Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
I tell her I can meet her at Danbury Park later today, and she says she’ll meet me there at five. After I leave Dev’s place, I head to the park and wait for Posey.
I’m a nervous wreck, and I don’t know why. It’s not like I haven’t spent time with her. However, every time I’m around her, I want to touch her in an inappropriate way. Honestly, every way with her is inappropriate because she’s engaged. Something I won’t let myself forget.
I sit on a bench, overlooking a gazebo in the distance. There’s a large group of people, and as I watch them mingle, I let the cool air hit my face.
The sun shines down on me, and I smile as I spot Posey off in the distance. She’s really so pretty. She’s perfectly dressed for the occasion. She’s wearing a flowy sundress with small purple flowers all over the material. She’s got on a pair of white sneakers, and her long hair flows down her back in soft waves.
Again, I can’t help but take notice of how beautiful she is.
Her long legs bring her closer to me, and I stand when she approaches.
“Hey,” she says, nearly a whisper.
“I’m glad you called. What did you remember?” I say, getting right to business, because if I don’t, I might stand here gawking at her all day.
She settles onto the bench, and I sit next to her.
“It’s silly,” she says.
“What is?” I ask, turning my body to see her.
“The thing I remember, or I should say, the smell I remember.”
I place my hand over hers, and then regret my decision. I swiftly remove my hand and run it over my beard. “Start at the beginning.”
She sucks in a deep breath. “Well, I remember sitting there, waiting. And then I distinctly remember smelling a cigar that had an orange flavor to it. Is that weird?”
“You smelled the cigar right before the attack?” I ask.
She nods. “I remember I could barely even register that I smelled it at all before I was being attacked from behind.”
“I’m so sorry you were attacked under my watch.”
She blinks up at me. “I don’t blame you. There was nothing you could do.”
I glance out at the river. “I still feel horrible. This should have never happened while I was there.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes before she shifts closer to me.
“I used to come fishing here when I was a young girl. My father and I would go out to the camping grounds, past the gazebo, and he’d sit with me for hours trying to catch fish.”
“Did you catch a lot?”
“Some days we did. Other days my father would drink and drink, and I’d play in the dirt.”
“Show me,” I hear myself saying, before I’ve really even thought about it.
“It’s a ways down that dirt path.”
“I’ve got time, do you?” I stand from the bench.
She stands as well. “Follow me.”
Together we walk past the gazebo, out toward the camping area of the park. We turn onto a hiking trail, but I’m not dressed for it. I’ve got my Burberry leather Derby shoes on.
“Does Bane take you fishing here?” He’s probably got a lake on his property full of fish just for her.
She shakes her head. “Bane doesn’t really know that I like to fish.”
“How can he not know?” I’ve known her for barely any time at all, and this is the man she’s marrying.
“Just never came up.” She gives me a soft smile, and I don’t want to read too much into the fact he doesn’t know.
Maybe it never came up because they’re too busy doing other things. Physical things.
I’m getting pissed off here, thinking about all the things Bane gets to do to her that I’ll never get to do.
“Are you okay?” she asks when I pick up my pace.
I slow back down and gaze at her. “How could it never come up?” I ask, even though I know the answer will probably slay me.
“Let’s just say Bane likes to talk about what Bane likes to talk about.”
“And what’s that?”
She shrugs. “Bane things.”
I don’t ask her what that means, because I’m not sure I even want to keep her focus on Bane. We walk closer to the fishing area, and she stops to perch on a rock.
“This is where we’d sit for hours,” she says, shielding her face from the sun. A small beach area stretches out before her, and she points at it. “That’s where I’d play for hours. My mother would be so pissed because I’d come home burnt to a crisp.” Posey smiles up at me.
“Where’s your mother now?”
Posey glances down. “She skipped town when I was young. It’s been just me and my father ever since.”
I nod, remembering Devereaux losing his mother when he was a teenager. Both Dev and Greer had a hard time navigating through life after losing their mother, and it makes me wonder how Posey handled those rough times. “I’m so sorry,” I tell her.