Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
It’s after six, though. So the show’s over.
Finally, he closes the gate, gives instructions to two men who must be on the night shift, and turns in my direction, tippin’ his hat to me. “Sorry. People. They just take their sweet time like we’ve got nothing better to do in this world but say goodbye.”
I walk over to him, wrap my fingers around his lapels, and lean up on my tiptoes.
He kisses me. Nice and long, too. A few people start calling out, but he doesn’t stop. Eventually, though, all kisses end. And when he pulls back he says, “Did you have a nice day, Lowyn?”
I let out a breath, look around a little, find Rosie and Taylor off to the side of April Laver’s bakery givin’ me a thumbs-up, and shake my head.
“No? How could you have a bad day in a place like this?”
I look up at Collin. “Sorry. No. I was shaking my head at the prattle-prates over there.”
He looks and finds his little fan club waving at him. Then he shakes his head too. “This place, Low. It hasn’t changed a bit, but everything is different. When did the Revenant bikers start harassing people and tearing up grass?”
“Oh, about five years ago, I guess. People love the fuckin’ bikers. They can’t get enough of them, so it’s good for everyone if they come by and tear up the grass every now and then. Keeps the sod farm in business, at any rate.”
Collin plays with my hair, smiling down at me. “You wanna come over for dinner?”
“At my house?” I ask, chuckling.
“Oh. No. The compound. I gotta have a little meeting with Amon. I figured you could pick the church while I did that and then we’d have dinner.”
“Dinner at the compound?”
“Nash has the nice house. He’s throwin’ a little party tonight for all the new hires. Which, I have to be honest, is no small thing. But he’s into that kind of shit. How about it? Sound fun or…?”
He lets that question hang there for a moment. And I like it. I have to be honest. I like that he’s not taking my answer for granted.
“Sure. Sounds like a really good time.”
It also sounds like a date.
Collin does feel like my best friend, and it would be very easy to just slip into the past. But that would be a habit and I would prefer that we start something new instead. So I’m glad he’s asking me instead of assuming. Even though we’re already kinda living together.
At least temporarily.
“Great. Let’s go. I can’t wait to get out of these fuckin’ pants.”
I just shake my head. But he takes my hand and that’s how we walk home.
Holding hands.
There are quite a few people still lingering in town and the highway is backed up at both ends with cars trying to leave—one end leading to Bishop, where people choose to stay the night, the other Revenant, where people choose to party. So this walk home with my high-school boyfriend isn’t anything particularly special as far as the scenery goes.
But I feel like I’m floating and I have a weird awareness of… safety. Which makes sense, I guess. Collin does run a security company.
Oh, Lowyn. That’s not why you feel safe with him.
No. It’s not. Two seconds. That’s why I feel safe with Collin Creed.
Soon enough we’re at the house. Collin has his key ready and I really have to pause here, at least internally, because this man who has been missing in my life—has been a gaping hole in my life for a dozen years—is now living with me.
Last week we didn’t even know if the other was alive.
I want to slow it down. Kind of. Not just to enjoy it, though I do want to enjoy it. I wanna slow it down because it’s just going so fast. Not too fast, mind you. Just… I don’t know. I’m not sure what this feeling is. It’s anxiety, maybe. Or something less negative. Like… uneasiness.
Because it’s all happening like a dream. Like a movie script or a book. Like it’s not real.
And I am desperate for this to be real.
We go inside and Collin drops his keys on the counter like that’s where they’ve been living his entire life. Then he looks at me, smiling. “Do you wanna take a shower with me.”
It’s not even a question. It’s a statement. Not like he’s expecting me to say yes, but more like this is just something we do. We shower together. And like he’s asked me this question a million times already.
“Sure.” And I answer him in the same no-big-deal way. Like I always say yes when he asks to get naked with me. “Come on. The really great bathroom is upstairs.” I take his hand and lead him over to the stairs on the far side of the living room.