Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
“Alright then, if that’s the case then I’ll give you two a ride.”
My little sister gasps. “You? Giving me a ride? What’s your angle, brother? How much gas money do I have to pay?”
I grumble-laugh. We’ve had our spats as siblings but I guess it’s time to move on. “Just being a big brother. I’m four years out of practice and I guess I should be nice to you for a change. We can go back to being petty after I make it up to you.”
She snickers. My gaze is on Dolly though, who seems to have the same problem I’m having of being unable to keep our eyes off each other.
The trip out to Home doesn’t take too long. It’s one I’ve made many times, the town being a little bit bigger than Burly so it’s more of a lightning rod for youths. The bonfire rages in the middle of the park, people tending to it with plenty of dead branches and other kindling as night falls. There’s about two dozen people here, all roughly the same age, and I recognize most of them. The beer is flowing, but thankfully nothing harder than that.
I keep my distance at first, contemplating just staying in my truck the entire time. Dolly takes to the crowd easily enough, being social and bubbly. I watch as she bounces from conversation to conversation with ease. She’s always been outgoing like this. I’m sure she’s had no shortage of boyfriends over the years. Not that I would hold that against her, it’s just a statement of fact. She’s a lot different from me in that regard, which makes my lust for her all the stranger. Would it even work out if I made a move?
I sip my beer and continue my silent scan of the gathering, and spot ol’ Red Rough. The pretty boy is all alone and I decide this is as good a time as any to make my feelings clear. I saunter over.
“Hello, Red,” I say, staring him down. We’re physical equals. I may have an inch in height on him, but not enough difference that it’d matter.
“Angus Rowdy, ain’t you a strange sight to see. How's college life been treating you?” He has a sly look in his eyes, like he doesn’t mean that in a positive way.
“I ain’t here to talk about me. I’m here to give you a warning. I’m watching you, so don’t you dare do anything to hurt my little sister.”
He laughs. “Since when do you give a shit about family?”
“Why would you think I didn’t? You don’t know me.”
“You fuck off after your mother dies, and leave Annie to go and deal with everything by herself. Not exactly the act of a family man.”
He’s making a whole lot of assumptions and I don’t like any of them. “I repeat, you know nothing about me.”
“I know plenty about you. You doomed your family’s ranch.”
My blood pressure climbs. Anise has been talking about the ranch’s problems a whole town over? Are things that bad?
Red shakes his head and sighs. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get confrontational over nonsense. Just my own frustrations. Look, man, I like your sister. Like, a whole lot.”
There’s an earnestness to him that’s a lot less cocky than the Red I remember from those football games. He’s still a douchebag, but he seems to be a more reserved one at the very least. One I can communicate with. I think about how to approach this, ask him what he means about the ranch, what Annie has been telling him.
Only for Annie to come running up to me and grab me by the arm. “Angus! Red!”
There’s no color in her face, she’s panicking. “What’s the matter?”
“Dolly was talking up some boys from out of town, just playing, and... uh... they don’t like being played with, I guess. They’re trying to get her into their van and...”
I don’t need to hear any more. I look around and see Dolly pushing back against some guys I don’t recognize and I storm on over there.
“No. I really don’t want to go anywhere, just let me get back to my friends...” I hear her saying as I approach.
“Come on, we can have so much fun together, let’s go back to our dorm,” one of them says.
“No, I just want to go home now.” Her voice wavers.
“We’re going to show you such a good time.”
“Here’s a good time for you,” I say, turning one of them around and driving my fist right across his jaw. He falls like a bag of bricks.
“The hell,” another one of them says, turning to me.
He gets a fist to the face too.
I take Dolly by the hand and pull her away from them. To my surprise, Red is right behind me, covering our escape, but there’s no pursuit. Once the cowards were shown proper resistance, they hustled into their van, its engine firing up and then pulling away from all of us.