Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“I weigh a hundred and thirty pounds, thank you very much,” I countered.
He grinned as he pulled out of the parking lot, heading toward the main road that would lead us away from the water park.
“Regardless of whether you’re twenty pounds heavier than I think you are,” he said as I watched his hands and forearms as he merged into traffic. “The couch would fit you, and not me. Not to mention, I need to be in top shape for the games, since, you know, that’s my job.”
I grinned at him, but again he had to maneuver the wheel to get us turned onto the next road, and the flexing of his hands caught my attention.
He had really big hands. His fingers were the only thing wrapped around the wheel.
Whereas when I drove, I had my fingers and my palm wrapped around the wheel.
He placed his hand on the rearview mirror then, covering nearly all of it when he did.
“So say I did go with you,” I murmured softly. “What if you got tired of me?” I asked. “You don’t even know me. I could be the most annoying person in the world.”
He glanced at me with a small smile on his face before looking back toward the road.
“I am a pretty good judge of character,” he replied. “Plus, Briley likes you. She has this thing with new people, and even existing people in her life. She doesn’t get along well with others. She has a hard time socializing and making friends. Though, that’s got a lot to do with me sort of keeping her isolated thanks to my job and how I’ve raised her. That’s the reason for the month with Trance and Viddy.”
I nodded at him in understanding.
“Anyway,” he flicked on his turn signal and pulled into the turn lane, behind the row of cars intending to turn right. “She’s an exceptionally great judge of character. And I knew as soon as you talked to her that you were a good person.”
I looked over at her. “What’s y’all’s story?”
His face turned down into a very large frown. One that almost had me backpedaling the instant I saw it.
The big man was definitely scary without even trying. I doubted he even knew how scary he looked right then.
“Briley’s mom and I met in high school. Abilene was troubled from the day that I met her. Being the stupid youth that I was, I thought with my dick and not my head. She asked me to…” He paused. “Abilene was abused in some way that she never talked about. Not even a little hint. A bit came to light later. We can only assume at this point that Abilene was taken advantage of from our school resource officer. I don’t know if she was trying to forget or what, but the night that we conceived Briley—our one and only time together—which I might add we used protection for—she all but begged me to sleep with her. I was thinking with my little head and not my big one, only seeing Abilene for how pretty she was and not how broken, and I did it. I don’t know why. We never really even liked each other to be truthful. But that night…yeah. It was stupid. But we did it, and about six weeks later I found out that Abilene was pregnant.”
Eyes wide, I stared at him in shock. “You were in high school?”
He nodded.
“What did you do?” I continued.
“What I did was convince her to have the baby.” I shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure why, to be honest. I just felt like this missing puzzle piece finally slid into place, and I knew that Briley would change my life. The only problem was, Abilene wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. From the moment she had the baby, she let me know in no uncertain terms that she wanted absolutely zero to do with her. Not even her brother could convince her otherwise.”
“Wow,” I said, the gears in my mind spinning. “How did you do it?”
He smiled then, the ferocious look on his face giving way to pure happiness.
“My mom,” he answered. “She’s the best person in the world. When I found out, I went to her, and my mom switched to nights so that she could help. She’s an anesthesiologist. Or was. She doesn’t work anymore. I made more than enough in the first year to buy her a house and give her enough money that she could live life comfortably doing whatever she wanted to do. So she chose to live life on the ocean.”
“As in, cruising? Or sailing?” I wondered.
“Cruising,” he replied as he pulled up to a stop outside our bus. “Your phone’s ringing.”
I looked at the phone that was sitting in the cup holder.
My brother’s name flashed across the screen.