Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
“Fucking hell,” I heard Huck growl.
That was the last thing I remembered him saying before he faded away.
Three
Shiloh
Uncle Neil continued to go over things with me and make sure I knew where to locate everything that I could possibly need. When he was done, he turned and leveled his gaze on me. This was his serious look.
“I think I need to go talk to Huck,” he said with a deep sigh. “Gage isn’t always pleasant. He can be cruel and dangerous. The way he was looking at you makes me think he recognized you and wasn’t happy with your appearance. Huck had also looked at you as if he knew you. Them knowing you, however, seems very unlikely since they are five years older than you.” Uncle Neil’s eyebrows were scrunched together in a frown. “I just want to talk to Huck first. Make sure he understands the situation. I can’t leave you here until I know that the odd behavior from Gage was just from the pain he was in.”
I wanted to argue. It was time for me to prove I could do a job this serious. I wanted to do more. Get out of the office. However, I had noticed the disgusted look in Gage’s eyes too. It was smart to discuss it and clear things up. If he hated the former me, he needn’t worry. We were nothing alike. I hadn’t liked her choices in life either. Which was why I was here instead of in Boston.
The other thing I was slightly concerned with was that I was attracted to Gage Presley. That was a first for me. Sure, I noticed when people were nice-looking, but I wasn’t ever drawn to them. I didn’t want to look at them or touch them. It was one of the many reasons my engagement had ended. The woman who had said yes to Isaac Jeffrey was not the woman I was today. That man had been intolerable.
Seeing Gage Presley shirtless, even though he was bandaged and badly bruised, had made my stomach flutter. For a moment, I had wondered what arms like that felt like. The muscle ripples on his stomach had been fascinating. Perhaps I wasn’t completely broken in that area. There was definitely a strong admiration for the way that man looked stirring inside me.
I followed my uncle into the kitchen. He’d pointed it out while showing me other areas I would need to be familiar with but he hadn’t taken me in there. Huck was leaning against the counter with a cigarette between his lips, scowling at his phone. There was another man at the table who looked up at us and nodded. His eyes, however, scanned over me with a look of distaste.
“Excuse me, gentlemen, but I think there might be an issue we need to discuss,” my uncle began.
Huck’s eyes lifted from his phone, and then he glanced back at the other man in the room before giving Uncle Neil his attention. I was thankful he kept his glacial-blue eyes off me. He made me nervous. The man was a brick wall.
Uncle Neil cleared his throat, then shifted his gaze to me. “Uh, I believe—or I am concerned that Gage might have known Shiloh before. I can’t see how they would have crossed paths since she is so much younger than all of you. You wouldn’t have even been in high school at the same time.”
Huck’s glare was once again trained on me.
“You ask Shiloh about it?” Huck replied.
Uncle Neil cleared his voice again. He did that when he was uncomfortable. I had noticed it in the office when he dealt with patients.
“Yes, well, you see”—he looked at me again—“Shiloh had an accident two years ago. Her car hit black ice. She had severe head trauma and was in a coma for a few days. When she did wake up, she didn’t know who she was. Shiloh has focal retrograde amnesia, which means she has the ability to form new memories and her intelligence and the ability to learn new skills are intact. She, however, remembers nothing about her life before the accident,” Uncle Neil explained.
This had once bothered me. Not knowing myself or anyone in my life. I’d gone through a series of emotions, but in the end, I had come to accept that I’d been given another chance. I chose to make the best of it and build a new life. One that made me happy.
I finally met Huck’s steady glare. He was studying me as if he wasn’t sure he believed this or not. I’d gotten that a lot too. Especially from Isaac. It seemed hard for people to accept that I truly had no memory of them at all. Isaac had kept trying to make me that girl again by forcing things I had once enjoyed on me. When I was honest and told him that those things didn’t appeal to me, he would get angry. Since leaving him and Boston, I had less migraines, dizzy spells, and seizures. The pressure he had put on me hadn’t been good for me or my well-being. Something my mother refused to accept.