Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Me: Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Hutton?
Chaos Hoodlum: More like telling you, parasite.
Me: Way to ruin it.
This time, he sends me the thumbs-up emoji and damn it, my cheeks burn bright red. Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I grab the blanket off the couch and head back outside to sit with Loden. He’s lying down on the sofa, his long legs stretched across, staring into the distance. I wedge myself between him and the back cushions, covering us with the blanket.
“Is she okay?” I ask, patting his chest.
“Now that she knows I’m with you, yes.”
“I’m always here for you, Lo. Always. You’re never alone.”
He lets out a ragged, heavy sigh. “Same, baby, same.”
I fall asleep, doing my damnedest to hold him together. When I wake the next morning, shivering from the cold and all alone, I discover he’s left with a text as his only goodbye.
Lo: I love you and miss you already. Thanks for giving me exactly what I needed when I needed it. Now LA needs me. Talk soon.
My heart squeezes with worry, but all I can do is hope he’ll come back to me the next time he’s hurting.
Cal
I thrum my fingers on my steering wheel, trying like hell not to let my nerves get the best of me.
Terrence is here.
Alive.
In my truck and going home.
I never thought we’d get to this point, but we’re here. He’s nowhere near the man he once was, but all I can do is hope like hell he’ll get back to that point. I wish Charlotte were here for moral support, but she’d be the worst person right now considering she was the cause of all of his pain. I know he doesn’t remember the accident exactly, but he knows who hit him that night.
If he were a dick to her, I might not take it well.
And that right there causes guilt to twist at my guts.
She deserves his anger. But she’s my fucking girl now and I can’t bear the idea of anyone being a dick but me. She likes it when I’m a dick to her. It gives her a chance to show off those new claws of hers.
I try not to think about last night. I’d taken her to dinner like I told her I would. A fancy steakhouse on the river. While she chattered on about her classes and Roux and cheerleading, I couldn’t look away. The girl has put a fucking spell on me. I wanted to drag her back to my cabin to fuck her in every nasty way possible, but she told me she was on her period. Not that that would have stopped me. My fucking girl made it all worth it, though, because she gave me road head on the way back to her dad’s apartment.
“No,” Terrence clips out, finally speaking.
“No?”
“Not Grandma’s.” He rubs at his temple. “I need to feel normal. If I go to her house, she’ll fucking baby me.”
I glance over at him. He’s still weak as hell, but my boy is a fighter. Eventually, he’ll get back to the man he once was. All he needs is time and possibly space from his grandma. He’ll have enough to deal with considering he’s got a schedule full of therapists who are to come see him each week.
“I have an extra room at my new cabin. You’re cool to room with me.”
He nods, so I take a left toward the campground rather than a right to head to his house. We ride the rest of the way in silence. It’s dark by the time we arrive home. Terrence climbs out and walks right in, not stopping to look at anything along the way. Since the door is unlocked, it means Mom must have stopped by. As soon as I trot in after him and discover fruit in the bowl on the table, I know she’s filled my cabinets with groceries.
Once a momma’s boy, always a momma’s boy.
“So, yeah, this is it. My humble abode. You can stay as long as you want. Your room is that way and mine is over there. Mom hooked us up with food. Eat whatever you want.”
He walks over to the window overlooking the woods and stares out. The silence grows awkward and I once again fill it with rambled words.
“I canceled Campfire Chaos indefinitely. It felt lame as fuck having all those people there.” I snort out a laugh. “Last week, I invited just the Hoodlums and my parents. Can you believe it? Sebban loved playing in the river and eating s’mores. My dad gave me shit about…” I trail off. “You hungry?”
He turns to study me, his left eye drooping slightly. His features are expressionless—a dark void of nothing. It’s unnerving considering he was always so playful and fun.