Total pages in book: 191
Estimated words: 182070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
It was fine.
I sniffed.
Okay, it wasn’t fine, and I was a fucking idiot for thinking I could do this shit. That I could see it and deal with it. That my lack of expectations would keep me grounded.
He didn’t need me. I was just his old friend who made him feel… safe. He hated silence. He missed home.
I was a fool. A fool in so many ways I couldn’t even begin to count them.
But I wasn’t going to be for much longer, and I knew what I needed to do.
I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the shower.
That was when my phone rang again. It was a one-eight-hundred number.
Chances were, it was nothing to be excited about, but….
I answered it. “Hello?”
“Hello. Can I please speak with Ms. Brannen?”
“That’s me,” I answered.
“Great. I’m so glad to get you on the phone, Ms. Brannen. I was calling you in regards to the claim you filed….”
* * *
The next thing to wake me up was the knocking at the hotel room hours and hours later.
The super light knocking.
One peek at my phone showed that it was eleven thirty at night. There were a couple of missed texts from Connie… and from Zac too, apparently. I’d answer them in a minute, I figured, getting to my feet with a yawn. I peeked into the room with the kids. The two little boys were sharing a roll-out, twin-sized bed, and the little girl, Fiona, was passed out in her crib.
We’d had a lot of fun earlier.
I wasn’t sure who had been more surprised by it: me or them, the Graves family. Because when the doorbell at the house had rang that afternoon, when I’d known Zac had to be at practice, I’d been surprised to see the family standing on the other side of the glass door.
Zac had told them I was there. Zac who had texted me shortly after Trevor called to tell me he was fine and was I okay? Like he hadn’t gone missing.
Then somehow, one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I’d taken them to the Children’s Museum and to do a bunch of other fun shit.
The Aiden guy still didn’t talk much, but he smiled a lot around his kids and his wife. He’d even given me a tiny smile when I’d let his kids chase me around and acted super over the top as I fell to the floor when they’d gotten me. I’d learned that huge man was now retired from the NFO, and according to Vanessa, Aiden was very happy as a stay-at-home dad. I had to admit it was pretty adorable to imagine him that way. So it hadn’t been any kind of hardship to offer to watch the kids if they wanted to go out.
And surprisingly, they had agreed, promising to be back around midnight.
Which was a few minutes away.
Why would they be knocking on the hotel door anyway? They wouldn’t risk waking their kids up, and I’d given them my phone number.
With a yawn, I went up to the balls of my feet and glanced through the peephole.
I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t twist a moment before it started beating faster. Racing. Okay, it was racing… like a horse that wanted to get away.
But I wasn’t that kind of person, and like I’d told myself already multiple times over the course of the morning and afternoon, Zac hadn’t done anything. None of his actions had anything to do with me. Now if he talked shit about me, that was one thing; if he failed me or lied to me or wasn’t there when he’d promised to be, that was something else too.
But all he’d done was go out, like he had every right to, and hang out with women, like he also had every right to. It wasn’t like I hadn’t known he had a life. Yet none of that knowledge did a single thing for my heart.
It didn’t change the decision I’d made earlier either. If anything, I was more determined than ever to do what I had come up with.
So I opened the door and forced a small smile on my face before closing it mostly behind me, standing there in the gap to hopefully block our voices.
And Zac was there, in his oldest jeans and an old burnt orange college T-shirt, looking tired and worried. He had a big game this week, after all. His future depended on it. It was also past his bedtime.
“Hi,” I whispered, noticing how those light blue eyes moved over me. What? Making sure I was fine?
“I tried textin’ and callin’ you when you didn’t get home, Bibi. I was worried about you,” he said carefully, still looking me over.
I kept that stupid smile on my face. “Sorry, I had my phone on silent.” Lies, it was on vibrate. I just hadn’t seen a point in replying while I’d been awake.