Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Even if it had to be Dancing with the Stars.
“Shit,” Cleo mumbled once I topped the steps to his house.
Cleo lived on the Bayou. His house was on stilts; meaning I had to climb half a million steps to get to where I needed to be.
Embarrassingly, I was winded once I made it to the top of the steps. Although, a lot of that was because I was on the tail end of a minor head cold.
“Sorry. Got a call as soon as I hung up with you,” I mumbled, dragging ass. “Where’s…Ross.”
Ross stared at me like he’d seen a ghost. “Y-you’re…what’s…who the fuck?”
That’d been my sentiments exactly when I’d learned about him the first time.
What was he doing here?”
“Ross, this is Torren. Or Grayson Trammel. Grayson, this is Ross Bradley,” Cleo said formally.
I held out my hand, offering it to my brother.
He took it with stunned fascination. “You’re my brother.”
I nodded.
“Cleo told me, I just didn’t believe him. He just said to come over and see,” Ross said, shaking his head in surprise.
I turned my eyes to Cleo, silently thanking him.
I’d been putting this off for too long and, if I had to guess, Tru had a lot to do with this. She’d been encouraging me for weeks now to talk to him, yet I never could.
He nodded in understanding, and then went inside, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Cleo’s helpful like that. Did he tell you anything else?” I asked carefully.
He shook his head. “No. Not really. Told me I had a brother, and that my father wasn’t a part of this chapter, but the one in Tuscaloosa.”
I nodded, taking a seat on the steps with my back to him. “Yeah, he used to be here, but they needed someone who knew how to run a business venture in Tuscaloosa for a few weeks. He met his current wife there, and hasn’t moved back.”
Ross’s lips thinned. “He and my mother were never married.”
“I could explain that a bit,” I said, stretching my legs out in front of me. “From what I’ve learned from pop, he was in a delicate situation. He was married to my mother, but it was an unhealthy marriage. When he met your mother, she wasn’t aware that he was married, and they slept together during one of the many breaks that my parents took…often. They were back on again when your mother told my father he was going to be a daddy, and their on again/off again relationship was history. From that point on, we had a very limited relationship.”
Ross buried his head in his hands. “My mom’s dead, so I can’t verify any of this.”
Preaching to the choir, ol’ boy. “So’s mine. Got something in common, there.”
***
Tru
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” I asked Cleo from my perch on the bed.
Rue and I were watching Dancing with the Stars, while Cleo scowled at the TV from his position in the recliner.
“No,” he answered shortly.
“Nine. Nine. Seven,” Rue said.
“Eight. Eight. Seven,” I countered.
“Tens across the board,” Cleo muttered darkly.
And to our astonishment, the couple got ten’s across the board.
“What are you doing in here?” Rue asked her husband.
“They’re on my porch, and y’all are in my bed. Got nowhere else to go,” Cleo mumbled before taking a sip of his beer.
“You could try the living room. There’s a TV in there and everything,” Rue tried.
Cleo turned his dark eyes on his wife, and I had the distinct impression I was interrupting something. “I’ll just…go.”
I slipped out of the room in time to see Cleo prowl across the room to his wife before crawling across the bed like a cat.
I blushed furiously and practically ran out of the room.
They’d done it before, but I always felt like I was intruding. I was there quite a bit, but I felt uncomfortable in my own home now.
Iliana had sent me a text earlier asking if we could talk, and I’d been putting it off in hopes that her boyfriend wouldn’t be there.
Sighing, I walked out to the front porch instead of the back, leaving the lights off.
The phone rang twice before Iliana answered. “Hello?”
She sounded different. And not in a good way.
“Hey,” I said quietly.
Iliana sighed. “Hey. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” I replied honestly.
Well that was a good start, wasn’t it?
Then it all went to hell with her next statement.
“Bobby and I are thinking about getting married. And um, well, the thing is…gosh this is hard…”
“You want me to move out,” I surmised from her hesitation.
Could I afford a place on my own? I thought I could, but I’d just bought my car. It’d be tight, but I could probably hack it. Not by this weekend, though.
“Well…yes,” she answered hesitantly.
My brows bunched. Why was she circling around the answer?
“Are you okay?” I asked, worry evident in my tone.
Iliana was not obscure. She said exactly what she felt. She always had. This hesitant person didn’t sound like my best friend.
“Sure, listen I’m okay. I’ll call you in a couple of days if I don’t see you beforehand. You’ll be able to do something with me this weekend, right?” She asked, unsure.
I wanted to roll my eyes. Did she think after all this time that I’d blow her off just because of a few rough weeks? She was my best friend.
“Yes, of course I can. With bells on,” I replied jokingly.
Her laugh eased the ball of nerves that was gathering in my stomach, but didn’t completely erase it. It only solidified my plan of action, and that was figuring out exactly what was going on with my best friend.
It wouldn’t be until later the next week that I’d realize that she never called me. Some best friend I was.
Chapter 15
Save your breath, bitch. You’ll need it to blow me later.
-E-card
Tru
“Hey, baby. How was…what happened to your eye?” I semi-shrieked.
I’d been sitting on my parent’s couch, flipping through a magazine on home décor and talking with my sister when he’d walked in; now I was standing in front of him, staring in horror at the black eye that was forming on his face.