Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 124971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Riggs . . .” I gravitated toward him like a moth to a flame, almost tumbling over BJ in the process, forgetting he was there. The latter finally came to his senses and seemed to comprehend that a heartfelt reunion wasn’t in the cards for us and stood up. “Wait . . .”
Riggs chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. “You surprise me sometimes, Poppins. Breaking your own rules over and over again. Thought we said no hookups inside the apartment. By the way.” He turned to BJ with swagger, a cocky smile on his face. “I’m the guy your girlfriend has been fucking the entire time you thought you were winning at life.”
BJ gasped, raising a fist to wave at my husband. “Don’t you dare talk about Daphne like that.”
Riggs narrowed his eyes, stepping into BJ’s sphere. The latter stumbled back, whitening under his (fake?) tan. For a moment, I thought I was going to witness murder and was ready to jump between them. Their noses nearly touched when Riggs spoke again.
“Don’t tell me what to do. Not when you fucked off and left me someone who doesn’t trust men, doesn’t trust her own emotions, doesn’t believe in love. You ruined her, Cocksucker, with your selfish ways. And lookie now.” He stepped back, his eyes ping-ponging between us. “Seems like you both figured it all out. Enjoy your reunion. Just don’t do it on the couch,” he spat out before storming off. “After all, it’s my bed.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
RIGGS
Three hours earlier
“I gotta stop smoking.” Charlie pressed his head against the hospital wall in the garden area, closing his eyes.
I side-eyed him, prying the joint from between his fingers and taking a drag. “It’s just a little weed, Charles.”
“Weed doesn’t agree with me.”
Charlie was a bummer today. I had a feeling he was bracing himself to tell me what was wrong with him. Whatever it was, it was serious.
“What makes you say that?” I passed him the joint anyway, and he took it.
He gnawed on the side of his cheek, staring down at his feet. He’d lost a bunch of weight since I last saw him, and his hands were shaking now.
“You ready for story time, Riggs?”
I jerked my chin to confirm I was.
Even though the old man was surprisingly bearable for a human, I mainly gave him my time and attention because of Duffy. As selfish as it may sound, if it was up to me, I’d be with her right now, telling her we needed to cut the bullshit and decide what we were doing next. What would having a girlfriend entail? I didn’t know, and I still wasn’t sure I wanted to give up my nomadic lifestyle.
But I was also just as sure I didn’t want to give her up.
“When I was young, really young, I used to smoke all the time. Until something happened to make me stop completely. I hadn’t touched a joint in thirty-seven years before you came to visit me in the hospital.” Charlie scratched his stubble, focusing on an ivy-laced wall in front of us.
“Okay . . .” I frowned. I hoped he wasn’t about to launch into a drugs-are-bad, straight-edge routine. Smoking weed recreationally and responsibly was fine. And yes, it was my hill to die on. Happy and stoned, thankyouverymuch.
“I tended to do a lot of bad things when I was high. Maybe I blamed it on the weed . . . I don’t know. But I always found myself up to no good. Driving recklessly, missing work, cheating on my girlfriend . . .”
“That was almost forty years ago,” I reminded him. “Fucking around and driving under the influence were shit moves, but you were a kid.”
When I was twenty, all I did was drugs, booze, and sex with as many people as I could find.
“One time . . .” Charlie ignored me, forcing himself to unglue his gaze from the wall and look me in the eye. “I really messed up. We were at a river. I worked the zip line at a park, so I had a lot of time to burn until opening hours. I’d rented out a dirt-cheap cabin nearby and goofed around most days.”
He licked his lips and swallowed. I had no idea where all this was going, but I was starting to feel uneasy. He seemed really stressed, considering this was four fucking decades ago.
“I had put up a tent on the river and forgot to zip it. I smoked a few and went down on some tourist. My girlfriend caught me.”
I puffed my cheeks, shifting uneasily. “That sucks, man. Is that the one who got away?”
“It is.”
“Well, sorry—”
“I’m not done,” he said sharply.
Dafuq did they put in your IV drip?
“She ran away. It took me a full five minutes to realize she’d walked in on me. That was how high I was. When I found out, I took the car and chased after her. Needless to say, that was a gigantic mistake.”