Page 1 of Until Forever

PROLOGUE

JASPER

Life hasa way of knocking the shit out of you.

But it pales in comparison to guilt.

It’s the worst kind of torture. Hitting you smack in the nuts; breaking you down before you even have a chance to do the thing that’s wrong.

“I’m sick of this shit,” I mutter while snatching my duffle bag on the way out the front door.

The screen is old and creaks when I push through it and snaps back into place. I rush down the steps and immediately get to work on securing my things to the back of my bike.

“Get your ass back in here, boy. I’m not done talkin’ to ya,” my father’s words come out slurred as he stumbles onto the ragged porch.

Like any other day, he’s in one of his moods, blaming me for his pitiful existence. I’ve heard it all before, so I don’t bother glancing back at him. What’s the point? I’ll see the same thing I’ve seen my entire life. A broken man who’s bound to drink himself to death. A man who wastes every dime we have on bad gambling bets. A father who’s made it very clear he hates having me as a son.

I scoff and breathe in through my nose while tugging the rok straps into place. “Yeah, well, I’m done talking to you,” I yell, still not bothering to glance in his direction.

I hear him stumble, followed by a low curse.

“W-where the hell you think you going?”

“Far the fuck away from here,” I say through clenched teeth. Doing everything in my power not to give in to him, I yank on the last strap then grab my helmet from the handlebars, palming it against my chest.

“Answer me, boy.”

With my shoulders pulled back, I hold my head high and throw my leg over the seat of my bike. I try not to look at him but can see him from the corner of my eye anyway. He trips over his feet on his way off the porch.

“Think you better than me?” He staggers to the edge of the steps, spilling a little of the beer he holds in his left hand. “Hm? Well, ya ain’t. I see how you turn your nose up at me; you and that uppity girl you been runnin’ ’round with. She’s gonna get tired of the small-town lowlifer, and you’ll soon see we ain’t no different,” he snips.

My nostrils flare as I level my motorcycle and release the kickstand. He’s trying to get a rise out of me. Stir up emotions I’ve fought long and hard not to give in to. It’s nothing new, an everyday occurrence in this household.

“You think that girl loves you? Sure she likes you now—they all like the fuckup until they outgrow ’em.” He continues his rant, though now he’s no longer on the porch and only feet away from me.

“I’m nothing like you,” I spit before lifting my helmet over my head and slipping it on.

The thing is, I don’t believe a word that comes from my mouth. I am my father’s son—an outcast to the people of my small Tennessee town, a rebel and social reject.

It wasn’t always like that. Once upon a time, I had friends, and people cared for me. But like the plague he is, my father ruined that. He broke ties with the people of this town, burned bridges I’m no longer allowed to cross.

So now, I live in the shadows of a drunk and am forced into a legacy I don’t deserve. You are who you’re raised by; at least that’s the way they treat me—always watching me with disdain in their eyes, expecting me to mess up.

If they’re going to judge me, hold my father’s sins against me, I might as well give them something to talk about. The mysterious bad-boy persona certainly got me a lot of attention from the ladies.

They expect the worst from me. Everyone does—until Latoya. She gets me, sees me as a person, and never judges. He’s wrong about her, we love each other, and after tonight, now that graduation is over, we’re leaving this godforsaken town.

We’re going to go to New York or some other big city where they eat shit like tofu stir-fry and meet at the local bar every Friday after work. She’s going to get her nursing degree, and I’ll finally get my GED, maybe take classes at a trade school.

We have a plan, and we love each other. So my dad is wrong, and I refuse to allow him to get in my head.

“Don’t come back here. I’m done caring for your ungrateful ass.”

I rev my engine and throw my gaze in his direction. “Fine by me.” Slapping the visor into place, I lean into position and speed off toward the best thing that ever happened to me.

Latoya.

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