Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“What’s going on? You didn’t answer my text. You took all your stuff…you’re freaking me out.”
“I-I’m sorry about the text. It’s j-just that…that…” Gaze cast down, she exhales tiredly. “I can’t l-live like this. Always wondering when I’ll get a call that something h-horrible has h-happened to you. I don’t want to live like this––”
“You don’t have to,” I jump in, already in panic mode.
“What?”
“You don’t have to––not anymore. I see your point.”
“Y-You say that now, but w-when your friends call with the next b-big adventure––”
“I promise––”
“––you’ll end up r-resenting me.”
“I won’t.”
“Why the c-change of heart now?”
I pause long enough that defeat shows on her face. She’s losing hope and I don’t ever want to give her the chance to doubt me. She’s the first person in my life I don’t want to let down. She’s the best decision I ever made. I won’t let this get in the way of us.
“The waves were breaking at twenty-five feet high…no joke, it was some sick shit. Everyone was itching to get out there…I was about to paddle out so I stepped in the water, and as soon as it rushed over my feet, all I felt was dread…”
She blinks, steps closer. “It’s n-natural to be scared––”
“I didn’t say I was scared, Dora,” I shoot back with an indignant edge in his voice. This is not about fear.
“Sorry––”
“Don’t apologize.”
Damn, laying it all out there is hard. Maybe it is about fear. That twenty foot wave felt less dangerous than the truth.
Filled with nervous energy, I run both hands through my hair and tug. “I’m sorry. I’m fucking this up.” I laugh at myself. It’s humorless and strained, the discomfort all over me.
“No––you’re not.”
“I felt dread that I would never see you again, Dora. That’s what scared me. Not the prospect of cracking my skull on the reef––that didn’t make me feel shit. Or drowning…but never seeing you again…” A bottomless despair hits me. “You’re what turns me on now, what fires me up. I’ve never felt more alive than when I’m with you.”
Tears fill her eyes, her lips tremble. I open my arms and stand my ground. She’ll have to come and get me if she wants me. I can’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to. She has to come willingly.
And she does.
She walks right into my open arms and hugs me back.
“I don’t need to chase anything. All I want is right here…I love you, D.”
“I love you too.”
“Am I still dumped? Because I’m stuck on you like Gorilla glue, Dora Ramos.”
She giggles into my shirt. “I d-didn’t dump you.”
“Erroneous. You took all your stuff.”
“I was upset…and I had to study for my c-chem test.” My smile fades as we stare at each other.
“So you’re saying I’m undumped because I’m so good-looking you can’t stop wanting me?”
She shakes her head, her warm loving eyes holding mine. “I’m saying I love you for you…” On her toes, she place a brief kiss on my lips. “No other reason.”
“Will you come back home with me? I can’t sleep without you.”
She nods and I breath a sigh of relief. Life is good again.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dallas
“W-what are you thinking about?”
I glance up from the fire still burning in the pit and check out the girl of my dreams. Lying back on the pool lounger, her big eyes watch me from above her book. She’s been busy studying for the GRE she’s taking soon. Which reminds me on a daily basis that I’m going to lose her next year––a fact that I am in no way ready to deal with.
“Well? W-what w-were you thinking about? You get this really s-serious face when you’re mulling something over.”
No one has ever asked me that question. Not one person in all my twenty-two years. Not that I can remember at least.
I get up from my pool lounger to straddle hers. Taking the book from her, I drop it, grab her face, and kiss her like I mean it. She giggles and it hits me in the chest, a slow warmth spreading through my limbs, driving out the loneliness.
“W-What was that for?”
“For being my girl…because I love you… for giving me a chance. Does a man need a reason to kiss his woman?”
She snickers. “No.”
I had no intention of falling in love. I thought I’d done a pretty good job of avoiding that dangerous condition for the last four years, and yet here I am. “You.” The truth feels good on my lips. “I was thinking about you. I want you to meet my family––Brenda. My grandfather…”
I unblocked my mother a few weeks ago. Seeing Dora and Katherine attempting to have a civil relationship makes me want to try with my problem parent too. Life is short. Too short to keep carrying around this resentment.
“We can add my shitbag of a father at some point.” Fuck knows why I would subject someone I care so much about to my family, but this feels necessary. Significant even.