Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
She reached up and ran her finger along my bristled jaw. “Jeremiah…”
“I work a lot. Our season extends from October to April, and we have eighty-two games a year,” I continued. “I’m gone. A lot. Sometimes I’m only home for a day or two, then I’m gone again. When I am home, we’re practicing. When I’m off during the off-season, we’re still doing a ton of promo for the team. I might as well not be off.” I sighed. “There are so many things about me that say I’m a bad bet, too.”
She sighed. “I think those are uncontrollable aspects…”
“And yours aren’t?” I asked. “You didn’t ask for you to be blessed with a father that’s a complete dick.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. “Jeremiah…”
“I like how you say my name.”
Her eyes studied my face. “I’ll only let you help me until I can help pay my own way.”
“Okay,” I said reluctantly.
“And you let me help as much as I can,” she continued.
“You’ll stay?” I asked.
She hesitantly nodded. “For now. Until I can afford a place of my own. But the moment I can afford a place of my own, we’ll move out. I don’t want you to have to deal with a kid and me in a single-room loft apartment.”
I hopped up, pulling her with me.
She made an adorable squeak at my suddenness.
“Come on,” I said. “I’ll show you the rest of the place.”
“The rest?” she asked.
“The rest,” I confirmed.
I opened a well-hidden door that led to the rest of the apartment and pulled her through.
She gasped when she saw the rest.
“When we were building this, my brother Christopher and I decided to redo the apartment that split our two units. We divided it into six bedrooms. That door at the end of the hall leads into Chris’s half of the apartment. I also have an office in here.” I laughed. “Even though I’ll never ever use the office.”
I showed her through the rooms, all of them fully furnished.
“This one is the one I coined the kid room because this is where my nieces stay when they’re over,” I said as I threw open the door.
She walked inside, her mouth practically falling open, and said, “This is amazing, Jeremiah. Like, truly amazing.”
“My brother did a really outstanding job,” I agreed.
“Don’t let him fool you.”
Merriam jumped at the sound of the male’s voice behind her.
“And this is my brother, Chris,” I said as I introduced him.
Chris grinned.
Though we looked alike, he was about two inches shorter and had sixty less pounds on him than I did.
He could very well pass for my twin if you squinted, though.
“And I see that you’re definitely related,” the girl at my side said.
“That we are,” Chris confirmed. “Nice to meet you. I’m Chris.”
“Merriam.” She offered him her hand.
He shook it gently just as my sister-in-law’s head poked around the corner.
“And this is Neesha,” I said. “Chris’s wife.”
Neesha came farther into the room and offered her hand to Merriam.
Merriam took it and didn’t even blink at how my brother and Neesha were dressed.
My brother was in a pair of swim trunks that were so short that if he bent just right, you’d definitely see his dick and balls. (Thank God for swim liners.)
Neesha, who was heavily pregnant, was in a bikini and nothing else. Her pregnant belly round and cumbersome.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Chris said, giving me a shit-eating grin.
Merriam’s brows rose. “What?”
“He talked about you non-stop when you ate wings with him after your roller derby mishap,” Neesha expounded on Chris’s cryptic comment. “We group chat a lot. Video call a lot, too. This family is beyond connected. I can’t sneeze and pee without Chris calling to tell Jeremiah, Noel, Ginger, and Cinda about it.”
“Well, it was at the same time. It was funny,” Chris defended himself.
“It was embarrassing.” She rolled her eyes. “Just be warned. No topic is too much information for them. Hope you don’t care about your privacy.”
Merriam’s eyes sparkled as she said, “I ceased having any privacy when I had my daughter.”
“Oh, you have a daughter?” Neesha’s brown eyes widened.
“I hadn’t gotten to that part yet,” Chris admitted. “We were just talking about the candy store when we heard y’all over here.”
“We were working on the baby’s room.” Neesha patted her round belly. “Would y’all like to get into the hot tub with us? Though, it’s actually not all that hot. More like warm bath water since they don’t recommend getting into a hot tub when you’re pregnant.”
“Oh, I can’t.” Merriam looked sad. “Which reminds me, you should probably go wash your hand that I shook. My daughter has a cold, and she’s running a fever.”
“We just got over whatever it was going around,” Neesha and Chris said at the same time.
“The nieces shared it all with us before their Christmas break,” I grumbled.