Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 80176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
-Text from Kennedy to Evander
Evander
“You’re crushing on the girl?”
I would’ve hung up on my boss had he been on the phone.
Since he wasn’t on the phone, but on the radio, I could do nothing but turn the radio off. But to turn off the radio meant that I wouldn’t hear the rest of the boys talk about me, and that wasn’t gonna happen.
I couldn’t let them get the wrong idea about Kennedy and me.
So, to change the subject, I countered Travis’ question to me and shot one right back at him.
“So…I hear that you knocked a woman up.”
There was complete silence on the airwaves—not a single one of them said a word.
Not Pack. Not Gallagher. Not Anderson.
And sure as fuck not Travis.
It was likely that even more were listening in on the conversation, but the four main players that were previously speaking were no longer full of taunts.
Now, it was the boss in the hot seat, and they weren’t willing to say a word, that or they just knew something that I didn’t.
Either was a possibility.
“Over a beer, my friend, I’ll share that story with you.”
I snorted, lifted the mic up to my mouth, and said what needed to be said.
“You mean you let that woman’s demons become your own, and you chose to let your head rule where your heart should…am I correct?”
Travis didn’t say anything.
“Anyway, I’m picking Kennedy up from the hospital now, I gotta go.”
Travis was stupid.
He’d always let his past control his future, and obviously, a pregnant woman who he deeply cared about was one of those things that he denied himself.
Which, in turn, was why he was stupid.
He’d had a bad thing happen to him once. He’d done nothing wrong.
Yet, Allegra Levaux—the person in his past whom he couldn’t seem to get away from—ruined any relationship that he tried to have.
I’d just decided that maybe an intervention was in order when I pulled into the parking lot and saw Kennedy.
She wasn’t alone.
The arresting officer with my case, my brother, was hovering over her as she sat against the building, staring at her with concern.
I pulled the truck under the portico and threw it into park before storming over to where Kennedy was on the ground with her back leaning against the black glass of the hospital’s entrance. Her arms were around her upraised knees, and her face was buried in them.
Her brown hair was up just like it was this morning, but now it was askew, hanging off to the side of her head where it covered her left ear.
The only thing I could see was her right ear, and that was stained pink.
Her shoulders were shaking, and I could tell that she was crying—mostly by the sobs that I could hear ripping painfully from her chest.
“Kennedy!” I called out the moment I could see her. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
I pushed my brother aside and dropped down to my knees beside her.
The moment she’d heard my voice, though, she’d lifted her head.
When I was in front of her, she threw herself at me and buried her face into my neck.
Tonight … tonight, I’d tell her that she shouldn’t hug me in public. Tonight, I’d tell her that I couldn’t be what she needed me to be.
But for now, now I’d hold her. Now I’d give her the comfort that she needed. Now, I’d be what she needed me to be.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
She sniffled loudly and then moaned.
“My sister was in an accident, and she’s in the ICU,” she said through her tears.
My brows furrowed.
“How’d that happen?” I asked her.
I wasn’t aware that having chemo was dangerous enough to put someone into the hospital, and I said as much.
“S-she never made it to the hospital. Apparently, last night, she had an accident on the tractor, and it tipped over on top of her. They d-don’t expect her to l-live,” she hiccupped.
My eyes closed as I heard the pain in her voice.
Oh, God. That was terrible.
Not to mention incredibly unlucky. First, cancer. Then she falls and gets crushed by her tractor? She had to be the unluckiest woman in the world.
I didn’t say those words aloud, though. She didn’t need to hear my inner thoughts, which were morbid at times.
“It wasn’t an accident,” she whispered into my ear.
At first, I wasn’t quite sure what she was speaking about, but then understanding dawned.
“Shit.”
I looked up at my brother who was still standing there being nosy.
“Go away.”
My brother narrowed his eyes.
“As soon as I make sure she’s okay.”
I grunted something at him, then turned back to Kennedy.
“Pretty girl,” I lifted my hand and smoothed it down the length of her ponytail.
It was soft. So freakin’ soft. I wanted to do nothing more than run my fingers through it for hours.
But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t give her the wrong impression. Couldn’t allow her to get to that point with me.