Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Take them.”
So I took them.
I headed to the door and slipped my feet into the one article of clothing he’d allowed me to wear that was mine—my boots.
“Come on, Brawny,” I called out.
He looked up from the couch but didn’t move.
I sighed. “Maybe we could share custody of him. He seems happy here.”
He was already shaking his head. “I’m not keeping your dog.”
“I think he’s a little bit of both of ours,” I admitted. “You actually had him for two months longer than I did.”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t know…”
“He can stay,” I said. “It’s not like I don’t know where to find him. And bring him to work with you tomorrow. We can let him into my house when you get there to pick me up.”
He still looked torn.
I walked out of the house and down the stairs, forcing myself to not look back.
I did, however, call out, “Thanks for everything, Romeo.”
“You’re welcome,” he called from behind me.
I didn’t look at Romeo until I was safely ensconced in Vito’s truck.
“What’s going on with that face?” he asked. “Where’s Brawny?”
“Romeo and I decided that we’re sharing custody of him. It’s not fair to Brawny. He loves us both.” I paused. “And I’m sad because you picked me up and I’d planned out the rest of my life with that man. I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. I was going to mother his eight children. He was going to go to work and come home to a home-cooked meal every day and a clean house. I was going to raise chickens and garden. We would live off the land. I would never have to leave again.”
Vito chuckled. “Does he know that?”
“No,” I grumbled. “It was a good life, too. And you ruined it by picking me up.”
Vito laughed so hard that he drove off the road slightly.
He corrected, but not before he scared the daylights out of me a little bit.
“Watch the road, old man,” I grumbled. “Cody will kick your ass if you hurt me.”
“Then when Cody is done, my wife will repeat the process.” He sobered then. “If you like him, why don’t you tell him?”
I buried my face into the sweatshirt and smelled Romeo. “Because I’m fairly sure that he doesn’t like me like that. He’s only ever given me the ‘just friends’ vibe.”
“Uh-huh.” He snorted. “Men that want to be just friends don’t look at a woman leaving their house the way he did.”
Surprise lit my features. “What are you talking about?”
“He just looked like you ripped out his heart,” he informed me with a grin.
I didn’t let myself get excited at his words.
Instead, I dismissed them.
Because if he was wrong, and I tried, I would literally humiliate myself and lose a potential really good friend in the process.
That sounded awful.
I may not have known the man long, but he’d wormed his way into my heart all the same.
Seventeen
Some of us are depending heavily on our personalities, because these summer bodies aren’t working out.
—Mable to Cody
Mable
Ding-dong.
Ding-dong.
Diiiiiiingggggg-donnnnnnnggggg.
I groaned and rolled over, staring up at the stupid ceiling.
I narrowed my eyes and blinked a few times just so I could see the clock displayed on my ceiling a little more clearly.
Yep, that actually said three in the morning.
What the fuck?
The doorbell ringing started again, then the pounding.
I got out of bed and shuffled to the door, very aware that I was dressed in Romeo’s clothing still.
I’d taken a shower and had put everything right back on. Though, I did manage to wear my own panties instead of his boxer briefs.
“Open the door right now, you fucking bitch!”
Birdee.
What the absolute hell?
I cautiously opened the door.
My stepsister showing up at my house in the middle of the night with a cop was not on my Bingo Card List for the year.
Yet, as I stared, neither one of them disappeared off my porch.
“Um.” I hesitated, not sure I wanted to let them in. “Can I help you?”
Just as that word came out of my mouth, crunching ice and snow caught my attention.
I looked over to see Cody pulling up in her plow truck, and right behind her was a familiar black truck that had my heart rate accelerating.
“What the heck is going on?” I asked to no one in particular.
“That’s what I would like to know.”
Another truck pulled into my drive behind Romeo’s, and I blinked even more as Cody’s parents got out.
“Is someone dead?”
“No one that I know of,” Birdee muttered. “You know as much as I do, though.”
I looked at my stepsister and noted all of the bruises and cuts on her face.
A little pang of sympathy went through me at the sight.
I didn’t like that she’d been hurt.
I may not like her very much, but I didn’t wish harm upon anyone, not even my worst enemies.
She crutched past me with a glare in my direction, and I had to stop myself from putting my foot out and tripping her.