Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Because I loved him,” Harlow said. The words ended on a high gasp as she tried to stop them from exploding out of her, but it was hard to do. The pain was unlike anything she had ever felt. Scrap that, everything related to Hunter was painful.
“Harlow—”
“Don’t. Don’t say that I don’t know what love is, or I’m too young to understand love.” She looked down at her box of pictures. There were not very many. Most of them would be packed into storage. Hailey had already promised her a room with a decent-size closet.
Harlow didn’t know exactly how Hailey was able to afford all this, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. For now, this is exactly what she needed, and she was going to take it.
“I … you know what it’s been like for me. I don’t mesh easily. I don’t find it easy to make friends. I struggle. Meeting Ava, getting to know her, and then Hunter … from the moment I saw him, he … I know you don’t want to know this, but he made me feel, and he didn’t even need to do anything but look at me. For the first time in my life, someone looked at me, and I felt like he saw me. Not anything else, just me. I know it’s crazy and stupid, and I knew even having anything to do with him was a stupid idea, but I did it anyway because I wanted to. Hunter makes me feel, and now that’s all gone.”
“All gone?”
“I don’t want to feel. I just want to move on. What we had is gone, and you’ll always be my brother. I will always love you, but I know it’s different now.”
“I don’t want it to be different,” Big Dick said.
“It changed the moment you came at me and you were angry. You only cared about your pain and your betrayal. You didn’t even think about mine or what I was going through.” Harlow placed tape over the box, sealing it up. Seconds passed, long enough for Jude and Bernard to arrive.
Harlow glanced over at her brothers. She had already swiped the tears off her cheeks. She wasn’t going to let them fall anymore.
“Is everything all right?” Jude asked.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Big Dick said. “I don’t accept what you say. This will be fixed.”
She had nothing to say as she lifted her box and took a step toward her brothers.
Jude was the first one to grab the box from her. She didn’t fight him. Holding the keys to her old life in her hands, she turned and looked back at Big Dick. “You’ve got to leave, or would you like to hand these over to the landlord?” She held the keys up for him to take, but he brushed past her, walking away.
Harlow closed the door and followed Jude and Bernard down the stairs. Her two brothers were talking about a football game. At least she assumed they were, but she tuned out. She delivered the keys to the landlord, and followed them out to the truck.
Climbing into the back, she looked out the window. Her brothers were too distracted to see the man in the distance, but she saw him. Hunter was standing in the shadows, watching. She looked away. There was no reason to give him the time of day.
Jude drove her to Hailey’s house, and her new roommate was waiting with open arms. She took the box off her and waved at her brothers, who had chosen not to come inside the house as they had work to do. Hailey pulled her inside, closing the door.
“This is going to be totally awesome. However, I did forget to order the pizza. What do you say to the two of us going to the diner?” Hailey asked.
Harlow wasn’t in the mood to cook, so she agreed. They promised to meet back in the main hall in half an hour. Stepping into her bedroom, Harlow looked at the boxes, knowing she was going to have to do a lot of work.
She blew out a breath. Tomorrow was Sunday, so she’d work at dealing with all this stuff then. She made her way into the bathroom, which felt so luxurious compared to her old apartment. There was no rust or mold. Even though she would thoroughly clean the shit out of her apartment, mold would continue to appear, as would the damn smell. She grew to love the scent of air fresheners. They had become her best friends.
Changing into a pair of jeans and a sweater as it was still cold, she joined Hailey in the main hall. The other woman had curled her hair, applied fresh makeup, and even wore a dress with tights and heels. She looked stunning.
“Wow,” Harlow said, pointing at her. “You know we’re going to the diner, don’t you?”