Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“You think I should back out too?” I whispered, and my brow furrowed at the anger that came with my words. No way. Bryce could jump in a lake before I let that happen.
Wyatt burst out laughing.
“You’re hardheaded. No wonder we get along so well,” Bryce said, pushing past me to step back outside, then letting the screen door slam shut in my face.
=♥=
Mace
Something cool rubbed against my skin, sending a full-body shiver racing from my tensed toes to the top of my bedhead. It was enough of a tremble to have me groaning as I turned to my side, reaching for my summer blanket to drag it up my body.
Except it wasn’t my normal barely together blanket, but a heavy, soft, and comfortable bedspread that weirdly didn’t make me too hot the instant it covered my skin. I rested my mind, ignoring the cobwebs from too much alcohol, and ran my tongue throughout my severely dehydrated mouth, and quietly sorted through my thoughts to find my last dream.
Ah yeah. Wildflower, my best friend and mare from years ago was nudging my arm for the last bite of apple we’d shared. Me and Wildflower had been inseparable. Well, minus the hours of school and some sleeps.
I missed her something fierce.
She should be there with me now…
That was all it took for my heart to ache, waking me fully.
I blinked my eyes open then shut again. Why was there so much bright light?
Shit. Where was I this time?
The images around me didn’t help identify my location as I lay perfectly still, ticking off the events of the night before. A habit I did regularly.
Realization traveled through my head like a roaring locomotive, slamming into a brick wall, remembering the guys and the home from the night before.
Oh dear God.
I jerked my head to the left, searching for another body. Thankfully, no one was there.
It didn’t mean that nothing happened.
Fuck. The largely hazy parts of the night could mean anything.
Jeez. I fought through the shooting pain in my head and took inventory of my body. I wasn’t nude, but I wasn’t dressed either. I wore a white T-shirt that seemed cleaner than it should be to be the one I wore yesterday and my underwear. They felt like mine.
The room was decorated with large furniture in soft colors with the closet door ajar, the LED light was brightly poking out the sides.
The bed ranked in the pretty magnificent range. Probably worth more money than I made in a month while working for my parents. I flung the cover off and rose to the edge of the bed. Luckily, my ass wasn’t sore. That fact didn’t offer the relief it should.
There were a couple of tablets by a glass of water on the nightstand that matched the bed frame and chair in the room. It never occurred to me not to swallow each one while drinking the entire glass of water.
My khaki shorts were on the floor at my feet. I reached for those to find my cell phone. Six o’clock in the morning. An escape from the house seemed possible, and that alone put me into high gear. I pulled on my shorts, socks, and work boots in record time.
With little more than another toss of the bedspread, semi-covering the mattress, I made the bed. I was at the door seconds after standing, opening it to listen to the noises inside the house.
Everything was quiet and dark.
It had seemed like an open-concept home, the house was actually a sophisticated labyrinth of dead-end turns. When I found the kitchen, I was home free as long as the security system wasn’t armed. A house like this would have one, surely. At the door, I tested my theory. No bells or beeping initiated, leaving me in the clear. From there, I scrambled down the steps to my truck.
The entire time I moved, a silent, relentlessly berating voice played in the back of my mind.
I drank too much, and yet again, I had no idea what had happened to lead to me sneaking out of a house in the early morning hours.
The noise of the old engine couldn’t be helped. I barely left the driveway without peeling out.
The truck headlights illuminated the way over the gravel-covered road. Even these tiny rocks had to cost a mint.
What was I doing?
The current way I lived my life had to change. If I continued this way… Well, it couldn’t be healthy. And eventually the trainwreck everyone thought I was would become a careening, out-of-control, can’t-look-away collision that took everyone down with me.
Shit.
Chapter 7
Mace
Days Later
With the bar quiet, I could hear Manny in the workroom shuffling boxes around. The man never stopped working. He was the glue that held this business together.
Lori had taken off work hours ago. She, her kids, and my mother and father had gone to a special church dinner to celebrate something that I’m sure they’d told me about but that I didn’t remember. Even as excited as Lori was about Slade being in town and even more enthused that I had gotten away from the bar for a few hours the other night, I’d had to hear over and again the sacrifice she made in her nightly routine to make it all happen.