Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
“Nope, in a few days, just enjoy the way the rest of us have been.” He grinned and logged off, leaving me to roll my eyes at the blank screen. It was a knee-jerk reaction, I know, but there was more to my panic. I’ve been watching Cassie for a long time, even though I’ve kept my distance because she was too young, so I know some of what she’s been through with bullying at the hands of Mandy and her crew of asshole wannabes.
I was afraid for a moment that she was subjecting herself to some unnatural shit to fit in or some other stupid shit that teenage girls are subjected to when no one else is looking. Part of it is the guilt I feel for leaving her behind even though there was no way around it. Now that I’m here, and with all that I’ve learned in the last few hours, I can see that it was a mistake, though I can’t see how I could’ve done things any differently.
I’m leaning hard towards using what I know to blackmail her sperm donor and incubator into giving her to me and letting me take her out of here without any hassle. I know from everything she’d done and put herself through that she feels a sense of responsibility to them, and though I admire her for it, I’m going to put a stop to it anyway I can because they’re undeserving selfish fucks. Well, her dad is; the jury’s still out on her mom.
I don’t know the first thing about postpartum depression. Sian didn’t have anything like that. But then again, Sian has about a million hands ready to help, a mother and mother-in-law who are ready and willing to drop everything at the drop of a hat to rush to her side and a husband who hovers like a damn cyclone, she’s good.
Cassie’s mom, on the other hand, had a husband with a roving eye and a second child after fifteen years of giving birth to her first. I guess I can cut her some slack, but still… She came back to the table, and I tried not to be an asshole about her ass. I changed up my thought process and got back on track with our date.
“I’m sorry if it sounded like I was questioning you before baby, it’s just that I wasn’t expecting your ass to look like that. You’ve really grown up, haven’t you.” Why the hell do I sound like a pervert? Time to change the subject and get my mind off of her ass in those jeans. I have two more days before…
I cleared my throat and pretended an interest in the menu. “Have you decided what you want to have?” Focus on the menu, focus on the menu… but her ass in those jeans. And now that I know she hasn’t harmed herself to look like that, it’s all I can think about. The next two days are going to be hell. Unless I can get her to wear a gunny sack…
‘The pineapple, mandarin salmon. I’ve been dying to try that. Or the coconut mango mahi-mahi.” She bit her lip and looked at me like the beautiful unspoiled beauty I remember, and my heart did that tuck and roll thing in my chest. No wonder the others are so damn stupid. If they feel half of this shit when they look at their girls, it’s a wonder their knuckles aren’t still dragging when they walk.
“I’ll have the mahi-mahi baby, and you have your salmon, and you can try mine; how about that?” With the sparkle in her eye, you’d think I’d offered her diamonds. One of the things that caught my eye about her more than a year ago is that unassuming way about her. She has an innocence that radiates in the midst of all the others around her—the ones like Mandy who are way too into themselves and their convoluted self-aggrandizement.
That’s why she fits in so well with my sisters; all of them have that quality to some extent, well, except Valerie, she used to be like that. Now Track spoils that girl so much she’s got wings of steel, and she’s taking the others along with her. It’s something to behold, watching these young women come into their own. I want that for her. I want to see her in their midst soon.
I want to walk around the apartment mumbling and groaning about some shit she’d done to my brothers, who were all going to add their two-cents and add something their own woman had done to get under their skin. As I sat there watching her so excited over her salmon, the need to want more with her welled up inside me. I want everything and now.