Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Who cares,” Rose replied easily. “I’m going to make them drink until they puke.”
“I’ll see you later, Bishop,” Lily said to me, with a sigh. “I’ve gotta go collect my mother-of-the-year trophy.”
Not long after that, I found myself standing next to Charlie as we watched Rose and Lily annihilate their sons at beer pong. Almost everyone at the party was crowded around the table, watching as Kara’s little brother Jamison turned paler and paler as he downed his cups of soda.
“Call uncle,” Rose said, laughing at the look on his face.
“Never,” Jamison croaked.
“Jamo’s gonna puke, Grey,” Lily said sympathetically. “Want to call it?”
“Hell no. He’ll rally,” Grey said, not looking any better than his teammate. “We could still beat you.”
“Poor deluded boy,” Charlie said under her breath, leaning against me. “He’s up against over thirty years of friendship. They’ll never win.”
“It’s kinda cool how you guys have these built-in friendships,” I said, putting my arm around her shoulders.
“So many cousins,” Charlie said, taking a sip from her glass. She looked up at me. “It’s water.”
“Stickin’ to water, huh?” I asked with a smile.
“So you’ll stick it to me later,” she replied, smiling back.
Luckily, my laugh was lost in the chatter of the crowd around us.
“If someone pukes, we’re callin’ it,” Kara’s dad Mack announced.
“You coddle him,” Rose accused jokingly, looking across the table at her man. “He threw down the gauntlet, baby.”
“And you picked that shit right up,” Mack said, grinning.
“You didn’t expect anything less.” She blew him a kiss.
The game continued, and thankfully no one threw up, but Lily and Rose won so easily that the boys accused them of cheating. After that, the crowd started thinning out.
I stood with Charlie, Draco, and Kara out front as everyone stopped to congratulate Charlie on her graduation and say their goodbyes. Every single adult, old and young, handed her something as they left. Some were clearly greeting cards and others just plain white envelopes, but every time she got one, Charlie’s eyes widened in surprise.
When mostly everyone had left, we headed toward my truck.
“Holy shit,” Charlie said, stopping in the middle of the forecourt.
“What?” Kara asked, spinning toward her.
“Money.”
“What?”
“They’re full of fucking cash,” Charlie choked out. Her eyes were wide with shock.
“Did you expect checks?” Kara joked. “Half of them don’t have fucking bank accounts.”
“Damn government,” Draco mimicked.
“I didn’t know they were giving me money,” Charlie said in disbelief.
“Graduation gifts,” Kara said with a shrug.
“You gonna stand out here and count it?” Draco joked. “Or can we go home?”
“I think I need a safe,” Charlie said, walking toward us as she glanced between us and the envelopes. “This is a lot of fucking money.”
“You should probably send out thank you cards,” Kara said as she reached us. “That would be the nice thing to do.”
“Of course you’re thinking about thank you cards when I’m holding this much cash,” Charlie joked, shaking her head.
As we reached the truck, I realized something.
“There’s only three seats,” I said dumbly, pausing with my hand on the door. “Fuck.”
“You’re just realizing this now?” Charlie asked.
“We can double up!” Kara said, smiling happily.
She’d said it so easily, like it was no big deal. But for me—it was. I was on parole. I couldn’t be driving around with too many people in my truck. It wasn’t legal and there wasn’t any way to hide it.
“I brought my car,” Charlie said to me quietly. When I looked at her, she winked. “And I’m sober as a judge. I can drive home.”
“I’m riding with Charlie!” Kara announced.
“Looks like it’s just you and me,” Draco said as the girls walked toward Charlie’s car. “And I don’t care how nicely you ask, I’m not riding bitch.”
We were quiet as we followed the girls home. Draco and I could spend hours talking about anything and everything, but we were just as easy sitting in silence—which I appreciated. After spending the day surrounded by people and thirty different conversations happening at once, I was thankful for the quiet. I was also anxious as fuck to get home. I hadn’t touched Charlie in so long, I was dying to get my hands on her.
“You and Charles seem to be gettin’ along again,” Draco said nonchalantly, taking me by surprise.
“We weren’t ever not gettin’ along,” I replied, glancing at him.
“I don’t know man,” he said, chuckling a little. “The two of you have been tiptoein’ around the house for the last month.”
“She’s been busy,” I said flatly. “Hell, so have I. Casper and Farrah want their house done yesterday.”
“Whatever you say,” Draco replied as we parked along the sidewalk in front of the house.
“It’s all good, man,” I assured him as we got out and started toward the house.
“That was a fun party,” Kara said, stumbling out of Charlie’s car. “We should do that again.”
“We can party whenever you want,” Draco told her, grinning as she leaned heavily against him. “Unless it’s a school night.”