’s your nose feeling?” Emily asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
    “Oh, um, fine.” I shrugged. It was a little sore, but nothing like what I’d expected it to be.
    “Good.” Emily smiled, and then gave me a look that I knew all too well. She was up to something. “So, about Friday night…think you could ditch the baggy sweater and hoodies? I mean it is August, not December.”
    I pulled the cuffs of the sweater I was wearing down over my hands. Sweaters had been my shields for the last few years, since puberty hit and Nick moved away. I’d wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out the day that I saw his mom drive away with him staring at me from the backseat. Maybe keeping my body covered all the time, no matter the weather, was my way of crawling into that hole.
    “I’ll think about it,” I said with a frail smile.
     
     

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
     
    NICK
     
    Friday night finally came. I stood in my bedroom trying on every T-shirt I owned and staring at my reflection in the mirror above my dresser like a girl. I’d just shaved my head and my face to perfection, and now I wanted a shirt that didn’t have stains on it to wear. I found something wrong with each one I owned.
    “Knock, knock,” mom called from the doorway. I hadn’t even noticed her walk up. “You look nice. Going out?” she asked with a smile.
    “Yeah, I am,” I answered, pulling the edges of the T-shirt I’d thrown on in an attempt to make it longer. What the hell? How much had I grown since I’d worn this last?
    “Well, here. I wanted to give these to you before I headed out for my shift at the diner. Suzie called in, so I’m working for her tonight,” she said, holding out two Wal-Mart bags my way.
    I took them from her fingers and opened one slightly to glance inside. In one there were a few shirts folded with the tags still on and in the other, a few pairs of jeans or possibly shorts. I couldn’t be sure which.
    “I know it’s not much, but it’s something,” she said.
    I looked at her and smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”
    Her eyes, the same hazel as mine, had excitement twinkling within them. “There’s something in the living room for you, too. I’ve gotta go.”
    “All right, I’ll see you later.”
    “Be home by 11:30, okay?”
    “I’ll try.” I grinned. She’d never given me a curfew before. This was new and I liked it. It felt normal; the way things should be for someone my age.
    I dumped the bags out onto my bed and stared. A blue and gray T-shirt caught my eye. I peeled the one I’d been wearing off and tossed it on the floor before