Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 186756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 934(@200wpm)___ 747(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 934(@200wpm)___ 747(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
“I actually took a bet,” Shepard confesses, his focus still somewhere else. “Thought it wouldn’t happen. Lost two hundred dollars to Ledge. That fucker.”
“You took a bet against your own brother?” I ask, incredulous.
He comes back to me and shrugs. “I knew he’d fallen for her. We all did. I just didn’t think Con would ever admit to it. That he’d fallen for someone inappropriate like Wyn.” Then, “I’m happy that he did, though. He deserves it.”
I think so too.
I’ve only known the Thorne brothers personally for a year now, but I know their story. I knew it before I knew them. It’s almost a legend in town. And like every legend, it has tragedy and perseverance embedded in the very core of it.
Everyone knows their father abandoned them when Callie was only a few months old. Leaving their mother to take care of all the Thorne children, and since Conrad was the oldest—and in his teens by the time Callie was born—he took the brunt of all the responsibility. Meaning that Conrad stood by their mother, supported her in every way possible while she worked three jobs just to keep the roof over their heads.
As sad and tough as that sounds, it still would have been fine. They were surviving. They were happy even, from what I hear. But then a few years later, tragedy struck again when their mom got sick with cancer. She died when Conrad turned eighteen after her long battle with the disease. At which point, Conrad dropped out of college, left his still-in-the-making but stellar soccer career so he could take care of his siblings.
Honestly, it makes my heart ache just thinking about it.
Just thinking about everything they went through and they did it all alone. I don’t even know how they did it. Just that I can’t help but admire their courage and strength and want to shower them in hugs. I want to even hug Coach Thorne, who looks all kinds of scary to me, and Ledger, who appears so unapproachable with his anger and handsomeness; I regularly hug Shepard and if I met Callie again, I’d give her a hug as well.
And him…
Well, I don’t want to think about him right now.
Not when my best friend is trying to tell me something.
“I was even more surprised when Ledge hooked up,” he informs me as we sway lightly to the music. “Not because he doesn’t deserve it, but because I never thought he’d settle down. He was just too wrapped up in himself and in the game to get involved with someone.”
“But that’s a good thing, right?” I prod when he doesn’t speak for a bit. “Your siblings settling down, finding love.”
“Yeah, it is,” he replies, his eyes boring into me. “Now.”
“What does that mean?”
His answer is to sigh, his broad chest undulating. “I felt betrayed.”
“What?”
“At first.” Another deep breath before he explains, “I felt like I was left behind. Like we were a team, all five of us, or at least all four of us brothers, who took care of our baby sister. But then suddenly, they had someone else they needed to take care of. That they brought into the family when it had always been just us. We were a family. Us and no one else. We knew how cruel the world could be, how cruel fate could be. Everyone who’d loved us or was supposed to love us either died or disappeared. And for the longest time, all we had was each other. We shouldered responsibilities. We wiped each other’s tears. We cheered each other up. We made each other laugh, and… I resented their love in the beginning. I resented my siblings moving on, expanding their world. But then I…”
“Then you what?”
As soon as I ask the question, I know what he’s going to say.
I know.
And my heart breaks.
My heart bleeds for him.
Not only will he hate me if I tell him the truth now and I will lose his friendship—something I’ve never had much of in my life—I will also hurt him.
God, I will hurt him so badly.
And I don’t know how to deal with that.
I don’t know how to prevent that from happening.
From the pain I may cause him one day.
“Then I met you.” He looks back at me. “You were different.”
And I want to stop him.
I want to open my mouth and tell him to stop talking.
To not say the things he’s going to say.
They’re lovely things, wonderful things.
But I don’t deserve to hear them.
He should hear the truth first.
But my voice is gone.
All I can do is stare up at him and his serious expression. Something that’s a rare sight.
His resting face is irreverent and full of playfulness.
“You made me laugh. Not many people can do that. You weren’t impressed by me and my soccer skills. Again, not many people can resist that. Girls definitely can’t. You called me out on my bullshit. And I never thought I’d like that. Every time I put my moves on you, tried to use my charms on you, you remained unaffected. And I thought to myself,” he scoffs, “she’s going to be a challenge. I thought to myself that I liked that. I liked that you were going to be tough to crack. I liked that you weren’t starstruck, that you weren’t intimidated by me. You held your own. You can hold your own. And so I thought maybe she just needs time. Maybe I need to be patient with her, chase her a little. So this is me chasing you.”