Please Believe Me

Chapter 1 - Madison

With a sprint to my step, I open up my car and start the ignition.

Liam glances up from his phone to peer over at me. "Please tell me you broke up with that dick."

My eyes round at the use of his words. A part of me still sees him as my cute, chubby little brother—which he's not—but I brush them off, instead doing him, my family, and even my best friend, Vanessa, a favor. They've all been begging me for weeks to break up with him.

Seriously, what did I even see in that guy? Oh, that's right. The physical. But damn if he has a piss poor personality.

Definitely not one of my proudest moments.

I raise a brow as I stare at him. "Not a fan?"

"Cut the shit, Mad. We've all made it extremely clear we didn't like the guy." I stare ahead at the other students getting into either their own cars or their parents.

I forget just how much these high school kids can be.

I rest my head against the headrest of the car and peek over at him with a grin.

"We're done."

"Fuckin' finally! Tell V if she can save me a drink at the bar!"

I smack his arm not finding it funny. "Shut up! Or are you forgetting that I'm your older sister? I'll tell Mom you're drinking underage. Or worse yet...Trinity."

He pales as I mention my younger sister. For some reason, he's scared of her the most.

I smirk. "That's what I thought."

I pull out of the curve and drive us back home. I'll grab my things and head to work. I work a few hours but I can't wait to tell V, she'll be so damn happy I finally left him.

"You should really find yourself a good man, Mad. You ain't gettin' any younger."

I snort. "I'm only twenty-two."

"Twenty-two years too late!"

I glare at him and it's his turn to snort. "But seriously. No more assholes. We've had plenty of that in our lifetime."

His tone quickly turns somber and I know he's referring to Dad. We rarely—if ever—speak of him.

Two years ago he decided to move in with his lover who turns out, he has five other kids with. Who would've thought right?

He left us the house but it's still in his name.

To put it simply, we're technically renting it. Which is all kinds of messed up but what can we do?

"Trust me," I tell Liam. "I won't be dating anymore for the rest of my life.

I've learned my lesson. And unfortunately, it's been the hard way.

***

Vanessa and I are stuck with the closing shift and I think that's mostly due to the fact she got caught yelling at a customer who was getting too handsy with me.

Our boss, Jake, made us both pay for it.

"I don't know why we always get stuck doing this." She grumbles as I continue wiping down the tables. "People are fucking pigs! You would think they have more respect for property that doesn't belong to them."

"Oh don't be so dramatic." Funny, considering that seems to be her middle name. But it's really not that bad. She should know. "This is nothing compared to what he had you do last time."

"True. Don't even get me started on those bathrooms. It looked like a monkey flung shit at the wall." She shudders at that not so long ago memory.

"Better you than me right?" I tease, offering her a grin.