Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Hope you get what you want out of life, Bram.
Best,
Dory.
By the time that I finished reading the note, I realized that my world had just been torn in two.
• • •
“What do you mean, she left?” Jeremiah asked, sounding alarmed.
It was Shine’s ‘good riddance’ that had me whipping my head around to pin him with a glare so ferocious that I was surprised to see him flinch.
“Don’t talk about her like that,” I hissed. “How would you feel if Iris left you like that?”
Iris, who’d been completely silent since I’d announced that Dory was gone, looked at Shine like she wanted to strangle him.
“I feel for Iris a whole lot differently than you feel for Dorcas,” Shine shot back.
I fisted my hands and took a threatening step toward him as I said, “Don’t call her by that name. She hates it. And also, I do feel about her like that. I just don’t think that she should have to be saddled with me for the rest of her life when I wasn’t the one that she got to choose.”
Shine blinked at me. “What?”
“What do you mean what?” I snapped. “What part of that comment did your puny little brain not compute?”
Shine crossed his arms over his chest as he said, “The part where you said you actually liked her.”
I clenched and unclenched my hands as I said, “She’s my fuckin’ world, dumbass. I feel like part of my soul has left me.”
Shine uncrossed his arms as he said, “Well nobody can fuckin’ tell, you twit. You treat her like shit! If you love someone like you say you love Dory, then you don’t treat them the way you treat her! How do you expect me to treat her when you treat her the exact same way I was just treating her?”
He had a very valid point.
As in, I had no clue what to say to that.
In the last three years, I’d felt more and more guilt about what I’d done to Dory.
I’d trapped her in a marriage that she would never be able to get out of. The guilt had gotten so bad at times, that I’d tried my level best not to even be around her.
Which, obviously, my family had picked up on.
Goddammit, I was such an asshole.
But the thought of her not loving me like I loved her… that was just something that my puny little brain couldn’t deal with.
So I’d done what I did best—stay away from her.
And now, looking back on my actions that had led to this point…
“You know she loved you, right?”
I blinked hard and looked at Jeremiah as if I couldn’t quite understand…
“What?” I asked.
“She loved you,” he repeated. “With her whole heart. It was plain for anyone to see that took the time to look for it.”
Now that made me feel like absolute trash.
If I could’ve gotten lower, that would’ve sealed the deal for me.
“What are you trying to say?” Haggard asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I’m trying to say that you all are a bunch of loyal assholes,” Jeremiah pointed out. “Yes, you loved Mimi. But there was a reason that Mimi is gone. Dory is Bram’s wife now. Y’all could’ve taken the time to get to know her. It’s been ten years. How much longer are you gonna wait for Mimi to come back before you realize that Dory is here to stay?”
Jeremiah had a point.
I had zero intention of ever leaving Dory.
I cared for her greatly. Not to mention, after today, I was more than aware that I felt a whole lot more than that. Love, to be completely honest, was the feeling that I was feeling right then. Love, and heartbreak, and goddamn stupid that I let her get away.
“What do I do now?” I asked.
“Find her and bring her home,” Jeremiah suggested. “Preferably before she realizes she’s better off without you.”
Part II
CHAPTER 10
I want someone to stand up at my funeral and say ‘she didn’t like any of y’all.’
-Dory to Bram
BRAM
It took me four and a half months to find her.
Four and a half months of looking everywhere for her.
Eventually, I’d had to enlist the help of not only Easton and his crew of private investigators, but also Hunt, a computer genius from a fellow motorcycle club—Souls Chapel MC—to find her.
But, according to Hunt and Easton, she’d done really well hiding her trail.
She’d only used cash for the longest time.
Until last week when she’d shown up on a local ATM as she pulled out some money.
I’d already been on my way there—Accident, Florida—when I’d gotten a call that’d sent me flying.
“Hello?” I answered, pulling over to the side of the road to answer.
The helmet that I usually wore that connected to my Bluetooth headphones was broken, meaning any calls that I had to take were done the old-fashioned way—via placing the phone to my ear.