Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Where is she going to go? You know she hates being alone, Dad,” he sobbed. “She hates it so much.”
She does hate it. Who’s going to protect her now? When she’s really alone.
“Shhh... it’s alright... it’s okay... look, Journey needs you to be strong. Be the strong boy we raised.”
He sucked in breaths and I looked down at Journey who was wide awake, peering up at me. She had no idea what was going on. Her eyes reminding me so much of my mom’s.
“She’s going to a better place, where she won’t be in any pain. Where she still knows who she is and can watch over you,” Dad lied. He didn’t know that.
No one did.
“You promise?” Jagger questioned, but I didn’t hear his response.
Why? Because he knew it was a lie as well.
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, Jagger. You, Jackson, and Journey were all we ever wanted. I swear to you.”
Jagger took a deep, long breath, catching his bearings before I saw him walk down the hall. Leaving Dad alone with what was left of his wife.
His Beauty.
His whole world was in that room.
I blinked and I was once again standing by the door to her room. Witnessing him sitting on the edge of her bed, he grabbed her hand.
And for the first time in my life...
I watched my hero, lose his battle. The war to let her go.
He hunched over, laying his head on top of her chest and broke the fuck down. Crying like a newborn baby. My chest pounded and my throat burned, feeling all his love and devotion for her.
He sucked in air that wasn’t available for the taking.
Tears slid out of my eyes, scared for him.
For her.
For us.
When her hand started lazily rubbing his back, we both suddenly froze. “Beauty?” he rasped, pulling away to look into her eyes.
There was no expression on her face, no recollection in her stare, but still it felt like she might be there with him.
“I’m tiiiirrrreeedd.”
He caressed her pale cheek, “I know, baby, I know.”
“Slllleeeeepppp nooooooowwww.”
I shut my eyes, I had to. My chest was caving in on me. My world crumbling down on me.
In two seconds flat, I was leaning against the wall again, except this time I was sliding down it, holding Journey firmly against my broken heart.
Unable to hold myself up any longer.
“Beeeeee heeeeerrrrreeee,” were the last words I ever heard her say.
“I’ll always be here for you, Bailey. No matter what. It’s always going to be me and you against the world, Bay. Always.”
I stayed right there.
I didn’t move an inch.
Until she took her last breath.
Until all the machines around her went crazy.
Until she passed away...
But it wasn’t until I heard my father murmur, “Take me with you, Bay... please, just take me with you.”
That I realized I felt the same way.
Chapter 14
<>Harley<>
Then: Eleven years old
“Would anyone else like to say anything?” the minister asked at Aunt Bailey’s funeral.
I stood up in the pew and everyone’s eyes turned toward me. Patting down the sides of my black dress, I nodded.
My eyes quickly connected with Jackson’s stare, who was sittin’ in the front pew, four rows ahead of where my family was seated. Swiftly, I made my way up to the podium down the side aisle of the silent church. The only sound was the clickin’ of my heels clackin’ away underneath me, echoin’ with the rhythm of my fast beatin’ heart.
I only had one shot at this, I didn’t wanna mess it up. Once I was standin’ in front of everyone, I took a deep breath, peerin’ out over the crowd of tear-soaked faces. Tryin’ to gather my thoughts about what I wanted to say. I didn’t really think this through, all I knew was I had to say somethin’.
For him.
The boy I still hated the most.
Jackson’s dry eyes narrowed in on me, waitin’, anticipatin’ what I possibly had to say at a time like this. I had yet to see him cry, to grieve the loss of the most important person in his life while he sat there holdin’ his baby sister next to Jagger who was a mess. Even after all the kind words everyone was expressin’ about his momma to God and the church filled to the brim with people, he hadn’t shed one tear.
With my stare directed solely on him, I spoke from the heart. “I’ve known Aunt Bailey since the day I was born. She ain’t blood related, but that didn’t matter. She was my aunt. The Pierces are our family.”
Jackson held his head up higher, still only focused on me with a blank expression on his face. In that moment, I couldn’t help but notice his black suit made him appear older. He didn’t look like the boy I’d known all my life. More like the man that just lost his mother.