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)
Isadora
That’s not even the point.
Shepard
It is now.
Isadora
Can we just drop it?
Shepard
How many?
Isadora
Please.
Shepard
How the fuck many.
Isadora
Oh my God, I don’t know! And that’s the right answer because he’d do it at every party, okay? And multiple times during the party. Sometimes he’d come over for dinner and I’d be up in my room and he’d come up and strike up a conversation with me. And the whole time he’d stare at my chest or try to touch me. It creeped me out. He creeped me out. There. Are you happy now? 🙄🙄
I know I’m making light of it, but he did make me super uncomfortable. Actually, he scared me too. I’d avoid him as much as I could. Usually, I can handle myself with men. Be it sheer luck or skill, I’ve always managed to come out unscathed in tricky situations. But for some reason, I always thought my luck would run out when it came to the old coach.
My mom obviously didn’t believe me, meaning my father didn’t too. Whenever I complained about him, she would just tell me to stop being provocative or wear different clothes. Or just not be so myself.
So I was glad when they let him go. And they did that because they were able to bring on Coach Thorne. And that happened because of him. Because he somehow pulled his older brother out of his self-imposed exile and convinced him to take the job.
So in a way, I’ve always thought he saved me.
Like he has a habit of doing.
Shepard
I will be.
Isadora
What?
Shepard
When I make sure he gets fired from his current team and never gets a job again.
Isadora
What?!! Why?
Shepard
Because someone needs to teach him a lesson.
I stare at the screen for a few seconds.
Then, without thinking, I type up and fire off my reply.
Isadora
Are all Thorne brothers like that?
Shepard
Like what?
Isadora
Ready to teach lessons to assholes who don’t treat girls nicely.
Because that’s what he said too.
The night of the charity event.
Shepard
Pretty much.
Isadora
Is it because you’ve got a sister my age?
Shepard
She’s older than you. But yes.
I clench the phone tighter then.
Because a giant wave of emotions goes through me that makes me shiver and reminds me so much of him, so very much that for several seconds, I don’t know what to do. But I try to stay focused.
Isadora
Well, no need to waste your protective instincts on me. I’m fine now. He’s gone and he’s never coming back. So can we please get back on track?
Shepard
Which is what?
Isadora
Which is how amazing it is that he’s the head coach now. Well, co-head coach along with Coach Thorne.
Right?
Everything else aside, I’m glad for him.
I really am.
Shepard
I don’t think that was the track we were on.
The track was how as the head coach the very first thing he did was to bench the captain of the team. But can’t deny that this has been a revelation.
I had no idea you were such a big fan of him.
My heart drops then.
At his words.
And something occurs to me. That how strange it is that we’ve been talking about him without really mentioning his name. That how it is understood that the he is him. I don’t know why I’m thinking about such useless things when there’s something else at stake.
The fact that I forgot.
I completely forgot about Shepard being benched because of the news of his promotion.
God what a fucking idiot I am.
Forget being a girlfriend. I acted like such a shitty best friend just now. Instead of supporting him through this, I’m going on and on about the man who caused this in the first place.
Not to mention, this is so against all my promises and plans.
Isadora
Did you guys have a fight?
Shepard
You could say that.
Isadora
About the game?
Shepard
No.
Isadora
About how you played tonight?
Shepard
No.
Isadora
So then about what?
Shepard
About inconsequential things.
Isadora
What inconsequential things?
I wait for his answer then, growing restless by the second.
I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about this.
Bad and angsty.
Twisty and achy.
Shepard
He wants something.
Isadora
What does he want?
Shepard
Something I have that he thinks belongs to him.
Isadora
What is it?
I see the dots going and going, and this achy feeling only grows.
And it grows so much that it gets harder to contain it within the limits of my body. The seams of my skin and the borders of my bones seem to be pulling taut.
Just when I think I will come apart, he replies.
Shepard
It doesn’t matter. He’ll let me keep it.
I have zero idea of what he’s talking about.
Zero.
All I know is I don’t want them to fight.
I don’t.
Even though I know there’s some tension between them. There always has been. You couldn’t miss it or at least I didn’t. Probably because in the beginning, every time I’d strike up a conversation with Shepard about him, he’d wave it away. He’d avoid talking about it. Sometimes he’d get irritated and I’d back off. And so from all that I’ve seen, it looks like Shepard doesn’t like his twin brother all that well.