Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 131821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
My lips twitch with a smile, and I look back toward the water, to my little family, but Chase’s words repeat in my mind, and I look his way. “When did you know?”
“When I showed up at her place that night and you were already there.” He looks away. “I had no idea why she was so upset. I assumed she was having a bad day and needed someone, and I could relate, so I ran home after practice, got some things together, and headed out. When I first saw you, I thought she asked you to come, too, and you just beat me there. I was like, okay, cool, and I didn’t feel so bad about it taking me so long to get there, and then you took off.” He shakes his head, sitting up and mimicking my position. “I was confused as hell, but she was crying, so I left it alone. Later, I learned she didn’t call you at all, and that was right about when she told me it was the one-year mark since Deaton passed. The second she said it, I was like, fuck. I wanted to be there for her, but after all we went through last year, man…” Chase sighs, looking me dead in the eye. “I love you. You’re my brother, and I just couldn’t, so I took off. It wasn’t until I was halfway home that I realized I was making another fucking mistake. I knew you better than that. And pissed off at my presence, angry that she called me, and confused about why, none of that mattered—you’d have still wanted me to stay so she wasn’t alone.” He looks away. “I swear, it seems to be one fuckup after another for me nowadays. Starting to think that’s all I am.”
“You’re not, man, and you figured it out.” He meets my eyes again, guilt in his own. “You were there for her when she wouldn’t let me be, and even though I was a dick about it—”
“Even though you reminded me what your right hook felt like.” He forces a smirk.
A chuckle leaves me, and I nod. “Even with that, you had her back.” Gratitude overwhelms me, a knot forming in my throat, and I look away. “That right there, that’s why you’re my brother.”
His hand lands on my shoulder, squeezing, and I blow out a long exhale.
“I can’t believe I almost fucked up my eligibility and put my scholarship a risk. I’d never forgive myself if I let you guys down like that.” I swallow. “Or her. Them.”
Chase nods, not making excuses but saying, “Yeah, well, at least you got your head out of your ass before it was too late.”
I chuckle, and this time when his hand reaches out, he gives a little shove, and my ass flops over. Spinning, I come at him, and we wrestle around the way we have for years, but I’ve got one up on him now.
“Someone’s got some new moves,” he notices with a laugh, flipping me and coming down, but I hook him under his knee and around the neck.
“This is a cradle, my boy. Big D’s signature move.”
He laughs, tapping out, and as we flop onto our backs, a blond sheet of curls falls over my face, and a perfect little man throws himself down on my chest.
I grunt, laughing as I lift him into the air. Bringing him down, I kiss his cheek and look up at my girl. “Time to go home?”
She smiles softly at the two of us, and I don’t miss the little blush crawling past the neckline of her sweater. “Yeah, time to go home.”
We say goodbye to my aunt and uncle, climb in the vehicle, and then we’re off.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Payton
As we take the exit toward campus, Mason lifts my hand for what must be the fiftieth time in the last few hours, pressing his lips to my knuckles. I roll my head along the seat, staring at him as I’ve done most of the trip, and he chuckles, meeting my eyes a moment before facing forward again.
We drove all day, and I’m exhausted, but I don’t dare fall asleep. I don’t want to waste a minute of my time with him. It’s clear he feels the same, and while he couldn’t sleep if he wanted as the driver, he makes sure to touch me every few minutes with both his eyes and his hands.
Thankfully, when I had my moment a few days ago, I didn’t call my job, so my room is still mine to come back to at the staff building at Avix U.
My lips tip up as I run my fingers over the small lotus flower Mason gave me, remembering what he said but also what I read when looked it up for myself the night he left. Mason and I, we are resilient and strong, and we did grow from a place of darkness, finding our own light. I like to think maybe Deaton had a part in this, that maybe his death wasn’t in vain but a blessing, offering the promise of new beginnings, just like he did in my dream.