Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
My dad sputtered at that assessment and launched into a gaslighting critique of my judgment. But at this point, I was too frustrated by my weekend to deal with him. He’d never learn. That was something he’d proven time and time again. He did things for his benefit and his benefit alone. If we fit into his schemes, then he included us, but never what we wanted or needed. I was tired of being a pawn in his endless game. I was ready to take myself off the board.
“Go home,” I said, cutting him off. “Make yourself the victim all over again. We’re in the wrong. Always. Always. Whatever you have to tell yourself. But it’s not my problem anymore. Just go home.”
Then, I closed the door in his face. He banged his fist on the door twice. I leaned back against it and waited for him to leave. I knew I’d have a bunch of texts and calls, railing against me for asserting myself. I had a pit in my stomach at the thought of it all. And before it could happen, I blocked his number.
A weight lifted from my shoulders the second it was done. Owen Wright was out of my life. He wouldn’t get another way back in. He’d try—I knew that much—but it wasn’t like he was suddenly going to go to therapy and become self-aware. So, it wasn’t my fucking problem.
I waited until he retreated to his rental car and drove away before moving from my position. It was finally over. I never would have gotten there before Eve. I wanted to call her and tell her what had happened so bad. I even pulled my phone out to do it, but at the same time, I didn’t want to cross her boundary. She needed space. She’d let me know when she was ready to talk.
Instead, I found a text from Colton waiting for me. It was a picture of him sweeping at the lake house. He was flipping the bird at me.
Despite everything, I laughed. What a little shit.
How’d it go?
👎
Yeah, I’d expected that. Jensen had been relieved that I’d gotten him home safe. That didn’t mean there weren’t consequences to Colton’s actions. Consequences he likely deserved after the shit he kept pulling.
Need any help?
dad said no help
I can deal with Jensen.
good luck with that boss
Maybe it was overstepping my bounds, but I felt responsible for Colton after everything he went through. He’d wriggled his way into my life, and I didn’t want him to suffer alone. Plus, I couldn’t sit around here all day after what happened with my dad and wait to hear from Eve. Some physical labor might help.
So, I changed into jeans and a T-shirt and headed back out to Ransom Canyon for the second time in so many days.
The house looked worse in the light of day. A half-dozen large black trash bags were already full to bursting on the front porch. I hadn’t even noticed the outside when we drove up last night, but the lawn was littered with trash—beer cans, plates, toilet paper. Glass glittered from the deck surface. Another window had a hole in it the size of a baseball. Had someone put their fist through it?
I parked my Lexus next to Jensen’s pickup out front. I was nearly to the door when Jensen came outside.
“Did he call you?” Jensen asked.
“Text.”
“I told him he had to do this alone. Sorry you drove all the way out here.”
“Oh yeah, he told me.”
“Then, what are you doing here?” Jensen pushed the door closed behind him, shielding his fifteen-year-old son from our conversation.
I shrugged. “You know, I really don’t know. Except that I feel responsible for the kid and I want to help.”
Jensen looked skeptical. “He should do all the manual labor alone.”
“Probably. I could stand by and make fun of him while he works, if you prefer.”
Jensen cracked a smile, the first break in his veneer. “I’d pay you to do that.”
I snorted. “I’d do it for free, man.”
He stepped off of the front porch, as if giving up guarding his youth from getting out of his consequence. We walked back to the cars, and he leaned against his truck, tilting his head back. “Have kids, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.”
“Could be worse.”
Jensen’s head popped up. “How?”
My mind went to Bailey. The vivacious youth that Eve thought the world of. The one who had overdosed last year and was missing this year. There were many more worse off than Colton Wright being a rebellious dickhead.
But I didn’t say any of that.
“You love him and want what’s best for him. So, no matter what he does, he has you to fall back on.”
“Yeah,” Jensen agreed. “I wish he wouldn’t use me quite so literally as a cushion.”
“He’ll learn. We all did.”