Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Chad turned his truck into the drive. Gracie was midsentence about the pink glitter strung through one of the pony’s manes when she gasped. “King Buttmunch!”
The seat belt clicked, and the back door flew open.
“Gracie—” I started, but she was already off across the drive in a cloud of yellow netting.
Hendrix cut the mower as she sprinted across the weed-covered lawn. “Princess Dingleberry!” Grinning, he bent down, opening his arms wide just before she collided with his broad frame. He scooped up my sister, wrapping his tattooed arms around her little frame as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.
My heart clenched right along with my ovaries.
He’d always called her Princess Dingleberry, and she’s always called him King Buttmunch. I couldn’t even remember how it started or why.
“Huh,” Chad said. “Never expected Hunt to—”
“She loves him,” my voice cracked. As much as had been taken from me, it had been taken from her, too—and Hendrix. “She’s like a little sister to him.” I slid out of the truck and rounded the front.
When I was close enough to hear them, Gracie was giving Hendrix the spiel about the party. “...and we got to ride them.” She traced her tiny finger over the tattoo on his neck. “And we went swimming because Sara’s house is a castle with a pool.”
“Yeah?” He stared at her, enthralled, while she rambled on and on, talking at him.
And I stood to the side, watching, my heart weaker than it had ever been for him because I was weak for Gracie. And the pair of them together… Hendrix had raised her more than our own mother, certainly more than her sperm donor father.
“Monkey,” Chad called. “We have to go.”
Hendrix shot a look across the yard that said he wanted to rip Chad’s arms off and beat him with them.
“But I don’t wanna go.” Gracie clung to Hendrix like velcro. “I miss him too much.”
The kid was killing me.
Tears stung my eyes, and I tilted my head back to blink them away before brushing her cheek. “I know, but Miss Emma is waiting on you to go home.” Home. I hated that it wasn’t here anymore.
Shaking her head, she buried her face in Hendrix’s chest again. “No!”
Hendrix patted her back. “Hey. Come on. Look at me.”
Slowly, she pulled back, her teary gaze aimed just at him. I’d always been a little jealous of the easy bond they had. I was sister and mom for most of her life; the one who said no and made her go to bed. Hendrix…well, he was just her favorite.
“I miss you too much, too.” He swallowed, and I knew it upset him as much as it did me. But it was what we had to take. Whatever tiny slivers we could get.
He tucked a tendril of her blond hair behind her ear. “Do you live in a castle now, Princess Dingleberry?”
Nodding, she squished his cheeks together.
“Then you gotta go. A castle has to have its princess, right?”
She nodded again, and when he lowered her to the ground, she reluctantly released him.
I took her hand and led her across the lawn. Every few steps, she’d look back over her shoulder at him. Even Chad stared at the ground like he wished it would open up and swallow him.
When she reached the drive, Chad crouched to pick her up, then wiped the tears from her face. He really cared about her. She really cared about him…
“We’ll come back, monkey.”
And I hoped he meant that. It would be cruel to get her hopes up, but I had no doubt Emma Lancaster wouldn’t want Gracie around Dayton’s local criminal.
I couldn’t say Hendrix was good, but he was for me—had been for me—and for her, he was the very best.
I leaned in and kissed her reddened cheek. “I love you, Jellybean.”
She sniffed. “Love you.”
Chad buckled her in before climbing into the fancy truck that looked so out of place here—just like my sister in her yellow princess dress.
I fought down the helpless feeling that I wasn’t good enough to keep her as I watched the truck back out of the drive and disappear around the corner. When I turned back around, Hendrix was on the bottom porch step, an angry glare aimed at the spot where Chad’s truck had been parked.
I approached the house and took a seat beside him, his thoughts clear as day. If there was one thing Hendrix hated, it was anything Barrington. “Chad’s her foster brother,” I said.
His chin dropped to his chest, his knee bouncing in agitation. “I’m sorry you lost her.”
“It’s fine.” I hated the heaviness between us, the heaviness of the situation I felt powerless to change. “You know I’m cursed.” I bumped my shoulder to his while I feigned a smile.
“You’ve always thought you were cursed.”
“Yeah, well. I managed to text my ex-boyfriend, of all people, about a room. Now I’m living with him… What else would you call it?”