Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Entitled?” I supplied. “Thinking that they can have what they want?”
She flashed me a fast smirk. “Maybe. Women are, too, to be honest. They’re mean and revengeful. They can’t be trusted any more than men can now-a-days. I think it’s just basic human nature at this point. Kind of like how you can’t trust your kid alone in a neighborhood walking to their friend’s house. The world just isn’t the same as it used to be. And…sometimes I’m just completely out of it. Being in a safe space at all times, or with someone that I trust to take care of me at all times, is paramount to my safety.”
Titus tapped his lip quizzically as he said, “You know, we could make sure you’re safe. We have the means to protect you.”
Titus said it, but it was her looking to me that made something swell inside of my chest as she looked for the same words of affirmation. When I nodded and agreed, her shoulders slumped.
“I usually go to my mom’s,” she admitted. “But Mom’s out of contact because she’s backpacking in Europe somewhere, and I don’t want to spend my entire time traveling around looking for her.”
“Let us help,” I said.
“Daddy won’t let anything happen to you,” Briley said, interjecting herself into the conversation for the first time.
A long time ago, I’d explained to her that children should be seen and not heard. I hadn’t said it in a bad way, but there were a lot of times that she was stuck in adult conversations. If she was there and listening, she could take in the discussions, but not say anything, because that was the only way that people would have real and honest communication with a child around—when they forgot that the child was there.
And since she was always with me no matter what, she’d had to learn quick to blend into the background, or she never got to find out anything juicy.
Ari smiled and then shared a small smile with her before she said, “I’ll think about it.”
That was good enough for me.
CHAPTER 5
Why don’t hedgehogs just share the hedge?
-T-shirt
ARI
The need to run away from the circus and never look back was an all-encompassing feeling with me.
Peopling was not my thing. In fact, it was so much not my thing that at times I was awkward and uncomfortable to be around because I was just that hard to talk to.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like talking or listening, per se, it was because I just took a really long time to warm up to people.
But I could count on one hand the number of people that I’d clicked with, allowing me to talk openly and without any awkwardness.
Even Simi’s husband, Coffey, still made me uncomfortable.
But there was just something about Slone and his daughter, Briley, that made me feel so…relaxed.
That was why being in the middle of their tight-knit gang didn’t set me on edge.
There I was, hanging out with four people and a baby that I barely knew—the older kids had gone to bed over an hour ago—and loving it.
Oh, and I’d already had two episodes from laughing.
I was tired as hell but less stressed out than I had been yesterday.
Luckily I’d been sitting down for these episodes, and they couldn’t see that my legs had gone completely limp there for a few seconds. Oh, and the other good thing was I was plastered on the most comfortable couch I’d ever sat on in my life, in the biggest mansion I’d ever been in.
“Was that one?” Slone asked from my side.
He was sitting in the sectional on the seat closest to my corner seat, but he wasn’t actually touching me.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “Cataplexy. Muscle weakness. Only last for about two to five seconds and then I’m good to go.”
Mostly.
There were the rare times when it started right before I fell asleep and kept happening even when I woke up.
“What are the plans for tomorrow?” Perry, Banner’s wife, asked.
She looked great for just having a child. As in, “didn’t even look like she’d had a baby a few months ago” great.
“I guess we’ll leave when everyone wakes up and is ready to go.” Slone shrugged, making his large shoulder bob. “Why? Plans to kick us out soon?”
Perry rolled her eyes. “You could straight up move into my house with me, and I wouldn’t hate it. Actually, it’d be kind of nice to have a live-in babysitter.”
Banner snorted. “Just because our kid can fall asleep instantly on his soft stomach doesn’t mean that he’d make a good permanent houseguest.”
“Hey,” Slone called out, barely jostling the baby that was once again in his arms. “Just because I have a bit of padding doesn’t mean I’m soft.”
“He can beat you in a forty-yard dash right now,” Titus countered.
“No he couldn’t,” Banner instantly disagreed.