Hurt Me Daddy, for I Have Blogged

3. Jenae plopped herself down onto the curb as the world blurred in front of her eyes, rubbing the palms of her hands against the upper back of her head. “Al! Al! I thinkI dranktmuch.” “Probably. We had to cut you off. Just take a seat and take some big, deep breaths, ok? And next fucking time, JJ, no drinking contests with these guys. I’m gonna bring you a bottle of water.” Shots were Jenae’s vice. She was not a big social drinker but when someone offered the challenge, especially a man, she was ready to step up to the plate. Now she hovered just in front of sleepy blackout. One of the PickupPals, Chris, staggered out of the pub. “I gaveyoumnumber, right?,” he slurred. Jenae frowned. She barely knew what was going on, but she frowned. “Have I…have we talked?” At this point the fact that blackout had happened became a little clearer. “Chris. I complimented your necklace,” he said, gently fingering the stone. At least he hadn’t touched her hair but at this p...

2. Jenae knew that she’d had a brother who had been taken and grew up in the system, but that was all she had known. She’d lived a relatively easy life in the suburbs with her aunt and uncle, who were already very proper older folks at the time. Uncle Reggie had tried to raise her on British TV, though Aunt Agnes made fun of him for it and would walk around the house doing the accents. Reggie and Agnes were actually distant cousins of her biological parents, but Jenae knew little else about them. In the dim corners of memory, Jenae would recall scenes at home. Her brother was there, too, yet they were both tiny. Things seemed normal, like the home life with two parents and siblings that most of the people at school had talked about later. Little trouble at home, no abnormal fighting, though sometimes it seemed like her mother would disappear. Other times her father would. One day Jenae remembered a big blackout, she and her brother crying, the police arriving, and then not much else....

1. Jenae plopped down on the couch after a long day and flipped on the TV. She wanted to try to forget the text she’d gotten about three hours earlier. Allison wandered into the living room. “Hey there. How was work?” Jenae could sense that Al needed some girl time, but frankly, she wasn’t in the mood. “Uh. You know. The guys are always ok. Except for Tad, that fucking bro. I mean at least I don’t work with the cavemen most chicks at game stores get stuck with. Luckily they’re not all fat white basement-dwellers. But you know, Tad finally had the balls to approach me today about being their booth babe at ComicsGalore, because he saw me wear the costume that one time when BloodFountain 7 came out. I, of course, told him he was nuts.” “Damn straight. Those fuckers finally pulled that, huh. Well, at least they’d waited until you’d been there two years.” “Like, aren’t guys supposed to get all weirdly comfortable with you during that time and not look at you like that anym...