Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
“Yes and no. I knew I wanted her forever when she walked into the bar that night. We have spent almost every moment we could together this last month. I have never in my life felt as good as when I am with her. She seems to make it possible to breathe again. I haven’t been breathing for years, and finally I can take a full breath.” I explained.
“I didn’t ask for you to write a poem. But as long as you treat her right, I have no problem. What was the other news?” James asked.
“Your sister got another note yesterday. This one was left at the back door. She saw him deliver it.” I said solemnly.
“You’ve got to be fucking shitting me! To our back door? Please tell me you moved her out of there. God. My baby is there too. You have got to take them back to the compound. I’ll try to get back home as soon as I can. They will have to give me leave for this.” He said sounding as frustrated as I felt.
“I told her to double up on her stuff and move it in. We will be at my place tonight. But that’s not the worst of it. There were prints on the note. They belonged to Justin.” I said.
A long pause sounded over the line.
“No.” he breathed out.
“Yes. They were his. Elliott checked them three times.”
“Elliott thinks that it’s possible that someone got a hold of his prints and had a mold made.” I told him, giving him everything that Elliott had just told me.
“Okay, we’ll keep an eye out. Watch out for my family. “James said as he hung up. I hung my head and let my hands dangle in between my legs. I sat like this for fifteen minutes contemplating what to do next.
“Sam?” I heard a soft voice call from the doorway. I looked up and there she was. Cheyenne. My heart picked up a little at just the sight of her, just like it did that night I first met her at Deacon’s.
I turned my chair and motioned for her to come. She did, and curled into my lap, rubbing her nose along my neck.
“Are you ok?” she asked, “I knocked, but you didn’t hear me. You seemed lost in thought.”
“Yea, I’m ok. Just some bad news. Did you get everything you need today?”
“Yep, all but the kitchen sink, but you have one of those so no big deal!” she said teasingly. “I think Gabe and Ember have a thing for each other. The entire time today they were eye fucking the other while they weren’t looking. It was quite hilarious. Every once in a while, Gabe would catch Ember looking at him, and he would smile, and she would get all huffy. I loved it.”
I smiled; I loved listening to her talk. She didn’t have that cynical look of the world like I did. She enjoyed life, didn’t see danger around every corner.
“When is your birthday?” she asked me.
“December 24, 1980.” I answered.
“Wow, you’re old! I’m only twenty five! My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. March third, the day I met you at the bar.” She said lightheartedly.
I jerked.
“That night was your birthday? Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded.
“What did you want me to say? That I was spending my birthday all alone? How humiliating would that have been? At least you unknowingly gave me a good birthday present. That was the best night of my life!” She said emphatically.
I smiled and hugged her close while whispering, “I was the one given the gift. I never thought I would get something so pure. My whole life I have lived in filth. You are like a breath of fresh air.”
Curling up a little closer to me, she laid her head back on my chest, she didn’t moved for a couple of minutes, and that’s when I noticed that she had fallen asleep. I sat like that, just holding her for over an hour. I sent a coded message from my phone to James and Dougie asking them to call me back as soon as possible. Finally my bladder wouldn’t be denied anymore, and I had to wake her, but even that short reprieve seemed like enough to tamp down the roiling emotions that I was feeling about what I had talked to Elliott about on the phone earlier. She didn’t know that she was doing it, but she made it to where it was at least a little more bearable.
“Wake up, sweetheart.” I nudged her.
She woke, but I’m not even sure she was all with it yet, because her eyes were distant when she pushed up on my shoulder.
“Why’d you wake me? I was dreaming about cake!” she yelled.
I was so surprised that I let her get up off my lap while I tried to hold my laugh in. Wow. She just stood there a couple more minutes, and then in a snap she was really awake.
“What’d I say to you?” she asked with this really confused look on her face after noticing my smile.
“You asked me why I woke you, and told me you were dreaming about cake. Practically ripped me a new asshole for it too. Jumped off of my lap like I burned you.” I laughed out.
“Oh, well something you should know. I don’t wake up easily. I say some weird stuff. James and Mom have all kinds of stories of me doing this. I’m sorry I fell asleep. It was a long day, Janie was horrible.” She said cutely.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Let’s go see where everyone is.” I said grabbing her hand.
We walked into the garage bay to see where everyone was. They were all in the common room in the back of the garage. The TV on, Max sat on a chair eyes ahead on the TV, with Ember beside him talking softly to each other. Jack and Gabe were playing pool across from them.
“Elliott got hummingbird settled, he’s going to be heading back this way later tonight. I think we should all stay in the compound tonight. We will need to debrief later. But in the meantime, I think we should grill some burgers.” As I was saying this, all of the guys looked at me. They knew something was wrong when I asked them all to stay in the compound. For one, they already lived in the compound, so they would have nowhere else to go. I just didn’t want to get the women worried when I didn’t have to yet. I would have to tell her before she left for work tomorrow, and I was not looking forward to seeing the worry in her eyes.