Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Hey, Quincy. Can you peel this orange for me?” she asked.
Quincy stopped his game, his guy running into the wall and right off a cliff, and peeled it for her.
No questions asked.
Then he picked up his controller and went right back to work while the little crane guy pulled him back onto the track.
“That was sweet,” Ande said. “Why isn’t he that nice to me?”
“Because you don’t give him blow jobs, duh.” I snorted, rubbing my lips along Dalia’s sweet head.
Dalia snuggled into my chest, closing her eyes.
I felt that pang in my heart throb for a strong beat before Ellodie picked up her orange and called for Quaid, who was manning the griddle with a shit ton of pancakes on them. His mother was right next to him, flipping bacon.
“Hey, Quaid!” Ellodie called from the table.
Quaid looked up, his eyes intense.
“Yeah, baby?” he rumbled.
“Can you peel this for me?” she asked as she tossed the Cutie at him.
He caught it, and I shit you not, did the same thing that Quinn had just done, getting it started with his teeth before he peeled it with his fingers.
Even holding a spatula, he managed not to massacre it like Quinn had done.
He tossed it back to her when he was done and went back to flipping pancakes.
“Thanks, baby,” Ellodie called, handing me her orange.
I ate it.
“And that, my girls, is why you need to raise your children right,” Garnett said, having heard our discussion.
“What are you talking about?” Quaid asked, obviously having heard his mother’s contribution to our discussion.
“Is this some test?” Quinn asked as he came into the room, phone now in his pocket, and keys in hand.
I groaned. “I’m going to have to go to that hearing alone, aren’t I?”
He looked at me apologetically before dropping a kiss to my forehead. “Yeah.” He stroked my hair. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, though.”
He left, and I was left with his family.
A family who loved me.
A family who would do anything for me.
“Aunt Shay!” Addison came up to me, a pancake in one hand—luckily not covered in syrup—and a book in the other. “Read to me!”
So that’s what I did.
I read to her.
Ate pancakes.
Then took three Carters with me to court an hour later as my brother’s fate was decided.
This $5 can either get you two flowers from a florist, or an entire rotisserie chicken. That’s all I’m saying.
—Text from Shayne to Quinn
SHAYNE
I waited for my brother to enter the courtroom.
The moment he was there, I couldn’t stop the small tear from streaking down my cheek at the sight of him.
Costas… God.
He looked rough.
No longer the beautiful man he’d once been.
Unbeknownst to us, he’d been housed with a few rival gang members who thought it would be the perfect street cred to take out the leader of another gang.
He’d suffered
He’d suffered badly.
He was now sporting a brand new scar down the middle of his face. It went from eyebrow to chin, and was definitely going to be a gnarly scar when it healed all the way.
Quinn had told me about it when it happened, but I hadn’t realized how bad it actually was.
Again, my belly clenched.
Garnett, who’d been one of the Carters to come with me, caught my hand and squeezed.
Ande, who technically wasn’t a Carter anymore, took my other hand.
Gable crossed his arms over his chest and extended his feet on the other side of me, there not only to help support me, but also because he’d eventually have to testify.
My brother’s gaze swung around the courtroom, and it landed on me.
His shoulders slumped when he saw me there.
As much as I’d tried to get in to see him over the last couple of months, he’d refused any and all visits from me.
It’d hurt, but I’d understood.
He walked over to me and gestured with his head to come closer.
I got up and moved, my hands going out to reach for him before I thought better of it and dropped them.
“Hey,” he said softly, his eyes going to the room behind him. “I have a favor to ask you.”
I leaned in close and listened to what he had to say.
When I fell backwards a step, my hand over my chest, I stared at him in shock. “What the hell, Costas? How?”
He swallowed hard. “I didn’t know. Not until a few days ago. I didn’t know.”
The devastation in his face… it nearly sent me to my knees.
Tears welled in my eyes for my poor brother. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Say you’ll do it. Say you’ll fight for them,” he pleaded.
The look on my brother’s face, so devastated and so broken at the same time… How could I say no?
“I will,” I promised. “I totally will.”
The trial was brutal.
He didn’t deny a single charge that was set upon him.