Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
He opened the camera, took a photo of us, and posted it. He typed: My boyfriend is hot, then tagged me.
“Fuuuuuck.”
“You asked for it.”
We laughed together again, and Ty reached over and grabbed my hand.
“Grandma and I are gonna sit down and talk with Asher together. I have a lot I need to tell him, a lot to get off my chest. I’m done letting him walk all over me, and Grandma has some shit she needs to say too.”
“Good. You both deserve better than how he treats you.”
I shrugged. I didn’t have high hopes. I wanted more for him, but I worried Asher was too much like our dad. He would have to get his shit together, though, or get out. That wasn’t just my stipulation; it was Grandma’s too.
“You realize what we’re doing, right?” Ty asked. “We’re growing up.”
“I’ve already been grown.”
“Yeah, okay. Keep lying to yourself.” When I didn’t reply, Ty added, “We can’t be too responsible. Wanna go blow each other in the empty classroom?”
“Fuck yeah. But you’re getting on your knees first.”
Ty smiled. “As if I’d want anything else.”
I’d spent my whole life not letting anyone in, afraid to count on people, and then, as it happened, it was an annoying, cocky jock who broke down my walls and taught me it was okay to love someone. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
EPILOGUE
Ty
June
Brax was still dead to the world when I slipped out of his bed. Until the end of the school year, we’d stayed at his house a few nights a week and at Adler the rest of the time. It was rare for us to sleep apart, and even though it’d been six months since the hookup that started it all, sometimes I still couldn’t believe we were together. That was a good thing, though. We drove each other crazy in every way possible, but in my mind, that was all the more reason we would last. We just worked.
I sneaked out of his room, quietly closing the door behind me. Today was a big day. My brother was flying over, and we would meet face-to-face for the first time. We’d spent the last few months texting and sometimes talking on the phone, getting to know each other and trying to make the best of the fucked-up situation we’d been born into. But he was cool. We got along so far. Apparently, we’d both been worrying about a lot of the same issues, both of us feeling guilty for existing and wondering if the other might hate us.
Perry had never been to California, so he was going to spend a week out here, taking in the sights. Then I was flying back with him to spend a month with Mom, and Brax would be heading out for the last five days so he and Mom could meet before we came back to Cali together. Oscar was the fucking man, and we’d found a way to make it work so I would still have my job waiting for me when I returned.
In the meantime, now that the semester had ended, I was staying with Brax until the school year started and I could get another place on campus. My class load would be changing as well. I was officially going for my Bachelor of Science in Nursing and wouldn’t graduate next year with Brax and my friends, but I was staying in San Luco with Brax, so that was all I cared about. I figured when he began his career before me, I could start calling him my sugar daddy. I liked to plan ahead.
“’Sup,” Asher said when I walked into the kitchen.
“Hey.” Things weren’t perfect with him, but they were better. Before the big talk, I don’t think he’d believed Brax or Matilda would ever force him to get his shit together. He’d thought he could walk all over them, the way their dad had.
He’d left for two months, determined he didn’t need them, before coming back and asking to stay. Apparently, things had gone south with their dad. At a visit, he’d tried to get Asher into some things that had finally woken him up to the toxicity and who really cared about him.
It had been Asher who approached Brax and Matilda that time, asking Brax to meet him at the facility. For the first time in years, they’d had a meaningful discussion without Asher blowing it off and getting angry. Maybe seeing Brax and the positive relationships he had in his life, and comparing them to the lack of any substance in his own, had woken Asher up. He’d tried to be who his dad wanted him to be, which was something I was familiar with myself.
Asher was attempting to make changes. He’d gotten a job as a line cook at a chain restaurant, and he and Brax had a schedule worked out when it came to expectations at the house. So far, so good. I was pretty sure Asher still hated me, but I didn’t give a fuck. As long as he was good to Brax, that was what mattered.