Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71444 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
I dig, finding the ground hard. When the spade hits metal, I breathe a sign of relief that my box is still there. It takes ten minutes to get it out, and I stuff it into the bag, pushing the soil back into the hole I've made. I replace the spade in the tree before I jog back to the car.
I'm sweating and panting as I tug the seat belt across my body, but I take a few seconds to stare at Lory. She's so pretty that it hurts my heart and makes it soar. She smiles at me, and it lights up the world. “Let's go.”
Lory nods, turning the key in the ignition, but I pull her in for a hard, desperate kiss before she can pull away. She goes limp in my arms, and we both pant with relief. Holding her face between my palms, I press my forehead to hers. “My name is Connor O'Reilly. Say it.”
“Connor O'Reilly.”
The passport contained in the box confirms it.
Kinkaid Callahan dies here. I don't give a fuck about leaving him behind. Connor has a chance to do better. Connor has wiped the slate clean.
Nodding, I smile. “Now drive, pretty girl. We've got somewhere to be.”
23
JAMES
SUNSHINE
Dear James,
I dreamed of you last night. We were lying on a big bed with crisp white sheets, and you had your arms wrapped around me and your mouth where you like your mouth to be. I was running my hands through your hair and tracing your tattoos with my fingertips. Outside the window, birds were singing softly but there was no one else around. Just us.
I don’t know where we were in my dream, but it felt good to be with you for a little while, even if it was only in my subconscious.
I miss you.
I miss the way you’d hold me tight. I miss the way you’d sing to me with your beautiful, deep voice. I miss your stories, and your laugh, and your body. I miss all the ways you made me feel good, like I was a part of you, and you were a part of me, and we could never be apart.
I don’t like being apart from you.
The days are passing slowly but I’m okay. As happy as I can be while you’re still far away.
Be patient, James. Keep those eyes the color of the forest. Imagine your hands on my skin, your body moving inside mine, your mouth making my world come apart.
We’ll be together soon.
You’ll be mine soon. And I’ll be yours.
Sunshine
The letter is under my pillow, and I pull it out to read it again and again. My cellmate, Frank, complains about the rustling, but I don’t give a shit. Lory has written to me every month since she left. I keep them bundled up in one envelope, and I pick one at random to read when I wake in the morning and when I go to sleep at night. They take me to another place and another time, where the oppressive walls of this place and the assholes around me can’t bring me down. Reading her words keeps my eyes the color of spring grass and my heart someplace else.
“You getting out tomorrow?” Frank asks me, scratching his butt.
“Yeah. If the sun shines down on me.”
You are my sunshine.
“Wonder who they’ll replace you with.”
I shrug. I don’t give a fuck. I’m never coming back to this shit hole again. I’ve wasted too many years spinning out of control, letting my darker impulses take over. I want to live in that place Lory described; the bed with white sheets and birds singing, somewhere I can make my girl feel like everything’s right with the world. Someplace the sun will shine on us both.
Another letter for me arrived yesterday.
Hope you’re keeping well, Hyde. Don’t forget about that sandwich.
Like I could. The name is burned into my brain. Valladolid. And the statue. Tuesday at 3pm. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get all the way to Mexico, but I’m leaving as soon as they open the gates. Kinkaid has arranged for me to collect a package from a post office near where we grew up. And thanks to Grady, getting time off my sentence for good behavior, I’ve only had to wait six months and five days without Lory in my bed. It’s been the longest six months and five days of my life.
In the morning, I find Rock in the dayroom. I hate that he’s the last to leave when he’s the only one of us who didn’t do something to be here. If it was me, I don’t think I’d handle it.
He’s got me through the end of my time without fucking up and getting in trouble. For that, and so much more, I’ll always owe him for life.