Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Thirty-Two
Wolf
It had only been three nights without Jade, but it felt more like a month. I still half-expected her to be in my bed when I woke up, her bare legs draped over me. Every time I checked my phone, a pussy-ass pain tightened my chest when her name wasn’t there. She was too easy to love, to need…to miss. And what made it worse was that I knew exactly how hard missing her was. I’d spent the past year and a half doing it. I knew I had overreacted by kicking her out. I’d almost texted her countless times, but the fact that she’d kept that penguin… It fucked with my head. Had me questioning things I shouldn’t. My mind still wasn’t right.
I’d skipped class that morning, too down to go, too worried I’d see her across campus and the heartbreak would really set in. So, what did I do instead? Rummage through that damn box of notes and rip up my heart. Maybe I thought if I hurt enough, it would ease some of the regret.
Halfway through the box, I pulled out an origami squirrel and carefully unfolded it. “
True love is knowing a person’s faults and loving them even more for them.” –Unknown
And if that didn’t have me feeling like a complete bag of shit, nothing would.
Did I really think Jade would have turned it in? No. If she had planned to do that, she would have given it to Cassie the minute she got her hands on it, and I’d already be in jail instead of wallowing in self-pity.
Someone knocked on my bedroom door. “Hey, we’re going over to Sally’s Bar,” Bellamy said. “Wanna go?”
I didn’t feel like being social, but I also didn’t feel like listening to Bellamy lecture me about needing to get out. “Maybe I’ll meet up with you guys later.”
“Come on, man.”
“I’ve got to go to Mrs. Seaton’s. I’ll shoot you a text when I leave.”
“Okay.”
As much as I didn’t want to leave the house, it was the last Tuesday of the month, which meant I was supposed to go to Miss Seaton’s to play board games. She’d probably spent the whole day baking cookies and snacks, so I’d just have to suck it up for a few hours. Maybe by then, I’d have my head sorted out anyway. I went through a few more notes, each one breaking me more than the last. When it was time to leave, I called for Dog and grabbed my keys from my dresser, glancing at the dusty outline of the rat cage. God, I’d really fucked up because a missing rat cage shouldn’t make me sad.
An hour later, Dog hopped onto Miss Seaton’s recliner and curled up, taking in the late afternoon sun streaming through the trailer window. I shuffled the Rummikub tiles around on the table as Miss Seaton eased herself into the chair across from me.
“You aren’t as chatty as usual.” She glanced at the plate of cookies beside me. “Haven’t hardly touched your snickerdoodles…”
Because that knot in my stomach had crushed my appetite.
She pulled a few tiles from the pile and placed them on her board. “Something on your mind?”
A lot of shit was on my mind. “Just football. School.”
“Mm-hmm. So, it ain’t got nothing to do with that girl you had up in the Wal-E-Mart? The same pretty young lady you had waiting for you in your truck a few weeks back when you dropped off Mr. Dog?”
What was it with grandmas and their intuition? “No.” I could feel Miss Seaton staring at me as I counted out my game pieces.
“Mm-hmm.” She laid three tiles on the table. “I been around long enough to know lovesick when I see it. You looked mighty happy when she was by your side. And now, you look like you’ve done been rode hard and put up wet.”
I still didn’t make eye contact. “I’m fine.” I took a tile from the middle of the table. “Your turn.”
“Neither me nor Jesus like lies… Now, get to talking.”
I hoped my shrug deflected her probing. “There’s nothing to talk about.” There were a million things to talk about. Half of them I couldn’t exactly tell her—stealing drugs, confiscating drugs…
“Oh, hodgepodge.” She waved a dismissive hand through the air before raking the game pieces to her side of the table. “We ain’t playing this game ‘til you tell me what’s goin’ on.” One of her gray brows lifted. “You wanna steal the only joy an old woman has because the cat’s got your tongue?”
I had a feeling she wouldn’t let it go.
“How’d you meet her?”
Sighing, I leaned back in the chair. “She was my high school girlfriend.”
“High school sweetheart? Now, I know you weren’t dating her a few months ago…”
“We broke up in my first year of college. And…”