Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 97275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“I’ll ask, but right now I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.” Max said.
“I’m not good with a computer, but I have connections. If you boys ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” My dad said.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll keep that in mind. You never know when you will need help. These women and children could use all the assistance they can get.” Max explained.
“Maybe when you get out of the Marines, Benny. You will probably have a lot more skills, and could help them much more.” Mom added her two cents.
My eyes caught a devilish gleam, and I bared my teeth at Benny in a manic smile. “Oh, Benny, maybe you should tell them about the Navy recruiter you spoke with the other day. Daddy, did you know that Benny plans to go Navy?”
My dad’s breath sucked into his body, and it felt like all of the air in the room went with it. Bennett’s eyes narrowed on me, and the fork with a spoonful of mashed potatoes lifted into the air, but I knew it was coming and dropped to the floor underneath the table to avoid it.
“Bennett Lee Alvarez! Put that fork down. Don’t make me come over there.” Mom yelled.
When she pulled out the mom voice and the middle name, you knew you were in trouble. I didn’t get three named yet, however. Once under the table, I ducked down and duck walked to Bennett’s legs. He was wearing shorts, so this would work perfectly.
Smiling deviously, made quick work of his shoelaces while they argued from above me. Then I tackled his leg, wrapped myself around it, and started making friction circles with the palm of my hand against his hairy leg. Anyone who’s done this before, knows it’s painful to get the hairs untangled once you get the friction going well enough, but even more it makes the hairs on your arms stick together, tangle, and then rip out when you tried to unravel them.
Benny had some hairy legs, which is why this worked so perfectly.
“Get off me, you witch!” Bennett yelled, and tried to kick me off him.
I hung on for dear life, just so I could get the maximum tangle time. He kicked with his leg, and dragged me out from under the table when he lurched back to stand up from his chair. I let go then, because I knew when to cut and run. Annihilation isn’t my favorite thing to experience.
Darting back under the table, I made a mad dash for Max’s legs, just making it in time to grab ahold of his legs before Bennett was there trying to pull me back out on his side. Max was laughing his ass off from above me, and it sounded so goddamned sexy. Although, I couldn’t let my concentration waver, otherwise my precious brother would get me.
I squirmed and kicked before finally kicking him off. Diving underneath Max’s chair, I came up the other side so he was between me and Bennett, who was ready to kill me if his face could be believed.
Mom and dad were finishing off the remains of their meal, acting as if this didn’t bother them in the slightest. Which, it probably didn’t. We’d done this exact scenario so many times that we could probably copyright the act.
Max stopped laughing when Bennett made a go for my ponytail, but Max stopped him with a steely glare.
I shimmied my ass and stuck my tongue out at Bennett. “Nanny, nanny, boo, boo.”
“Payton, I can’t always protect you from your brother. Keep instigating, one day I might not be around, and he’s going to shove you into the dryer.” Max teased.
“He’s tried that before. We broke Mom’s brand new front loader, and she never forgave us.” I supplied.
He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and rolled his eyes. “I’m glad Ember isn’t like this.”
“Yea, you’re lucky your sister’s not a psycho nut job.” Bennett grumped as he ran his fingertips over the matted hair on his leg.
Bennett could whine all he wanted, but just last week he’d given me the mother of all Indian burns. I still had marks on my left arm. Even Max noticed them a week after Bennett had given to me. Bennett caught me on the way to my car after dinner with my grandparents; tackling me to the ground and sitting on me worked every time.
I draped my arms around Max’s neck from behind, and leaned into him before saying, “You had it coming after what you did to me last week.”
“That was retaliation for you putting girly smelling shit in my…” Bennett said before his words trailed off. His eyes went wide and he threw his hands up.
“That was you?” Max said harshly.
I kissed him on the cheek and whispered into his ear. “We are rough, Max. Get over it.”
The rest of dinner remained quiet. My dad was upset about the Navy thing, but didn’t want to bring it up again. He didn’t like to yell. He was all about control, and right now, he didn’t have any. Bennett going into the Marines made my dad so proud; he was happy his only son was following into his footsteps. Now, to hear that he didn’t want to do that, and quite frankly never wanted to, was a hard pill to swallow.
Two hours later, my dad was walking us to Max’s bike. He gave it a hard look, and then made sure to touch both of the helmets with his hand as a silent order. My daddy wasn’t happy that I was riding the bike, but he trusted Max enough to realize that he could handle this large machine.
If my daddy only knew how Max rode the machine, he might’ve said something. In fact, Max rode the bike as he went through life. Full speed ahead. He was a take no prisoners type of person. He rode hard, played hard, and lived life to the fullest. He gave as good as he got, and I loved him more than life itself.