Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“I’m excited to be here. I volunteered back in my hometown, and I’ve missed it.”
She seemed pleased by that. I knew I was going to like her. There was a kindness in her ridiculously insane eyes.
“So, you aren’t here to look good on a college transcript then?”
I laughed. “No. I’m not attending college. Just here because I want to serve a purpose. Do something good.”
Haisley crossed her arms over her chest, grinning. “We are going to be very good friends, Aspen. I can already tell.”
If only she didn’t look like a supermodel, I would be okay with that. Ugh, I hated myself for even thinking that. What was wrong with me? I couldn’t start worrying about another girl taking Levi away from me. I’d drive myself crazy.
“Did you recently move here?” she asked.
“A few months ago,” I replied. “I lived with my gran, but she passed away. So, I moved here to be with my sister.” I stopped then, not wanting to talk about Irish and what had happened.
“I’m sorry to hear about your gran,” she replied sincerely.
Desperate to get the topic off me, I decided to turn it toward her. “You’ve volunteered here for a long time?” I remembered Patty saying five years, but it was the first thing I could think of.
She nodded as a shadow of grief crossed her face. “Yeah. Five years. My little sister, Salem, had leukemia. This became her second home. I’ve been volunteering here since she passed away.” Haisley dropped her arms and let out a sigh. “Anyway, let’s get things started. The first group will come in about an hour. The activity supply closet is this way.” She waved for me to follow her as she headed out of the room.
“I’m sorry you lost your sister,” I said.
She paused, then glanced back at me. “Yeah, it was hard. Thanks.”
“I lost my sister too.” I said the words before I could stop them. “The one I moved here to be with. She was killed shortly after I got here.”
Haisley’s shoulders slumped. “Damn,” she whispered. “You’ve had a rough year.”
“It’s starting to turn around,” I replied, thinking of Levi. “I’ll always miss them.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t go away.” Her voice was soft. Then, she let out a small laugh. “Well, we got deep right off the bat. Told you we were gonna be good friends.”
The next few hours flew by as we worked nonstop. I loved every minute of it. Bringing smiles to kids’ faces, those who didn’t have many reasons to smile, brought me a peace that I needed, that I had missed. Facing death was never easy. Especially as a child. I’d been that kid once. Not sure I’d make it to adulthood. I wanted to take their minds off all the other things even if only for a little while.
We began to clean up after the last group of the day. Haisley left to get a broom while I wiped down the tables. When the door opened, I expected to see her, but instead, it was a man. He was older than me, but I wasn’t sure by how much. Dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his tattoos were on clear display since he only had on a leather vest with no shirt underneath it. His blue eyes locked on me. His face was attractive, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t evil. There was a darkness in his gaze that terrified me. I was preparing to scream when the door opened again, and Haisley walked inside.
She frowned at the man. “You’re early. I’ve got to clean up first,” she told him, sounding annoyed.
Relief hit me so hard that my knees felt weak. Holy crap. She knew him, which meant he wasn’t here to kill me. This wasn’t someone connected to the gang who had killed Irish. I was okay. Taking a deep breath, I tried to hide the fact that I’d just been on the verge of screaming my head off.
“Aspen, this is my brother, AJ,” Haisley told me. Then, she looked back at him. “Go wait outside. You’re gonna scare people.” She rolled her eyes and began sweeping.
His eyes were still on me. “Aspen—that’s a unique name,” he drawled.
This was Haisley’s brother. Not a killer. I could see some resemblance to his sister. His eyes were a lighter version of hers, making them appear more blue. However, there was no kindness in his gaze.
“Yes, and so is mine and all of our siblings’. Yours is too, but you go by your initials. Go wait outside,” she snapped at him.
He didn’t move. His tongue came out to lick his lip, and a flash of metal surprised me. I turned back to wiping down the tables.
“How old are you, Aspen?” he asked.
“Oh my God. Are you serious right now?” Haisley turned on him, raising her voice. “I swear, I should have just taken the bus. Go, AJ!”