Free When Smiles Fade by Paige Dearth

five feet eight inches tall. She was thin, with full breasts. Her silky blond hair set off her emerald-green eyes and she had a perfect set of straight white teeth. Stunningly beautiful though she was, Emma remained blind to her own looks. The other kids in high school had tormented her so much that when she looked in the mirror, all she could see was ugly . Regardless of how they were treated by their peers in school, the girls loved the freedom they shared and enjoyed being teenagers. Gracie was now thirteen years old and quite the little social butterfly. It pleased Emma to see her so happy, and she felt vindicated for having committed murder to remove the thorn in their lives. She had done the right thing by killing her father.
    Everything seemed perfect—until a quiet Saturday night, when Valerie brought home a man she’d been secretly dating for six months. A man named Jake.

Chapter Thirteen
    Jake was a dick from the start. When introduced to Emma, he took her hand on the pretext of shaking it and squeezed it a bit too tightly for her comfort, yammering all the while about how nice it was to finally meet “Valerie’s girls.” But it was the way he shook Gracie’s hand, holding on to it for an uncomfortably long time, that made the little hairs on the back of Emma’s neck stand on end. The moment her younger sister turned away to get Jack a beer at Valerie’s insistence, Emma noticed the pervert checking out the thirteen-year-old. She suspected that Valerie had seen how he looked at Gracie with longing, but her mother gave no indication that she had caught on. Emma shot her a scornful look as Valerie nervously moved closer to Jake and put her arm through his.
    Later that night, as the girls lay in bed, Emma told Gracie firmly, “You stay the fuck away from that asshole Jake. I didn’t like the way he looked at you. Do you understand?”
    Alarmed by her sister’s gruff tone, Gracie immediately agreed to steer clear. “Emma, why does Mom have to let him sleep here tonight?” she inquired. “We just met him. What’s wrong with her? When I grow up, I’ll make sure I don’t turn out like her. I’m going to be like you.”
    Emma rolled over and gathered her sister in her arms, holding her close. She couldn’t sleep for most of the night, sensing that something bad was looming. Anger welled in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t like Jake and intended telling her mother about her feelings in the morning. If Valerie wanted to date him, then fine. But Emma didn’t want her bringing him home again.
    The next morning, after Jake had left, she confronted her mother. “Why did you let Jake sleep here?” she asked. “This is our house! Haven’t you put us through enough already?”
    “Listen, Emma,” Valerie retorted, “this is my house, not yours. I like Jake. He thinks I’m beautiful and sweet. He’s also good to me. Do you have to be so mean about him? This is exactly why you always made your father angry. It’s your bad attitude. You want everyone to feel sorry for you .”
    Emma shot back, aghast, her temper flaring. “You saw the way he checked out Gracie last night. Don’t pretend you didn’t! Get your fucking head out of the sand, Mom! You’re a selfish woman. You helped Dad torture us. I’m sick of you!”
    Valerie gasped. “What the hell are you saying, Emma? What does that mean? You know I had nothing to do with how your father treated you girls!” she argued.
    Emma retorted, “Yeah, sure. You had nothing to do with it! That’s why you locked yourself in your bedroom while your husband was hurting us! You’re as much to blame as he is!”
    Beyond irritated, Emma stormed out of the house and made her way across the street to find Brianna. She couldn’t wait to tell Brianna about Jake. The two girls got into Pam’s car and drove off so that they would have privacy.
    “He’s not even good-looking like my asshole father!” Emma snorted contemptuously. “Bri, you should have seen