Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
The woman was heavy-set, a tank-top stretched over her front and belly with scrub pants, the kind a nurse would wear to work. She wore no bra and her dirty blonde hair was long, but messy. A portion stuck up on the side of her head, as if she’d been sleeping on it. The rest was flattened in the back. Her makeup looked old, applied days ago and forgotten. She had a cigarette in her mouth, and she’d stepped outside to smoke it. Her hand was rising with the lighter, but she paused at seeing us.
That was Shannon.
There were slight similarities to Brett, but not much. They were big-boned. That ran in the family. The way their jaw and chin were structured were the same. There was a flattening from their eyes to their hairline that also looked the same.
Nothing else, though.
The guy, I didn’t even want to look at him.
Tall. He lumbered over her, also big-boned, but not heavy-set. He was solid. Mostly muscle, but not ripped how Brett had worked his body into being. He had a white T-shirt, stained yellow in giant splotches. Baggy jeans hung off him. Dark greasy hair that stuck up all over as well. He’d not shaved in a day or two. His skin, a weird red and white pallor, was flushing red as he also stared at us. He flicked an impatient look over his face, rubbing at his eyes briefly before blinking multiple times, then leaning forward to squint at where we were.
“Who’s there?” she barked, not sounding scared. She lit her cigarette now, taking a puff and holding it to the side before she exhaled.
I hated her. She was too smug. Too comfortable.
She was going to piss herself when she saw her brother, who had tensed all over again. He was getting ready to pull back, but I held him in place. He wasn’t staying because I was forcibly making him. He was staying in place to indulge me, and I used this time for my advantage.
I began whispering into his ear, as I pulled one of my hands between us, running it over his chest. I was using any weapon in my arsenal to bring back the rest of my Brett because once he turned around, she couldn’t see her old brother. She couldn’t have him.
He was mine.
“I love you because you’ve only called me Willow one time.”
I felt Brett go solid.
I wasn’t letting him go. “I love that you didn’t play with my mind when we first met. You asked me out. You told me you were interested in me. You laid it all out between us. I love you because you crashed two of my dates. I love you because you know how I love being pressed against things and being trapped, but how I only love it because it’s you who’s doing it. I love that you like sleeping under the stars, because it’s one of my favorite things to do too. I love that you drove me around to see Halloween decorations. That you took me to goat yoga. That we slow danced in the middle of a group of bikers.”
Some vehicles were approaching, then slowing down to park.
Doors opened and closed. Heavy footsteps thudded on the pavement.
I touched his cheek, pulling his head back so he could see me, only me. “I love how much you love your nieces and nephews, and now that you’ve met Will’s children, you love them just as much. How you’ve kept tabs on your family members. How you continue to support them even though they have no idea about it.”
There were voices talking.
I ignored them all because I hadn’t gotten all of my Brett back. There was a feeling, a warmth that wasn’t full blast yet. I didn’t have my sunshine in my hand, not all of it.
He was close. So close.
He tensed, fighting against himself. His hands were rock hard. His stomach was a cement wall. He was breathing harshly. His hand moved to grab onto me, curling around my back, half splayed down over my ass.
“I overheard your phone call the other day. I know you’re setting up a scholarship so Stevie can go to some rich private high school. I didn’t mean to overhear, but I was walking past and your office door was open. And your voice carries.” I readjusted my arms around him, moving higher around his neck, and I pressed my forehead to his chest, speaking, “I know that’s not the first scholarship you’ve set up and it won’t be the last. You seem to have absolutely no idea, but you are a good person. Present day. Now. Today. You are not who you were back then. You might’ve almost slipped tonight, but I’m here and I am not letting you go. You got that? I’m not letting you go. You had one job back then and it was to survive. Which you did. Congratulations, but you’re not that person anymore. Your twin isn’t here. You got out and Stevie will too, but not at the expense of me losing you. Are you getting what I’m saying? You do something stupid and I’m doing it with you. I’m right there with you. Where you go, I go.”