Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57499 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57499 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
These people had known me my whole life. I’m pretty sure mom had shared all my triumphs with them, what would they think of my one huge failure? Or was I, like my eldest brother had said, making too much of it. People faced these things everyday after all.
Chapter 5
DONOVAN
The party seemed to be in full swing by the time I reached the Spalding residence. Yes, I held out as long as I could, but in the end, there was no way I could miss seeing her tonight. It was almost like a fever in the blood this need.
Would she have changed a whole lot from the girl I still pictured in my mind? Will she be happy to see me? Or will I just be another face in the crowd?
I searched her out as soon as I entered the room full of people. My eyes were automatically drawn to her like a magnet. After all this time, it was still the same, that same kneejerk reaction to her beauty.
I said a few absentminded hellos to people in passing, but my entire being was focused on her. Surreptitiously of course, couldn’t start the tongues wagging too soon.
Had to get the lay of the land first. To everyone here, I was just a friend of the family, someone who had been close with her brothers since kindergarten. No one would question my presence here tonight.
Everyone seemed to be having a good time, everyone that is except the guest of honor. Could no one else see how sad she was?
"She's not having a good time is she?"
"Oh hey Jus." He'd snuck up behind me.
"I expect you to fix that shit as soon as possible."
"Excuse me?"
"Dude, don't you think I know you have the hots for my little sister?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
What the fuck, could I really be that transparent?
"I was there when your heart fell into her little hands bro."
"What?" Had I fallen into some alternate universe?
"Her sixteenth birthday party, when it fell, that shit was as loud as a thunder clap. We had a good laugh that night; you should've seen the look on your face. Looked like you'd been gut shot." He started laughing, while I went into a tailspin.
"We, who's we?"
He gave me the ‘don't be an ass’ look.
Well shit, what was I in for now? I really didn't want to deal with this tonight.
"Who else knows about this?"
"Pretty much the whole family, including dad." He wiggled his brows at me and I'm man enough to admit, I felt a little trepidation at that. Chief Spalding was not to be trifled with, and especially not when it came to his little girl; the man was a bear.
"I have to say, we appreciate you not putting the moves on her back then, I wouldn't have liked having to rearrange that pretty boy face of yours."
That sounded about right. It was one of the reasons I’d never done anything about the feelings she invoked in me back then. The fact that it would’ve cost me my best friend, and that she was so fucking young. Too young for the things I wanted from her back then. But she was all woman now.
"If you guys knew this, how come I'm still breathing?"
"Because we trusted you not to do anything about it. Then."
"So what're you saying?"
I studied him, to see if he was trying to set me up, or some shit. I no longer had a young man’s fear of being taken down by the men in her family, but I wasn’t about to step in it either.
When I finally get my hands on little Ms. Shania, there will be nothing standing in my way. But these things needed to be handled the right way.
Knowing how her family felt about her, I knew I had to be sure that this was something we both wanted. Just because I was finally ready to make my move, that didn’t mean that she was on board. It might take me some time to get here there after what she’d just been through. One way or the other, I intended things to end with her under me though.
"Are you that dense? Bro, you're both adults now, have been for a while, no need to hold back anymore. Besides we've talked about it, and we all decided, you're just what she needs. She needs someone who's going to really love and take care of her, especially after what that asshole did to her."
Did he have any idea what he'd just done? He'd basically given me the green light, the go ahead. The one stumbling block in my way had been the men in her life. I’d wondered how I was going to get past their defenses, how I was going to convince them to let me have a shot without too much blood shed? Now here he was, telling me the path was clear.