Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
I close my eyes, stretch my arms out, and tip my head back.
I’m soaked in seconds, the cold droplets rolling over my body.
I don’t stop.
I stand there until the sound of a truck coming to a stop has me lifting my head up. A man gets out, narrowing his eyes.
“Are you okay, miss?”
“I’m okay, thanks,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself.
“You’ll get a chill standing out in this rain. There is a bad storm coming, is that your car?”
I look behind me to the car. “It is. Sorry, I was just ... I’ll go.”
I walk over to the car and pull on the door handle. It’s locked. How in the hell? I glance in and see the keys on the front seat. The car has automatically locked, thinking I wasn’t in it. I jerk on the door handle again. Then I rush around and try the others. I’m locked out, in a storm, and my phone is in the car.
Just my luck.
“You need a ride?” the truck driver asks.
I have no other choice, really.
“I’ve locked my keys in the car. I don’t have a spare, so I guess ...yeah.”
“Where are you going?”
I give him the address to my cabin, hoping Carson will be there waiting like he said and we can bring my car back to get his. I feel bad that I’m leaving his car on the side of the road in a storm, but I have no other choice but to go with this man now.
The wind is picking up and the thunder is rolling in.
It’s not safe for me to be here.
I get in the truck, not realizing it’ll be the worst thing I could ever possibly do.
I should know better.
But I don’t.
18
THEN – BOHDI
“Daniel,” I say to my friend when I reach the bar and find him sitting on a stool, sipping a beer.
I didn’t expect to see him here. I came to escape for five minutes, because dealing with Isla and Sherry calling me over and over, was getting too hard. Our son is days off being born and, quite frankly, I needed five minutes to myself. Isla has been spending her days out, leaving me with Sunny. Meanwhile, I’m juggling work and trying to pull myself together after Sean.
I’m not dealing.
And dark thoughts have been creeping into my mind.
Thoughts of leaving. Of disappearing.
Of leaving this entire world behind and starting as someone new.
Anyone.
I can be whoever the fuck I want to be.
But that means leaving my boys, and my family, and I made a promise that I would never leave them.
“Bohdi, hey,” Daniel says, looking shocked to see me. “Didn’t think I’d see you here.”
“I needed a break. Pregnant wife and all that.”
“Yeah, how’s things going?” he asks.
I shrug. “The same as always, brother. How are you?”
“Findin’ an escape from Sherry, she’s fucking crazy. If it wasn’t for the fact that I know she’d drown on her own, I’d be out of there. But she’s an addict, and I’m trying to get her help so she can get her shit together and I can leave.”
“That bad, huh?” I mutter.
“You have no fuckin’ idea what it’s like living with her. I love her, I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t, but fuck it’s getting harder and harder every day. She’s accusing me of shit and acting completely fucking crazy.”
“Yeah, she paid me a visit a few days ago.”
He exhales. “Fuck. I’m sorry, man.”
“No truth to her statements?”
He stares at me. “No.”
“Any idea where she got the idea?”
“Nope.”
He goes back to his beer. I have no fucking idea whether to believe him or not. He looks like he’s telling the truth, in fact, he looks like he doesn’t give a crap, but that doesn’t mean this doesn’t involve him somehow.
“Well, either way, Sherry is causing problems, and it would be good if they stopped.”
“Doin’ my best.” He nods. “She isn’t easy to deal with. You should think yourself lucky. Isla might be a lot of things, but she’s sure as shit saner than her sister.”
He makes a valid point.
“Another beer?” I ask.
He nods.
I order another round and we drink until it’s time for me to go home.
When I arrive, Isla is asleep on the sofa, hand on her belly. She is beautiful, and I feel fucking horrible that I’m not giving her the love she needs. She deserves a husband who comes home, sees her like this, and thanks the lord he has her.
I don’t feel that way.
It’s a fucking hard truth.
I go check on Sunny, who is sleeping soundly, tucked on his side, and I’m reminded why I stay.
That boy needs me.
He needs me to be a better father than the one I was raised with.
I think about Sherry’s accusations, and the fact that she claims Sunny isn’t mine and our new son, isn’t either. Thinking of that fact makes my stomach twist in a way I never thought I’d experience.