Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 72071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
I threw myself into his arms. “You can and you will. Because if you don’t, I won’t have anyone to take care of this baby.”
He seemed to understand completely what I meant and froze.
“You’re not dying, Theo,” he growled.
“No, not yet,” I admitted. “But they’re going to find a way to ruin this for me, and you know it. You know it.” I looked at him sadly. “Wasn’t that the whole point of my life anyway? It’ll be okay, big brother. I promise.”
With that, I pushed him toward the door.
He didn’t want to go.
I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t want him to go, either. Because the moment he left my father’s house, I’d be locked into this hellhole until he could convince my father that another visit would be nice.
“Ty?” I called when he got to the door.
He looked over at me, his face distraught.
“Yeah, Theo?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about me,” I told him. “I don’t want you coming back here. Ever.”
He looked like he wanted to turn around and beg me not to do this.
But he’d give it to me.
Because there were only a few things that I had control over in my life anymore.
“And don’t ever mention me to anyone. My child’s life depends on it,” I said.
Tyson closed his eyes.
“I love you, Theobird.”
“I love you more, Tyrosaur.”
Prologue II
I don’t think the therapist is supposed to say ‘wow’ that many times during a session.
-Coffee Cup
Liner
2 years ago
I stared at my good friend with a thoughtful expression.
“Why is Tara being all nice and shit?” I asked softly.
Rome shrugged and looked over his shoulder at Tara, who hadn’t immediately screamed at us as she walked out the door.
She’d smiled sadly, waved, and disappeared into her bedroom.
“Her eyes are different,” Rome said. “I think she’s wearing contacts.”
I’d noticed something different about her, but now that I thought back to it, I realized that it might’ve been her eyes.
I tried not to look at or anger Tara in any way. And we all knew that I did and would if I engaged her in any way. I just couldn’t help it. Tara was such a bitch to Rome, and even to their kid, Matias.
It was hard to see a kid treated like that because then I’d think about my own childhood, and get all the angrier.
Needless to say, Tara was a crazy Bitch with a capital B. Rome had really picked a winner to have a kid with, that was for sure.
“I didn’t notice,” I said. “Other than the fact that she didn’t storm out of here and bitch about our coasters.”
Rome grunted and pointed toward the coffee table where Matias’ drink, a glass of chocolate milk, was sitting on the coffee table. Without, might I add, a coaster.
That was so unlike Tara that it had my eyes narrowing in surprise.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
“No clue,” Rome murmured. “And I’m not rocking the boat. It was nice to walk in here and not be treated like I was a piece of shit or the antichrist.”
Or yelled at. Or a punching bag.
There was that one time that I’d walked in on Tara going to town on Rome, calling him every name in the book, all the while little Matias watched on from the couch.
I snorted. “That’s the truth.”
Tara hadn’t even yelled at me, which she would have under normal circumstances. She hated me. Despised. Loathed.
There wasn’t a single piece of her that didn’t dislike everything there was about me and more.
Hell, all I had to do was look at her as we took our trash out at the same time for her to lose it.
As it stood, today’s Tara had only given me a wary look and walked away when she realized she wasn’t needed any longer.
“I guess yell if you need me, then,” I murmured as I headed for the door. “Doesn’t seem like you need a buffer today.”
Rome nodded and went to the couch where his son was lying, watching How to Train Your Dragon.
“Thanks, man,” he said. “Appreciate it.”
I walked out of the house, but the rest of the day I kept my wary eye on the place, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Yet it never did.
It was about five hours later, an hour past when Tara would’ve normally kicked Rome out without thought or care, that I got curious.
What the hell had happened to Tara, and who had replaced her?
First, she doesn’t lose her shit when we go inside—like she normally would have.
Then she doesn’t leave, storm out like her ass is on fire.
Followed by her leaving him alone the entire freakin’ time, allowing Rome to spend time with Matias without worry that Tara would slam inside, losing her shit, and demanding him to get out hours before his time was up.
And now? The icing on the ‘holy shit, she’s acting somewhat normal’ cake? She allowed him to stay past his normal four hours.