Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“Can we maybe not talk about what kind of porn my brother is into?” Scotti asked.
“I mean, porn was a long shot anyway,” Peyton agreed. “Is it superhero comics? Video games? Some old, ratty blanket from when he was a kid?”
“He… he really didn’t have anything in the house when I moved in,” I admitted. “There’s a locked room in the basement, though, that I never had access to.”
“Well, that sounds like a mission to me,” Fiona decided, jumping up. “Who has a bobby pin?”
“If anyone put the lock in, it was Kingston,” Lea reasoned. “I doubt a bobby pin would work.”
“Compressed air and a little hammer then,” Peyton said, going off in search of the items.
“Don’t worry. I’m reasonably sure the only thing in that room is all of Atlas’s gear and souvenirs from his travels,” Scotti said, moving in at my side. “And Atlas will know how the girls are when they get a bug up their ass about something. He knows you wouldn’t go breaking into his super secret storage space that he likely doesn’t really even know about, considering how little time he’s actually spent here.”
Right then, Peyton came running back with the can of air, and Fiona found a hammer, and we were all trekking down the narrow, steep basement steps in the dimly-lit basement where I had to venture to do laundry, a task that always filled me with dread and made me wish I’d never seen a horror movie before.
It was a heck of a lot less scary, though, when the space was full of carefree female voices as they charged toward the storage room, and got to work on the lock.
It really didn’t put up much of a fight, and the girls threw open the door, reached for the light string, and walked into the space.
“Well,” Fiona said. “That’s… disappointing,” she decided, looking around at the assortment of sports equipment—several snowboards, surfboards, skis—and a ton of winter coats, hats, gloves, boots.
The only other items in the room were boxes of little trinkets he’d picked up on his travels.
“I mean, the only real interests he’s ever had are sports,” Scotti reasoned. “So it makes sense.”
“I guess. Would it kill the man to have some manga porn or something I can use to tease him with, though?” Fiona asked, shaking her head as she ran her finger over a snowboard on her way back out of the room.
“You coming?” Scotti asked as I stood there for a second, looking at all the equipment that represented all of his travels. And, suddenly, a deep sort of sadness overcame me. “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, concern etching her pretty face.
“Look at everything he’s giving up for me,” I said.
“I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it,” Scotti said.
“What’s the right way?” I asked, my heart hurting at the idea of taking something away from him that he’d devoted his life to.
Like taking an animal out of the wild and sticking it in a cage.
“That he’s deciding to dedicate more of his life to a different kind of adventure. That’s what building a life with someone is, you know. Making a home, opening a business, getting married, having babies. Those are all adventures too.
“Besides,” she went on, “it’s not like you’re saying that he can never, ever get on a snowboard again, right? The difference would just be that maybe he’d have you with him. He’d have someone to share his other passions with. That sounds a hell of a lot better to me than to do it all alone.”
“That’s true,” I agreed. “I’ve always wanted to try skiing or snowboarding. Surfing, even. I’ve never really been able to do… anything.”
When I was little, it was all about the farm, the town, and taking care of my grandparents.
After my father passed, it was all survival and hardships. There was no money to try to do sports or hobbies, even if I wanted to.
Then, well, then there was Joss.
Shrinking my life even more.
Being with Atlas would open up, well, the world to me. And I would get to show him how nice it was to have a home base, a place to settle, to find comfort in the simpler things in life.
I followed Scotti back upstairs, feeling a lot better than when I’d gone down, and actually allowing myself to relax and enjoy the company of so many women. Ones I hoped to view as family someday. Ones who so effortlessly pulled me into their fold. Especially after Reagan, Katie, and Savvy showed up to even out the craziness of some of the other women.
It was honestly one of the best nights of my life.
Sure, I was pretty drunk for most of it.
But even in the sober light of morning, as we all zombie-walked to the coffee pot, I still felt that way.