Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 79670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Gabriella is here,” I admit, and she smiles bigger than she did before.
“I like her,” she says.
“I like her also.” I sit up in bed, putting another pillow behind my head. “A lot, actually.”
“I didn’t think you guys were still together.” My mother folds her arms over her chest. “You stopped mentioning her.”
“We weren’t,” I tell her, my heart speeding up in my chest. “That’s why I came to Dallas.”
“Aw,” my mother says, looking at my father and smiling, then stopping when she sees something. “Your sister is here.” She grabs the phone and turns it so I see my sister, Ryleigh, walk toward the table. “Say hello to Romeo.”
“Hey,” she says, sitting down at the table and my mother puts the phone down so I can see everyone.
“Your brother is in Dallas chasing after Gabriella.” She fills in Ryleigh.
“I’m not chasing after her,” I say, and my sister just looks back at me.
“Does she want you to chase her, or are you being some perv, just showing up at her house?” Ryleigh asks, and of course she goes straight for the jugular.
“We are seeing each other,” I explain to all of them and my father just smiles.
“So you got her back,” he says, and both my mother’s and sister’s heads fly to him when he says that.
“Why would he get her back?” my mother asks at the same time my sister looks at me.
“What did you do?” Her eyes go into slits.
“I sort of…” I try to think of a delicate way to say what I did, but there is no delicate way. “I cheated on her.”
Everything happens at the same time: my mother gasps, my father hisses, and my sister hits the table. “You did what?” My mother is the first to say something and she grabs the phone from the table so I can only see her face, and she’s brought it very fucking close to her face. “I better have misheard what you said.”
“What a douche,” my sister comments, and my mother glares at her. “Don’t look at me like that. That is your son.”
“Okay, I’m going to get coffee,” my father says, “and Ryleigh is coming with me.” I hear some grumbling from her.
“Bye, Romeo,” Ryleigh says. “I hope you fall dick first into a cactus.”
“What is wrong with you?” my mother asks and then turns back to look at me. “You need to explain yourself right now.”
“There really isn’t much to say,” I admit to her. “I was stupid and did something I will regret for the rest of my life.”
“You were stupid?” she repeats, and I don’t know if she is asking me or mocking me. “You were stupid? I don’t think so.”
“I was stupid,” I say again.
“I thought we raised you better than that,” she states, and it fucking kills me that I disappointed her, “to just not think of someone else’s feelings and to be that selfish.”
“I know, Mom,” I huff. “You think I don’t know that?”
“Don’t you dare use that tone with me.” She glares at me. “I don’t even want to know how she found out; actually, scratch that. How did she find out?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I evade her, the pit of my stomach burning.
“Did you tell her, or she heard from someone else?” My mother is not going to let this go.
“She walked in and saw it,” I confess. The shame is so big right now. I wish there was a hole that would swallow me up whole. “Then I called her.”
“She walked in and didn’t burn the house down?” she asks. “She’s way classier than I am.”
“Oh, I know,” I agree with her. “Trust me, I know.”
“I would have not only burned the house down. I would have done it on Facebook live.” I try not to laugh but I can’t help it. “And she is going to give you another chance?”
“That is what she said,” I tell her. “I’m going to earn her trust back and show her that I’m not that man.”
“You are definitely not the man we raised.” She shakes her head. “I can’t even with what you did, Romeo. What the hell were you thinking?” Her voice goes soft.
“All the brain was in his dick. Therefore, he wasn’t thinking.” I hear Ryleigh and then see her again when she sits next to Mom. “Like of all the things, why cheat?”
“Can we just give your brother a break?” my father urges. At that moment, he knows he fucked up when the two of them look over at him, and the look equals death. “He’s making it better.” He tries to lessen what he said.
“So I can go and sleep with a man and then apologize, and I’ll make it better?” my mother says to my father, who looks back at me and glares. “That sounds like a great plan.” She pushes away from the table.