Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
No.
Don’t.
Stop.
Please.
He’d repeated the same words over and over, but it was the last one, “Please,” that had always come out differently when he’d said it. There had been an edge of defiance in the first three words but when he said “Please,” I could hear the distinct difference. They’d broken him at that point.
I glanced at my watch and saw that it was late. I hurried to the bathroom to take a piss and swirl some mouthwash around in my mouth before spitting it out and then rushed down the stairs. I could hear voices coming from the living room at the front of the house, but I did a quick search of the kitchen first. By the time I reached the living room, things had quieted down a bit.
“Look who’s finally up. Get your dong looked after, Nurse Man?” Walter asked. He and Lenny were sitting on the couch with Puddles between them. Ford was sitting in an armchair across the coffee table from them.
“Morning,” Ford said. “Or afternoon, rather,” he said with a glance at his watch and a sly smile.
So everyone assumed I’d slept in because I’d gotten lucky the night before.
God, if only.
If any of the men had known what had taken place on the third floor of the house the night before, it would be utter chaos. Whether Theo liked it or not, his association with Ford had already made him part of the family, while I was the outsider who was only here for however long it took to get Walter’s health to a point where Lenny and the rest of the men could take over.
“Everything okay?” I asked. I was completely out of sorts but could only hope it didn’t show. “Walter, do you need anything? I’m sorry—”
“Psht,” Walter responded with a wave of his hand. “If I’d have had as long a dry spell as you have, Abe, I woulda made sure I couldn’t walk the next day. Top or bottom be damned.”
Despite the jumble of knots my insides felt like they were in, I managed a smile at Walter’s comment. It wasn’t the first time he’d called me Abe—the man loved calling me anything besides my actual name, and when it wasn’t the Abraham Lincoln or car brand references, it usually ended up having to do with my profession.
I heard Ford moan while Lenny said something to Walter I couldn’t hear.
“Everything okay in here?” I asked since it was unusual for the men to be sitting in the living room in the middle of the day. Lenny and Walter usually watched TV in the den or sat outside on warmer days and admired the flowers in the small garden Lenny had planted. Ford typically spent his days painting in either the studio he rented in town or the one he had at home that Cam had had built as an addition to the garage.
“Yeah, we were just having a little family meeting about our four-legged princess putting on a few pounds,” Ford said.
“My girl could be die’n,” Walter said as he pointed a wrinkled finger at Ford.
“I already called Sawyer,” he responded calmly. “He’s going to tell you the same thing as me. It’s all those damn Doritos you keep feeding her!”
I could tell the conversation was going to turn into another chaotic one, so I quickly asked, “Where’s everyone else?”
Ford seemed grateful for the distraction. “Cam took Riley to the library and Theo left a little while ago to take a walk.”
“Whatcha think, Nurse Man? Our girl looks okay, right?”
The hint of worry in Walter’s voice kept me from running out the door to find Theo. I went to sit on the coffee table across from Walter and Lenny and patted my lap. The little white dog jumped right into it. I knew shit about heart rates and such about dogs, but the animal didn’t seem in any kind of distress as I ran my hands over her body. “I’m not a vet like Sawyer, Walter, but she doesn’t seem to be in any kind of immediate danger. Is she having any symptoms?”
“She can’t jump on the bed like she used to,” Walter responded.
“So no vomiting or diarrhea?”
“No, thank God,” Ford responded. I knew he loved the dog as much as everyone else in the family did, but I could only imagine who’d be the one who’d have to clean up after any kind of accidents the dog had in the house.
I carefully handed the dog back to Walter. “Let’s see what Sawyer says, but she does seem like she’s gained some weight.”
My comment got the whole Dorito debate going again, so I quietly excused myself and hurried from the room. My need to get to Theo had me rushing through the woods as fast as I could. Since there was no actual trail to the stream, I couldn’t really run since there were too many trees to weave around and the footing wasn’t exactly flat.