Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Wake was a new addition.
He’d appeared sometime after the doctor had walked in telling us what all was wrong with Morr. I could tell that he wanted to talk to me, but until I’d heard that Morr was okay, I wouldn’t be taking her anywhere.
“That’s perfect,” the doc said. “The nurse can help you get dressed in some hospital scrubs. That okay with you?”
Could he read the tension, too?
I definitely could feel it.
Said nurse walked into the room with the scrubs in her hand, and I gave one last look at Morr before I exited, pulling the door closed behind me and the doctor.
“She’ll be just fine,” he promised me.
Then he was gone, leaving me alone with a very upset Wake.
When I’d met Wake the first time, I’d thought he was an asshole. Mostly because he was overly protective of his little sister, who had a very real head on her shoulders. She didn’t need him being so overprotective. But there he was, always in Danyetta’s business, which put him in my business.
Over time, I came to realize that most big brothers were like that. And, possibly, I hadn’t had the best examples of how a healthy family should perform.
Granted, I had a great mom and dad. They were truly the best. They just weren’t a typical mom and dad. They were flighty, neurotic, and sometimes forgot they had children. I was raised to be an independent person. So were my siblings.
My sister could totally handle her own.
And always let me know real freakin’ quick how she didn’t appreciate my “man strength” being lorded over her. Or whatever it was that she liked to say to me on a weekly basis.
“Are you just going to stand there and act like you aren’t hurting my sister?” Wake snarled.
Okay, so “a little” pissed was an understatement. Wake was a lot pissed.
Noted.
“Wake,” I started, ready to blurt everything out.
“I thought I could trust you!” he all but yelled in the middle of the hallway, causing people to turn our way. Doctors, nurses, patient care technicians, and even the hospitality workers were now all staring.
Fuck.
“My sister is…” Wake scowled, his teeth gleaming as he spoke out of them.
“Not mine. Hasn’t been mine since well before we divorced,” I finished for him.
Wake blanked for a few seconds, and I chose to tell him everything, despite the fact that he’d been acting like an ass since he’d walked in the door.
Poor Morrigan had no clue.
She just knew that Wake disliked her immensely. She’d clocked him from the moment he’d appeared in the doorway, looking as if he was about to tear the hospital down with his bare hands.
“What?” Wake asked, sounding just as baffled as he looked.
“I didn’t start dating her when I got out,” I said. “We were over, well and truly over, when we got divorced. Had been, really, for a long time. We made a great kid together, but that was truly all it was for either one of us. A break from reality. She always loved that district attorney. I’ve always loved her.”
I jerked my chin in the direction of Morrigan’s door.
Wake looked at me. Really looked at me. And I knew he knew when he saw it.
My conviction.
“Why would you not tell me?” he asked. “Why didn’t she? Why the lies at all?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t tell you one way or the other because I wasn’t going to lie to you again. Had you asked what was going on, I would’ve told you. But you didn’t ask. You assumed. And I have no control over what Yeti says or does. She should’ve been the one to tell you.”
“Don’t you think Bowie will be confused?” he asked.
I shook my head. “He’s the one that we haven’t misguided at all. He asked when he heard some stuff at school about Yeti and me. I wouldn’t allow Danyetta to confirm it. He needed to know the truth.”
Wake blew out a breath. “So what was the last year about? Why act like it was anything different than what it was?”
“You’ll have to ask her,” I said. “But all I know from what she’s told me was that being in a relationship, or what appeared to be a relationship, was solving a few problems for her. I had no reason not to, since I haven’t been seeing anyone else. So I thought, why not?”
Which, in hindsight, it might’ve been something I should’ve put a little more effort into, and maybe I wouldn’t be in the situation I was currently in. But also, I didn’t owe Wake that explanation. I didn’t need to know what Danyetta told everyone as long as she wasn’t lying about our relationship now.
The last year of her doing whatever she’d had to do, I’d seen a difference in her demeanor. She’d changed for the better, and I hadn’t been doing anything else. So why the fuck not?