Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 33445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“Sweetheart. Please don’t cry, Lilly. It breaks my heart,” Riley whispered against her hair.
She let them lead her out to the living room and onto the couch. Tallin handed her a box of tissues as he sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close to his big, hard body.
She wiped her tears away. Riley moved beside her and sat down next to her.
Lilly had wiped her tears, but she continued to cry, a torrent, a physical show of her emotions.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Riley said, rubbing her hand that rested on her thigh. “Let it out.” He sounded in pain, and when she looked at him she saw the worry on his face as he watched her.
Her chest heaved as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to calm herself in front of the two most important men in her life.
“It’s okay to cry, Lilly. We’re here and not going anywhere,” Tallin said, his hand on her back, big, steady, warm.
She nodded, but didn’t want to break down in front of them. She looked down at where Riley’s hand rested on hers. She brought her gaze back to his face, his brows drawn together with concern and sadness.
She looked into those amber-colored irises and saw love and kindness reflected back, understanding and compassion. She turned and looked at Tallin, his jaw set tight as he tried not to show his emotions.
“I’m going to miss him so much.” She lowered her head to stare at the ground for a second before squeezing her eyes shut again. Hot tears tracked down her cheeks.
“We all will, sweetheart. We have to get through this. Christian wouldn’t have wanted us to cry over him. He would have wanted us to stick together, to keep each other strong.”
She nodded more to herself than at what Riley had said. She knew he spoke the truth, but she didn’t know if she would be able to let her grief pass.
“Let her get it out, Riley,” Tallin said and started rubbing her back.
“I didn’t even get to see him before he passed away.” She choked up on the last few words. She clenched her hands into fists, curling her fingers into her palms.
She was so angry with herself for not being able to hold it together, especially in front of Riley and Tallin.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Lilly,” Riley said and grabbed her hand in his, giving it a squeeze. “We didn’t get to see him before he passed either. It was weeks since the last time we saw him. I talked to him a week ago, but it seems like forever ago now.”
“It’s true. I haven’t seen him since last month, and I haven’t talked to him in a couple of weeks.” The pain in Tallin’s voice was evident.
She stared into Tallin’s face, finally seeing a sliver of sadness break his otherwise steely composure.
“He’d been working in Silver Spring for the last week on some big construction contract. He was actually on his way home. We were all going to get together since it had been so long.” Riley shook his head, stopping for a second. “He was ten miles from his place when he ran over some black ice and went into a ravine.”
Lilly placed her hand over her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut. She’d known what had happened, but hearing it from Riley, from one of the men she loved so much, that knew Christian the way she did, was so hard.
More tears came, but she got control of herself, knowing she needed to be strong. Despite the fact she didn’t want to envision it, Lilly couldn’t help but picture the whole horrific accident in her mind.
“He must have been so scared,” she whispered. She tried to push the thoughts away, but they were like a broken record, playing over and over again. Tallin brought her closer, and she rested her head against his chest.
“The way he crashed made his death instant,” Tallin said softly, but it didn’t make her feel any better.
Even though the pain was indescribable, she was glad Riley and Tallin weren’t keeping this from her. She wanted to know the details, wanted to know how one of her best friends had left this world.
Call it sick or dark, but she needed to know.
“I’m glad he didn’t suffer.” She pulled away and turned to look into Riley’s eyes, knowing he would have been one of the first people to be at the scene.
“We are, too, sweetheart.” Riley smiled softly, sadly. Riley reached a hand out and brushed away one of her tears.
“Things will be okay, Lilly.” Tallin continued to rub her back in slow and gentle, but sure strokes
“I don’t think anything will ever be okay, Tallin.”
Tallin embraced her again and kissed the top of her head. “I hope that’s not true.”