Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Like I was nothing. Just like everyone eventually did.
And now, I was expected to trust that he would just do the right thing?
“He left,” I said quietly.
John sighed. “He had family shit to deal with, Montana. He wanted to stay; believe me. But he couldn’t.”
I held up my phone and then dropped it back to my lap. “He couldn’t have called?”
John shrugged at that. It was one thing I could appreciate about my brother. He wasn’t one for making up lies and excuses for someone else’s behavior, and there wasn’t a real reason Jonah hadn’t even sent a single fucking text to me. And like fuck was I going to be the one to reach out to him first. He had left—not me.
John pulled into a parking garage and fed money into the parking machine to get a parking permit. He slid it onto his dashboard so it could be seen through the windshield and then pulled through the gate, finding a park on the first floor.
“Jonah stays in the building around the block,” John told me. “Come on.”
I shook my head. “I’m not ready to tell him, John.” My voice cracked, giving away my inner turmoil. “I don’t even want to believe this is happening yet. I can’t tell him.”
John reached over and grabbed my hand in his. “You can, and you will, little sis. Come on. I’m by your side the entire way; I promise.”
He got out and closed his door. But he just came around my side and opened my door, not giving me a choice in this. “Come on.”
With trembling hands, I stepped out of John’s car and wrapped my arms around my middle. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me out of the parking garage to the sidewalk. We walked in silence for a few minutes, and he finally pulled me to a gentle stop in front of a historic building. He pressed a keycard to a sensor, and I heard the door click.
It was now or never, and if it were up to me, it would be never. But John wasn’t having that shit. He was forcing me to face this whether I was ready to or not.
We rode the elevator up to the fourth floor and stepped off, going down a couple of doors before John knocked loudly three times. I almost thought he wasn’t home and had begun to breathe a sigh of relief when Jonah swung the door open.
My breath caught in my throat.
He had just gotten out of the shower, his hair dripping, water running down his chest, a towel loosely slung around his hips. His muscles were bulging like he’d just gotten done working out before he showered.
“Hey,” he greeted. He looked tired. “Everything good?”
“Maybe,” John said. “You mind us coming in?”
Jonah shrugged and stepped back, holding the door open wider for us. “Make yourselves at home while I grab some clothes.”
He disappeared into a bedroom off to the left, and John walked into the kitchen. “You want something to drink, little sis?”
“No,” I mumbled, looking around. The place was barely furnished—a single couch, a small TV resting on an old, scratched-up coffee table. He either hadn’t been living here long, didn’t care to furnish anything, or didn’t have the extra funds to do so.
Jonah stepped back out of his room wearing a pair of low-slung jeans and nothing else. He was towel drying his hair, his muscles flexing as he did so.
“So, what’s up?” he asked John.
“Need to talk,” John told him.
Jonah frowned, then nodded his head, gesturing for us to sit down. He dropped down on the edge of the table his TV was resting on. “Sorry I don’t have more sitting room,” he apologized. “Haven’t had time to get anything.”
I stared down at my lap. I could feel Jonah’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth. John sighed. “She’s pregnant, Jonah.”
Silence.
Silence followed his words, and it created a deafening silence. My chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself. I whimpered, my hands clawing at my shirt. “Hey, sis, easy,” John soothed. “Look at me,” he ordered. I felt his hands on my face. “Montana, open your eyes and look at me.”
I snapped them open, but instead of looking at John, I was still looking straight ahead, and Jonah was crouched in front of me. He placed his hands on my knees, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles.
“Just breathe,” he soothed. “It’s alright, baby girl. Just breathe.”
I sucked in a sharp breath of air. My lips trembled. Tears welled in my eyes. Jonah gathered me into his arms and held me there, his hand running over the back of my head. “You’re okay,” he soothed. “I’ve got you. Everything is going to be just fine.” He looked at my brother. “You mind giving us a minute?”