Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Pierce surged to his feet and stomped out of the sauna, slamming the door behind him.
Ooookkkaaaayyyy…
That was totally unexpected. He wasn’t wrong; we kept referring to Simon as the little brother, and I had trouble reconciling the image I’d had of him when I was in college with the man he was now.
But that explosion had come out of the blue. If Pierce really had a problem, it seemed to be more of a Simon problem than a Sawyer problem, but I still couldn’t guess what the hell it was.
The best I could do now was to pass this nugget of information along to Sebastian and see if Mr. Sunshine and Soft Touch could get Pierce to explain what his problem was.
As I was figuring out my game plan, the door to the sauna jumped open, and the grouch stuck his head inside.
“Get your ass out of here. It’s been half an hour. I don’t want to return and find you passed out and dehydrated.”
I flashed him the broadest grin I could manage. “What? You’re not going to let me wither away into Rome jerky?”
“You’re disgusting.” He stepped away and turned back. “Get out here and get dressed. After my shower, we’ll stop by your place so you can change. I want to eat out tonight. We’ll hit the Avenue.”
“Sure. I’ll text Declan and Sebastian. See if they’re up for joining us.”
Pierce grunted as he led the way out, and I followed.
And just like that, all the weirdness was forgotten.
God help me if I ever lost Sebastian, Declan, or Pierce as a friend. At this point in my life, they were more like family, and I’d do anything to make sure they stayed happy and safe.
4
LIAM ROSE
It took some digging and intense internet searches, but Emily and her girlfriend uncovered that Rome worked at a small local library across the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky.
My brain still refused to believe what they’d found. When we were kids, we’d given a lot of bullshit answers about what we wanted to do for a career, but never in my wildest of dreams would I have ever believed that Rome was a librarian. He was too boisterous for libraries. Not to mention, he’d never been all that fond of reading. I’d been sure that he’d end up working for his family’s company as some overpaid executive who did nothing.
But a librarian?
My brain still struggled with the information, but I was running out of time. Dr. Case was getting restless with my lack of results, and there wasn’t an abundance of jobs for a paleontologist who specialized in the Ordovician period during the Paleozoic era. Everyone was always more interested in the later periods, such as the Cretaceous era, which had the tyrannosaurus and triceratops.
It was fine. At least I didn’t have to deal with trying to unbrainwash all the kids who were convinced that all the big land dinosaurs existed at the same time and that the Jurassic era was the moment in history that had interesting dinosaurs. Thanks so much, Hollywood.
With no meetings and nothing pressing on my schedule, I drove over to the library where Rome was supposedly employed. I figured I could at least check it out and see if Emily’s information was any good. If I was lucky, he’d be there and I could spy on him, giving me the chance to compose the perfect approach. Some way to ask for a donation while not giving up what shreds of dignity I still possessed.
Yeah, that was totally possible.
The drive across the river and up into the hills of Kentucky was pleasant as trees decked out in fall colors crowded the road. Halloween was a few days away, and the temperatures had grown more erratic, jumping from summerlike highs and falling to where people were fearing the trick-or-treaters might have to contend with snow. Everywhere you looked, there were smiling jack-o’-lanterns, black cats, and faux gravestones. I thought I even saw a thirty-foot inflatable Frankenstein’s monster in front of one house.
A sigh slipped out of me as my brain inevitably wandered to Halloweens I’d spent with Rome. After we’d become friends, his mom would always drop him off at my house, and we’d go trick-or-treating together because the houses in my middle-class subdivision were much closer, allowing us to run from place to place. It had been about dragging in the biggest haul of candy. By the end of the night, I’d be exhausted from running, and my stomach would be sore from all our laughing.
After that stupid kissing incident, I never went trick-or-treating again. I said it was because I was too old, but deep down, I always knew that it wouldn’t have been the same without Rome there to make his stupid jokes and speculate on which house was going to give out the best candy.