Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“Sara,” I whisper. “I know you love Georgie, but please don’t take her from me. I know it’s you who keeps calling out to her. She’s desperate to meet her mommy, but let me hold on to her. She’s all I have left of you. We’ll all be together again one day, and when we are, we’ll have until the end of time, but please, baby. Please bless her with a long life. Let her find a love like ours. Let her experience life and all its beauties. Let her have children and raise them the way we didn’t get to do together. Give her a chance to have the world.”
With a heavy, pained sigh, I look up at the sky and blow her a kiss before finally backing away from her headstone, each step sending a searing pain right through my chest.
Finding myself wandering the streets, I pass the same liquor store from earlier and head in to grab another bottle for the night, cracking it open before the payment has even gone through. The cool liquid burns on its way down my throat, and I welcome it like I welcome Gigi’s touch.
Ahhhh, Gigi. She’s a gem. She’s like the devil who’s come to torture me, especially today. I wish it could be easy between us, that I could simply invite her into my life and promise her the world. Only Sara keeps holding me back.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Sara’s dead. Gone. It should be simple with Gigi. I should be able to wake up every day with her by my side. Instead, I hold her at arm’s length.
She told me she was falling in love with me and she was fucking right, I wasn’t ready to hear it. Hell, the way fear blasted through my chest and crippled me was torture. Luckily for me, she said I didn’t have to say anything. Otherwise, I’m sure I would have fucked it up right then and there.
But on the other hand . . . hearing those words from her was incredible, and I don’t know how she’s doing it, but bit by bit, she’s thawing me from the inside out, and every day, I find it just that bit easier to breathe.
Gigi is amazing, and I’m a fucking bastard. She deserves more, just like Sara did.
Before I know it, my hand is raised into a fist and banging on the familiar door. I wobble on my feet as I wait for it to open, and I shove a hand out to steady myself, gripping the door frame above.
The door is ripped open, and I instantly fall into the room, stumbling forward.
Oops. Maybe that wasn’t the doorframe I was holding.
Oh well.
I crash into someone who manages to somehow dodge me before I go hurtling down to the ground. My eyes focus as someone hovers over me, looking down at me in concern, and as I see Gigi’s gorgeous face, a wide smile stretches over my lips. “Well, hey, sweet cheeks,” I slur, trying to reach up and pull her into my chest, all the way down here on the floor.
Gigi bats me away as I try to pull myself up, the world spinning from all the way down here. “Are you drunk?” she questions with distaste.
“Ummmmmm, maybe,” I grin, my hand braced against the wall to keep me upright as my other reaches out for her. If I could just lose myself in her body, maybe I’d forget about everything else. Get her naked and feel her burning skin under my fingers.
“Don’t even think about it,” she mutters, batting me away again.
“Come on, babe. You can’t resist me,” I grin, remembering just how delicious she looked wrapped in that towel and how desperately I wished I could give her what she wanted. “You love me, remember?”
“Sean,” she snaps, stepping into me and shoving me hard against her closed door, though how it got closed is a mystery to me. “First off, you’re drunk. You smell like rum, you can hardly stand straight, and it’s all over you. Secondly, you’re being an arrogant asshole. I’ve been messaging you all day. Your sister called because she was worried about you and no one could find you. And thirdly, if you think you’re about to get something from me, you’re dead wrong.”
Ha. Dead. You know who’s dead? My wife.
“Babe,” I say, letting out a heavy breath and moving into her, my hands at her waist. “I’m gonna take a wild guess that you’re not feeling it tonight?”
“Damn right I’m not feeling it,” she argues, disgust and anger in her eyes, making me realize I am being an arrogant asshole. “You’re a mess.”
Damn straight I’m a fucking mess. “I’m drunk.”
“I see that,” she says.
“What the hell is going on out here?” Mel asks as she comes out of the hallway. She takes one look at me and scrunches up her face, probably assuming I’m here to screw Gigi well into the morning. She grabs her bag off the kitchen counter and walks toward us before giving Gigi a quick hug. “I’ll leave you guys to it,” she says before reaching for the door handle behind me.