Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 15471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
At the sound of an approaching bike, Charity felt her heart start to race.
Bad was nearly here.
“This year, Bad, I’m going to do it. I’m not going to … stick around anymore. I’ve already sold everything at the apartment.”
Her brother hadn’t been able to afford to keep their parents’ house, so they’d lived in a small apartment. It had been quite homey with the three of them. Since she lived there alone, all it had done was put a great deal of stress on her to work a couple of jobs for paying the rent as well as the bills.
Roommates had never worked either.
So, in a couple of days, her rent would run out. She had a small bag packed in her car, and she planned to make her dreams come true.
No more waiting around to see what was going to happen.
She wasn’t happy anymore. Hadn’t been happy for a long time, and she knew if she didn’t do anything about it soon, she was going to go crazy.
She’d already waited ten years.
When Bad entered the cemetery, Charity didn’t look up. She kept her gaze on Stevie’s gravestone, almost trying to imagine what her brother would say. He’d been so protective. She couldn’t believe he’d be on board with her skipping town, traveling, making her own way.
Bad stood to her side, not blocking her view, and like so many times before, he placed a bundle of roses on top of Stevie’s gravestone.
Thirty roses. Always the same.
Tears filled her eyes because it always got to her.
Thirty for the number of years he lived. The same age she was now.
Bad took a step back, and then another, until he sat beside her. “Hello, Charity.”
His voice always affected her. The deep, guttural groans, making her wonder what he sounded like when he orgasmed. They were crazy, stupid thoughts.
Bad had never seen her as anything other than his best friend’s little sister. That was who she was. She hated it, but she had decided to accept that she was never going to change it.
“Hey, Bad,” she said.
It was the same every single year. They would sit here for a couple of hours. Sometimes they’d talk. Bad would tell her a few crazy tales about her brother, and for a few short minutes, everything would seem okay.
Only, it wasn’t.
Stevie was still gone.
Charity was even more shocked as Bad reached over and took her hand. He locked their fingers together, and she couldn’t bring herself to ask him what that was for. Why he was holding her hand?
For ten years, Bad had avoided touching her, yet, now he was.
She couldn’t avert her gaze, staring at where they touched.
“I missed you,” Bad said.
She looked at him, not really sure if she had heard him correctly.
What the hell was happening?
She wanted to pinch herself. Instead, she attempted to keep her cool, which was hard to do with all the excitement.
This was ridiculous. They were in a graveyard, staring at her brother’s resting place, and her heart pounded inside her chest.
What the hell was wrong with her?
She could just imagine her brother laughing his ass off right now at this.
****
Bad stared across the graveyard at his best friend. Stevie would be pissed with him if he knew the thoughts going around his head. It happened every single year. Each time he saw Charity, it made him want her again.
His need for her never changed. It never altered. In fact, it was always there.
Leaving her was the hardest decision he had ever made.
“Dude, I don’t give a shit. You’re not screwing my sister. That’s the end of it.”
Those were the last words Stevie ever said to him. There were many other things that were also said. Mainly about how awful he was as a potential boyfriend. How Charity could do better than him, and Bad wasn’t disputing that.
Charity was an amazing, beautiful woman. He particularly loved her ass and her tits, her hips as well. Damn it, when it came to Charity, he was aroused by all of her. There wasn’t a part of her he didn’t want.
Coming here was torture, but he did it for Charity. To sit with her as she dealt with her loss, for Stevie’s memory, but mostly for him to get his fix when it came to her.
He … needed her.
With Ape now with Charlotte, and Colonel with Piper, it was getting harder to just sit back and be alone.
He loved being on the road, never knowing where life was going to take him.
Long ago, Bad realized he wasn’t fit for the normal life. He loved to make his own way. He and Stevie had been the same.
Bad stared down at where he and Charity held hands. This was all he was allowed to do.
“You know, he’d pitch a fit right now,” Bad said. “Us holding hands.”