Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“I’m in the room next door if you need anything.”
“Any chance that’s Micah’s room?” she asks, playfully waggling her brows.
“It’s not.”
She sifts through the bag and pulls out a swimsuit. “Oh, nice. Guy’s got good taste. Think he’ll let me head to the pool downstairs?”
“Don’t need to. He has one here.”
Her eyes bug out. “You seriously need to get with this guy. Can you imagine living here? It’s like a castle… he’s the king and you could be his queen.” She drops into the reading chair in the corner. “I bet Lincoln’s mini-mansion is just as nice.”
“Something you’ll never find out since he’s much too old for you,” I remind her. “And anyway, money and materialistic possessions are not reasons to be with someone. You can’t let those things define your life.” I lock eyes with her. “Mom has been chasing love for all the wrong reasons, and yet, she still has nothing—not even us. Don’t you want to have a different life than hers?
“Of course I do,” Ellie scoffs. She averts her gaze, glancing down at her lap. “But Mom’s a druggy always looking for her next fix. Phil is her dealer. He hurts her. Lincoln and Micah are different. They’re safe and protective. Micah saved us tonight. I don’t think he would hurt us. And besides, he likes you. I see the way he looks at you. It’s different…” She sniffles and her eyes flit toward the ceiling as she tries not to cry. “Maybe if Mom would’ve landed someone like Micah instead of Phil things would’ve been different. Maybe she would be clean and happy and in love.
“Is it so bad that I want you to find love and be happy? You’ve put your life on hold for me, taking care of everything that mom doesn’t. You deserve it. The castle, the king...You deserve it all. We both do,” she whispers.
“El…” I choke out as it hits me just how quickly my sister has had to grow up. She might only be fifteen, but because of the life we’ve been thrust into, she’s been forced to grow up faster than other kids. I thought her crush on Lincoln was nothing more than a teenage crush, but now I see it...her need to feel safe, to have a stable, loving home. As much as I try to shield her from the bad, what I’m doing is just a temporary Band-Aid being placed over an open bullet wound.
I open my arms so she can come to me, and when she does, I hold her tight. “I know it’s scary right now, but we’ll get through this.” I don’t comment on what she said about Lincoln and Micah because she’s not wrong. I felt it when Micah held me earlier. The safeness, the stability, the feeling of not being so alone.
Maybe it’s like Micah said: Sometimes things are too much to handle on our own. We all need someone to lean on, to be there for us, to help us through the rough patches.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Ellie murmurs, her face tucked into my chest.
“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly. “She’s a fighter.”
“A part of me wishes she were dead,” she admits. “But another part of me just wishes she could go back to being our mom again,” she adds.
“Me too,” I agree. “Me too.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MICAH
“Is that bacon I smell?” Ellie asks, descending the stairs, dressed in a pair of pajamas, her hair up in a messy knot on top of her head.
“And coffee,” Sienna adds, dramatically sniffing the air. Like her sister, she’s still in her pajamas with her messy hair pulled on top of her head.
They’re both rubbing their eyes as they stumble down the stairs, the scent of breakfast seeming to guide their movements.
Ellie plops down at the table first and snatches up a piece of bacon, while Sienna goes straight for the coffee, taking a huge sip and then sighing as she drops into another chair.
With Sienna’s mix of brown and blond hair, creamy complexion, and bright blue eyes, she doesn’t look the least bit related to her sister, Ellie, who has darker brown hair, olive skin, and emerald eyes. But as I watch them sip their coffees, butter their pastries, and munch on the crispy bacon, their mannerisms are very similar even if their appearances are different. Sienna has basically raised her sister, and while Ellie has a bit more sass to her—my guess is because even though Sienna might disagree, she’s done a good job of providing a loving, stable home that’s allowed Ellie to spread her wings—it’s obvious they’re close.
“Thanks for breakfast,” Ellie mumbles around her bite of food.
“Any time,” I tell her, taking a sip of my coffee. “There’s a phone in the kitchen. Dial two-one-four and it will take you to room service. They’ll deliver whatever you’d like and charge it to my account.”