Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I turn the corner and walk toward my house, seeing the bike is gone from the street. The house is dark as I walk up the steps. I turn the handle and step in, finding it quiet in the night. I tiptoe to the end of the hall, pushing open the slightly closed door to see my mother on her side, sleeping.
I’m about to pull the door closed when she speaks, “You’re home later than I thought you would be.” She looks down her legs toward the door at me.
“Yeah, Autumn and I were talking,” I lie just a little. I mean, Autumn and I did talk. Except I would have been home earlier. It was better than saying, “Sorry I’m late because I was fucking Brock against a tree. Or better yet, Brock was fucking me against a tree.”
“That’s good.” She turns on her back. “It’s about time the two of you let bygones be bygones.”
“I think so too,” I admit. “I can’t believe her and Charlie.” I shake my head. “And they have a baby”—my voice goes up—“together.”
“You aren’t the only one.” She laughs. “Ruffled lots of feathers, that pairing. No one saw it coming.”
“He loves her,” I say softly. My mind goes back to tonight when he got up to go and whispered something in her ear and then kissed her lips. But it was more than that. It was the way his eyes followed her the whole night. The way, if she was down the bar at our end, she had to be touching him, even if it was her pinky with his. You could feel how much they loved each other.
“He loves her fiercely,” my mother confirms. “Only one other person I saw in my life love someone like that.” She closes her eyes as her voice trails off. “Get some rest.” It’s her way of letting me know the conversation is over.
“What’s going on with you and Dr. Oliver?” The question comes out to change the conversation over from whatever I was going to say to her.
“Good night.” She ignores that I even spoke, and I smile in the darkness before turning and walking to the stairs. I walk into the bathroom, turning on the light and pulling my shirt off me, before turning and looking at my back in the mirror. There are red lines all down my back. Gasping out when I see something I haven’t seen in nine years. Something I thought I would never see again. Something I vowed to make sure was never on my body. Not by him and not by another man. My fingers come up, but my eyes are fixated on the mark he left and not the fact my hands are shaking when I touch it. “That motherfucker.”
I shake my head and walk over to the shower, turning on the water as hot as my body can take it, before stripping down and getting under the spray. The water is hot enough to almost burn me as I wash his scent off my body. I ignore looking at his mark and know it’ll be gone in seven to nine days. That was how long it took for the last mark he put on me to disappear. I know because the last time he left a mark on me, I watched it fade away, just like I did.
I wrap myself in a towel before walking to my bedroom and sliding into the bed, naked. Too tired to even dress, I turn on my side and close my eyes. I tuck myself under the blankets, and my head immediately goes back to Brock. I can hear him as if he’s right in front of me.
“I swear, baby, sometimes I think you do things to piss me off just so we can get my cock in you.” The smile I used to love filled his face. “If you want me, baby, all you have to do is tell me.”
“Brock, just admit you do things on purpose to piss me off so we fight, and then we fuck.”
“The only thing I’ll admit is that I’ll love you until I’m dead and gone.”
My eyes fly open to make the memory go away. “He’s a liar,” I remind myself. “He has no idea what it means to love anyone.” I don’t know if I’m saying the words out loud in order to convince myself or not. Finally, turning on my back, I look at the stars until my eyes won’t open anymore.
The following morning, I’m walking down the steps quietly, getting ready to head to the bakery, when I hear movement coming from the side and look over to see my mother coming out of her bedroom. “Where do you think you’re going?” I put my hands on my hips and stare at her.