Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Clay nods and then glances up behind me, his eyes softening in a way that makes me turn around. Norah is standing there looking at me, and the skin on my neck starts to feel hot.
“What the fuck, Clay?” I snap, my intonation more than a little nasty.
They both ignore me. “Thanks for calling, Clay.”
Clay nods and smiles, the fucker. “You bet, Nore. Sorry it’s so late.”
“That’s all right. Josie’s waiting in the car. She’s going to help me get him in the house.”
“I can woolk,” I protest loudly. “I don’t need any fuck-ing hep.”
Clay sinks his teeth into his lip as Norah puts a shoulder in my armpit and starts to walk. I try to keep up, but my damn feet keep tripping on each other. Her wild hair is even wilder than normal, sticking out at the sides around her face a little bit and framing her perfect sparkling eyes. I try to watch the way the gold flecks inside them wink in the light, but I end up tripping us both as we’re getting to the door. Norah has to grab on to the wall to steady us.
God, she’s beautiful, even more beautiful than I remember her being the last time Clay called and tattled on me a couple of days ago.
I try my best to walk without tripping us again, and next thing I know, she’s holding me under the armpits as Josie pulls me into the car from the back seat.
I go willingly since it’s not worth fighting at this point, and I let the booze work its way through my veins in the hopes that I’ll get sleepy.
Norah climbs into the back with me and pulls me over in her lap, and Josie climbs behind the wheel to drive us out of town. I’m amazed at how patient the two of them have been dealing with my drunk ass for the last four days. I would’ve started drinking sooner, but it took that long for Breezy to leave to head back to the city, and she never would have allowed it while she was here.
The car rocks and lulls as Josie turns onto the main road, and I feel my eyes start to close. In between languid blinks, I notice Norah looking down at me, and when they finally shut for good, I swear I feel the faint brush of her hand in my hair.
As I enter dreamland, I allow myself a moment to lean into it, soaking in the feel. God, I love her.
I just wish I deserved to.
Norah’s dream hand pauses on my head and then starts up again, sweeping over my cheek and my chin too. I swear I even feel a gentle touch from something soft to my lips, but the spins are starting up, and I don’t trust myself to know what my own head feels like at this point.
After that, I don’t feel anything.
Sunday, September 19th
Norah
I check the time on my phone—2:03 a.m.
On a huff, I drop it back down on the nightstand and turn over, pulling the comforter over my head and forcing my eyes to close.
But when I find myself turning over to check the time again—2:06 a.m.—I crawl out of bed and tiptoe down the hallway and into the kitchen to make a cup of tea.
Tonight was rough. Truthfully, the last few nights have been rough. Like clockwork, Clay calls at a little after midnight, and Josie and I go get a drunk Bennett from the bar and bring him home.
His grief over Summer’s death has him in a choke hold, and I want so badly to be the salve for his pain, want so badly to be there for him, but he won’t let me. I call and text him every day, but he never responds. And now that Breezy has gone back to New York, he’s alone in that big farmhouse. Alone with his thoughts. Alone with his sadness.
Tears prick my eyes, and I pinch the bridge of my nose to keep them at bay. Desperate for a distraction, I unlock the screen of my phone with the intention of browsing social media, but a missed text notification from Lillian pulls my attention.
It must’ve come in when Josie and I were getting Bennett home.
Lillian: Have you talked to Bennett’s lawyer? Something big is going on with Thomas and Eleanor…
Below the message sits two links. I click on the first, and an online gossip magazine reveals that my stepdad Carlton Prescott Has Filed for Divorce from Eleanor Ellis-Prescott. And when I click on the second link, an article from a major national newspaper pops onto the screen.
Thomas King Spends Day in Questioning
NEW YORK, September 18 – King Financial wonderboy Thomas King and Eleanor Ellis-Prescott, wife of wealthy businessman Carlton Prescott, were escorted into the New York City police station to answer questions under oath on Friday. The District Attorney’s office is not giving any details regarding what they are being questioned about at this time, but they state information will be released to the public at a later date.