Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 78732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I clapped him on the shoulder and started a conversation with him. Turns out, he made a lot of mistakes in life. He wanted to provide the best life for his family, and in trying to make that happen, distance grew between him and his wife, to the point that she left him because he was never around.
"She said I care about my job more than I care about her and the kids," he had muttered, his voice clogged with emotion. "Can't she see I did it all for them?"
I didn't understand back then why he was so torn up about it. What was the point in getting upset over a woman who couldn't take a step back from her own selfishness and take a long, hard look at what was right in front of her?
It wouldn't take years of therapy to try and figure out why I instantly wanted to blame her. Hello, mommy issues.
What I couldn't see back then was his dedication to his wife and family is what got him up every morning. Without them, he felt like he had nothing worth living for.
I don't know what happened to that man. I never went to that bar again, but I'd like to think that they reconciled. Honestly, how many relationships end because one person is blind to how the other person really feels?
Could he have actually changed? Was he a workaholic so his family could thrive or is that just what he told himself to feel better about leaving his wife practically a single parent?
"Does it even fucking matter?" I mutter, the coffee I've drunk burning a hole through my stomach lining.
"What was that?" Rooster asks, making me snap my eyes up to him.
"Nothing."
"Is it nothing that has you sitting in here at the crack of dawn, muttering to a coffee cup?"
"You're up this early also, idiot," I remind him.
"I haven't gone to bed yet," he says with a shrug, heading to the coffee pot, as if he has no intentions of going any time soon, either.
"Is this about your wife?"
I narrow my eyes in his direction, my sleep-deprived brain trying to determine if he's mentioning Kaylee to get a rise out of me.
"I'm just drinking coffee, man," I mutter and drop my eyes back down to the cup, much in the same way as that man in the bar did all those years ago.
What if they didn't reconcile? What if the next day he stepped in front of a bus? What if he lived a lonely miserable life after that night?
God, I don't want to be a miserable fucker who's pining after a woman I've only known for a fucking week.
I just met her. How in the world has she become so damn important to me so quickly? It doesn't make sense.
"You're bent out of shape because the woman you didn't think you'd fall for has you all tangled up in knots," he says as he pours a cup of coffee. "I don't know much about relationships because I'm just not the type of guy that lets people in, but if you're as upset as you appear to be, maybe you should do something about it."
"What does he need to do?"
I groan with irritation as Bandera comes into the kitchen, also arrowing straight for the coffee pot.
"We’re discussing Heathen's plan on getting his woman back," Rooster answers, making me snarl in his direction.
His smile is wide as he lifts his coffee cup to his lips, and I swear I see a glint of amusement in his eyes.
"Do you find joy in my pain?" I ask, wanting it to sound more like a joke, but it comes out so sullen and ridiculously sad that his smile quickly fades away.
"Shit, man," he mutters.
"What I'm hearing is that Kaylee is single," Bandera says.
"Kaylee is single?"
"I swear to fuck," I growl at Twisted as he enters the room, immediately joining the conversation like we're all fucking best friends.
"How in the world did you mess things up with her?" Twisted asks, pulling a coffee cup out of the cabinet. "She was head over heels for you."
"She wasn't," I argue.
They all give me their full attention, a line of assholes staring at me like I've somehow ruined their lives.
"Seriously?" Bandera asks, his eyes darting between the other two men. "How could he not see it?"
"Mommy issues," Rooster mutters, giving me a sad look. "Sorry."
"Just how fucking deep did you dig into my life?" I snap at the man, feeling like my privacy has been invaded.
Rooster pulls in a deep breath, holding his coffee cup against his chest with two hands before he speaks.
"You know all those physical tests we had to do?" he asks.
"Yeah."
"And the ones where you had to go through the dossier of several cases to find the link to the sex trafficking ring?"