Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Swallowing, I nod. “I fucked up, okay? On so many levels…” They don’t even know how many but I simply shake my head and continue, “I should have been more careful about our surroundings. About where we were but I… That was private, that moment. That was just meant for me and for her. For us. For… But I lost my head. I should’ve…”
I should’ve taken her somewhere private. Somewhere it was just us. But I’d just had a scare. I thought she was running away because of something Isadora had said, and I’d been cursing myself for not telling her that I’d moved on from Isadora, for keeping such an important piece of information from her just because I didn’t want her to run. And then she got down on her knees and fucking called me sir and I…
Jesus when she called me that, so easily, so naturally, so fucking submissively and softly, I thought it all made sense. My life, the beats of my heart, the universe. It made sense that the sky with stars is a mirror image of her freckled skin. That a strawberry, sweet and tart, just like her, borrows its color from her hair. It made sense that she’d be the one to make my heart skip a beat every time she danced. It made sense. All of it.
Now I know, the reason I am the way I am—crazy protective, obsessive—is because of her. And the reason she is the way she is—so smart and brave—is because of me.
“Hey, I get it. I lose my head with Fae too,” Reed says with emotions flickering over his features and I’d love to give him a hard time for it because that’s our sister he’s talking about but I don’t want to. Because I can finally relate.
“I can’t think straight when it comes to my Firefly either,” Ledger adds.
Stellan nods. “I have done things for Dora that I never in a million years imagined doing.”
“It’s because they change you,” Conrad finally chimes in, looking me directly in the eye and for the first time in a long time, I see understanding, solidarity like we’re finally on the same page. “They make you see things you never could before. For whatever reason. It’s because they show you you can be better. For them. They change you in a way that…”
I fill in the blank. “You’re reborn.”
“Yeah.”
For the first time ever, I breathe in a sigh of relief, of peace. A breath laced with no guilt whatsoever because I’m happy. I’m finally fucking happy for my siblings. I don’t feel irritation or restlessness. I don’t want to get away from them. I want to stand together with them and see our family grow. See each other grow into different roles in life, with different people.
The moment breaks when a cell phone rings. Reed’s. Fucking finally. I hope this is the phone call we’ve been waiting for or I’m going to be really fucking pissed. My brothers told me I needed this, we all needed this before doing anything else on the agenda. So yeah, this better be the call or I’m not going to be happy.
We all watch him stand up straight and slide the phone out of his pocket. He accepts the call. “Hello.”
And then we watch him listen and I don’t like using this expression but I’m going to because it’s the truth, but we all do it with bated breath. A few seconds later, we see his mouth stretching into his patent cocky grin. “You’re shitting me.”
My heart slams in my chest as he hangs up and looks me in the eyes. “You’re not going to believe this but we got them.”
By them, he means her bitch mother and my asshole father. I promised her I’d take care of her if and when things came to a head. So this is me taking care of her. This is me making sure our parents never bother us again.
I have a long list of wrongs I need to make right, the biggest one being apologizing for hurting her again last night, but it will happen once I’ve fixed everything else I told her I would. And then I’m going after her to win her back.
Chapter Thirty-Three
THE WRECKING THORN
The house we’re all staring at is dilapidated.
The lawn is more like a jungle. The driveway is more like a dirt path. The shingles on the roof are broken and falling apart and there’s a hole in the front window. I thought her old apartment was bad but this is a disaster. But then what else can you expect from a house when it’s in such a shitty part of town. This one’s even shittier than where she used to live. And the anger burns like acid in my veins at the thought of her living here. The thought of her living here with a baseball bat hidden under her bed.