Total pages in book: 296
Estimated words: 284055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1420(@200wpm)___ 1136(@250wpm)___ 947(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 284055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1420(@200wpm)___ 1136(@250wpm)___ 947(@300wpm)
“He’s coming. Thought he was gonna let us deal with this shit on our own,” I tell Dylan, shoving my phone back into my pocket.
“If he did that to us, I’d kick his ass. Or tell your mama. I think the latter would be worse, though. Mrs. Bishop’s wrath is frightening as fuck!”
Chuckling while agreeing, I lean my head against the seat and watch the rain slide down the windshield. It’s a nice distraction but doesn’t keep my mind from wandering.
It’s been three months since Key West, and I haven’t been able to forget the time I spent with River. At the oddest moments, I’ll think about her and wonder what she’s doing. I’ll relive our last day together over and over, wondering why she never called me. I knew the deal and that it was just supposed to be a vacation hookup, but I hadn’t expected her to bulldoze into my heart the way she did. It hadn’t been like anything I’d ever experienced before and knowing she chose to end things the way she did has me obsessing over every little detail.
If I dig deep, I can almost smell her shampoo or hear her laugh. My heart aches when I think about how she really left everything we shared back on that island. I could’ve sworn there was something more between us than just the physical stuff. I felt it and know she did too, whether or not she wants to admit it. Hands down, I would’ve taken a million-dollar bet that she would’ve called me as soon as she read my note. To her, we were nothing but two lonely strangers and a vacation bucket list.
“You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you?” Dylan smirks, giving me shit like he has almost every day since the plane landed in Texas.
“Something like that,” I groan. When I talk about her, it makes all the memories I’ve buried over the last few months rise to the surface. How the hell did I end up in this state of mind? Women don’t usually affect me like this. But River was different. She was a bad girl pretending to be good, a thief who stole my heart without warning. The intentions of giving it back never existed, and what makes it worse is I never saw it coming. I never saw her coming. Being completely blindsided by the memory of her soft kiss, warm touch, and everything we experienced is no stranger to me. Now that’s all that remains. The memories of us.
“You’re doing it again. You get this look on your face every time you have River on your mind. It’s kinda disgustin’. Like a love sickness or something.” He pretends to throw up in his mouth.
“I don’t wanna hear about it, considerin’ you’re still talking to Jessica—who lives in New York, by the way—every single night. So disgustin’ is your middle name.”
Dylan takes a deep breath, getting ready to tell me where to go, but before he does, a fist bangs against the passenger window. We both jump, and Jackson’s on the other side laughing his ass off as the rain pours around him in buckets. Once we’re out of the truck and in the Jeep, that’s when the shit talkin’ really begins.
“The truck was all fogged up like you two were makin’ love in there,” Jackson teases, putting the Jeep in reverse, slinging mud everywhere. “Only thing missing was that palm print on the window like in Titanic.”
“Fuck off,” I tell him. “Dylan’s not really my type anyway.”
“I’ll never let go, Jack. I mean, Dylan,” Jackson continues.
“More like, I’ll never let go, River,” Dylan adds.
I turn around and shoot daggers at him. If looks could kill, his ass would be dead in the back seat.
“Good one. I’m almost certain that Alex has cried himself a roaring river over the last three months because at this point, I’m not sure she’s actually real.” Jackson has been antagonizing me about her, too.
“You motherfuckers can drop dead.”
The biggest mistake I made when I got home was telling Jackson about River, but I couldn’t help it. I needed someone to chat with other than Dylan, and I wanted another opinion to make sure I wasn’t losing my fucking mind. Unfortunately, Jackson’s unsolicited advice was to fuck a different woman every night for two weeks, and he guaranteed that’d get her out of my system and off my mind. Knowing that would never work—that no woman could replace River, nor would I want to do that—I swore I’d never ask him for female advice again. And I shoulda known better, considering he’s hung up on Kiera, even though he’d never admit it.
Jackson drives fast down the dirt road that’s turned to mud as if he has somewhere to be. I hold on to the oh-shit handle and can hear Dylan being knocked around in the back as Jackson creates his own path to Mama’s house. Jackson can’t stop laughing as Dylan and I huff at his horrible driving. By the time he drops us off close to the porch, we’re ready to fall out of the Jeep.