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)
Even after high school, we all stayed local while going to school. I attended to get my marketing degree, while Brock just got his bachelor’s degree in architecture and will now be doing a complete internship for Waylon’s family’s construction company. Waylon’s family has been around this town dating back to the nineteen twenties, when his great-grandfather started a construction company and went into lumber trading or something like that. Now they just do construction. If a building goes up in town, it’s always with the Cartwright family building it. Brock will be helping them with the new development they plan on building. It’s going to be one of their biggest projects ever, and he’s helping develop the look of it.
As soon as Waylon turns the truck off, the doors open, and everyone jumps down. Brock goes to the back of the truck bed and grabs the cooler. He comes back to me and slides his hand in mine, as always, and we walk to the side of the house where eight big logs lie in an octagon shape around a firepit. We are here almost every single weekend just to sit and shoot the shit, or even during the week, we can go and eat and then just come here and chill.
The sun slowly goes down as Waylon returns with some wood and starts the fire while I sit on a log. Brock lets my hand go, kissing me quickly before walking over to stand with Charlie. They both watch Waylon as they chitchat.
“I am exhausted,” Autumn states, sitting down on the log next to me. “I want to sleep for twenty-four hours straight.” I sit next to Autumn, and then Jennifer sits next to me. “Like a whole twenty-four hours. Is that possible?” I laugh at her question and so does Jennifer.
“I don’t know. The last time I slept really long, I was hungover after Brock’s graduation. I swear to God, I think I slept half on the bed and half on the floor. I have a vague memory of that. I even fell asleep standing in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee to come out, but instead, I sat down on the kitchen floor and totally fell asleep.” Jennifer leans in to me, laughing as I tell the story. The three of us have been friends since kindergarten and have literally gone through everything together. I’m an only child, but with the two of them, I feel like I have two sisters. Even when we were in high school, we spent every single weekend at one of our houses.
The sound of crackling from the fire fills the night air as we all talk about little things here and there, with us laughing and giggling at something one of us would say. When Waylon gets up and goes to his truck, all eyes go to watch him, wondering what the hell he’s doing. When he opens the driver’s side door, he turns the truck on and blasts the radio. The sound of a country song now replaces the sound of the snapping firewood. He holds one hand up in the air as he sways his hips. “Autumn, get your ass over here and dance with me.” He grabs a bottle of water from the truck. Autumn groans from beside me but gets up as Jennifer also gets up. Autumn walks over to Waylon, who lunges for her, grabbing her arm and pulling her to him. She holds up her hands, pushing his chest as she tries to get away from him. “Baby,” Brock says, and I look up at him, “will you dance with me?” He holds out his hand for me.
“Oh, yeah.” I just smile at him, getting up and wrapping my arms around him, rising on my tippy-toes and waiting for him to kiss my lips. “Anything to be in your arms,” I say as he rubs his nose with mine. I hear Autumn and Waylon arguing from beside me, but my eyes are locked on my man.
His hands move from my waist to my ass as he cups it. “You know what’s better than this?” I ask him as we sway to the music. “Being naked in your arms.”
He hums as he bends his head to kiss me at the same time Waylon shouts, “We should get the fuck out of here!” His voice is almost a scream as he tries to be louder than the music. “Hit up the bar in town, and see what’s going on there.” Brock’s hands drop from my ass as I turn in his arms, wrapping my arms around his waist as he drapes one around my shoulders.
“We shouldn’t do that,” Autumn quickly says. He looks at her, and it’s a look between a glare and a sneer. Either way, it’s horrible, and I hate him even more for treating her like this.