Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
I couldn't keep the cheesy grin off my face as I told him that.
It never got old, letting people know I was Baylor’s.
What did get old? Hearing what the old man had to say next.
“Never thought that boy would settle down.” He shook his head. “Was a wild one, Baylor was. Before his accident, I would’ve said he’d never do it. Watching him now is like watching a different person.”
I didn't know what to say to that.
I didn't know the Baylor of before. I knew the Baylor now. And the Baylor now was awesome, sweet, protective, and caring.
The old Baylor was in the past. Just like Rita was.
“So, what do you do here?” I changed the subject.
The old man seemed to humor me on the subject change, and I was grateful.
I didn’t like thinking about the past. And I definitely didn’t like thinking that Baylor wasn’t the same kind of man that he was now.
Which was kind of hard to think about seeing as everyone that Baylor introduced me to had the same thing to say.
Apparently, the Hail boys were beyond wild. They were crazy. They did stupid things and came out alive on the other end. The town also loved them. Who knew?
Probably I should have, but whatever.
“I’m not sure any of us really do anything, per se,” he said. “I come up here once a week to rehab the old shoulder. If I don’t, it gets stiffer than a board and I can’t help Merriam do a damn thing around the house.”
“Is Merriam your wife?”
He nodded. Then shrugged.
“Kinda but not really.”
My eye twitched. “What does kinda not really mean?”
If this man said he was with a woman but cheating on her, I was getting up and leaving.
“We never got around to the actual marriage thing. We’ve been living together for going on forty years...we had kids. It never seemed like the right time.”
“Have you asked her if she wants to get married?” I was curious now.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Technically we’re common law married, and in the eyes of her government, that's good enough.”
“But in your eyes?”
He smiled, his wrinkly skin going up and down with the quick movement. “It’s never been good enough. I’ve wanted to have that woman wear my ring since I was a baby grunt going into the Army. Nothing would make me happier than to have her agree to marry me.”
“Then do it.”
“I can’t. My Merriam...she's dying. They don’t expect her to have much more than six weeks with how fast the tumor is growing.”
My heart dropped.
Life was so unfair sometimes.
“That's awful.”
And it was.
So, so awful.
I reached out and placed my hand on his. “Maybe this is the most perfect time to do it.”
His shimmery with tears eyes came up to meet mine. “You’re extremely easy to talk to.”
With that he got up and left, leaving me alone to do nothing but contemplate my existence.
I watched him until he shuffled out the front door, and even further until he was out of my line of sight.
“I see you met Buck.”
I looked up to find Baylor staring at me with a grin on his face.
“He said you were a bad kid and wild child before you met me.”
Baylor grinned. “I never claimed to be a saint.”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t know you were such an open sinner, though. I might have rethought my options.”
He snorted. “I highly doubt that.”
I shrugged. “You were quite charming.”
At that, he burst out laughing. “I’ll have to remember that next time we...”
His mouth closed as something beyond my head caught his attention.
My back was to a bank of windows, and beyond the windows was the parking lot.
I started to turn, my stomach already churning, and gasped when I saw what he was staring at.
“Does he have a sword?”
It took me a few long moments to figure out that the sword-bearer was also my ex, but my eyes were transfixed on the fucking sword he had in his hand to move up to his face.
And when I did, my belly instantly soured even more.
“Oh, shit.” I looked at Baylor with concern. “Can we call the cops?”
Baylor shook his head. “No. It’s legal to carry a sword in Texas.”
“Since when?”
My voice sounded several octaves higher than normal.
“Since September first.”
That came from another man. One I hadn’t realized came up behind us until now.
He was the same man that I'd seen when we came in. The one with no legs.
This time he was using crutches, and he wasn’t smiling.
He was watching the parking lot with a wary expression.
“When I was first deployed, I didn’t have that sixth sense yet,” he said. “I didn’t get that feeling of impending doom until I had been there for a few months. That little blip on my radar is going ninety to nothing telling me that something’s going on.”