Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Read Online Books/Novels: | Bad Intentions (Bad Love #2) |
|---|---|
Author/Writer of Book/Novel: | Charleigh Rose |
| Language: | English |
| Book Information: | |
Lo Moving to River’s Edge was supposed to be a fresh start. Away from chaos. Away from bad influences and worse relationships. All I wanted was to give my little brother more of a chance than I ever had. It should’ve been simple. I didn’t count on my transgressions following me. And I definitely didn’t count on meeting Dare. Tall, tortured, and tattooed. A Lost Boy through and through. Falling for someone like him was asking for heartache. But I was a sucker for punishment. Dare I had a routine. Eat, work, sleep, repeat, only ever doing the bare minimum to keep up appearances. I kept my circle small and my guard high. I spent years making sure I didn’t repeat the mistakes of my past, forming an impenetrable layer of ice around my heart. Then Logan showed up in my town, in my tattoo shop, testing my patience along with my self-control. She was fire and I was ice. I should’ve stayed away. But I had been cold for far too long. | |
| Books in Series: | Bad Love Series by Charleigh Rose |
| Books by Author: | Charleigh Rose Books |
SAME SHIT.
Different day.
Different climate.
New start.
Or, at least that’s what I’m telling myself as I dig through my still-packed bags, searching for a clean sock—it doesn’t even have to be a matching one, just a clean one—in the tiny shoebox of a bedroom at Henry’s cabin. Henry is my father. The father whom I haven’t seen since I was eleven years old. The father who bailed on our family long before that. The father whom Jesse barely even remembers, seeing as how he was only seven when our dad left for good. The father who reluctantly agreed to let Jess and me stay with him when shit hit the fan back home. All out of options, I unfolded the scrap of paper I’d managed to keep hidden from Mom all these years—the one with my dad’s address and phone number—and made the call. We went from the shittiest part of Oakland to River’s fucking Edge, Nowhere, USA. Population: us, and like three other people.
I grab one of Jesse’s socks and bring the dingy, off-white thing to my nose before deciding that it smells clean enough. I throw on my old pair of black army boots that hit just below my calf over my black leggings, button up my oversized flannel, and pull on my gray beanie over my messy hair. I make a mental note to buy us some actual winter clothes with my first paycheck. You’d think it would still be warm in October—granted, it’s practically November—but you’d be wrong. When people think of California, they think of palm trees and beaches. But here? Way up here? There’s nothing but mountains and pine trees. Which, I’ll admit, is part of its charm, and I’d probably be in heaven if it weren’t for the fact that I’m fucking freezing and Henry already lectured us not to turn the heat above sixty.
I stand with my hands on my hips, scanning the room for an acceptable hiding place. The mattress sits on the floor next to a busted old nightstand. The closet is overflowing with storage and trash bags full of God knows what. It’s not that I have anything of value to most people in this particular bag—besides the few bucks I have left to my name—but it’s all I own. My entire life has been reduced to three duffle bags. And if I’ve learned anything from growing up with an addict for a parent in Oakland, it’s always hide your shit. I bend over to zip my bag shut before wedging it between the nightstand and the mattress. It will have to do. Henry says River’s Edge isn’t like The Bay Area, and while that’s clear, I’d argue that people are the same at their core, regardless of their zip code. We’re all flawed, selfish humans doing what it takes in order to survive. Myself included.
I suck in a fortifying breath, taking in my new life, and mentally preparing myself for what today holds. I have to enroll Jesse in school, fight with him to get him there first, then apply to anywhere and everywhere in this one-horse town so I can pick up a job. Henry said he could try to find something for me to do at his auto shop once a week until I find something else, but what the hell do I know about cars? I mean, I could probably hotwire one, but I don’t know anything about maintenance. Plus, I need to work more than one day a week. I walk out of my new room, kicking the door shut behind me.
“Jess!” I yell once I enter the living room, only to find him still asleep, with one arm and one leg hanging off the edge of the couch. “I told you to get up twenty minutes ago!” I nudge him in the ass with my foot until he groans and rolls over.
“Why the fuck won’t you let this go?” Jess mumbles, pulling the blanket over his eyes. “I’d be more help getting a fucking job than wasting time with school.”
“It’s your senior year,” I argue, tugging the blanket off his face. “You can’t quit now.” I won’t let him. Where we come from, it’s a rarity to even make it that far. Myself included. I dropped out my junior year to work full-time and take care of him. I don’t regret my choice, but I want more for him.
Jess rolls his eyes and snatches an old cigarette out of the ashtray on the coffee table and lights it up before taking a drag. He stands and pulls on his crumpled-up jeans from the night before and throws on his beat-up brown boots, not even bothering to tie the laces.
“Happy?” He shrugs. “I’m dressed. Let’s fucking go.”
“It’s cold out,” I scold him, but I smile when he grabs his jacket and backpack off the recliner next to him.