Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
The man was hugging me.
I had obviously woke him and his son up from their sleep with my commotion, and he was comforting me. A stranger no less and that knowledge only made me cry harder. I put my arms around his waist and held him tightly as a dam burst inside me. All the years of loneliness, fear, and heartache slammed into me right there in my doorway. I found myself beginning to relax when three hard whacks smacked onto the crown of my head and made me slump with dizziness.
The beautiful, kind stranger wasn’t so kind after all, and he was probably going to chop me up into little pieces for waking up him and his son. As far as shitty days went, this was one definitely up there as the shittiest.
CHAPTER FIVE
Date
* * *
“Please, don’t let her be dead,” I pleaded out loud to God. “By the tears of the sweet baby Jesus, do not let her be dead. Please, please, please.”
The woman I held against me groaned against my bare chest, and I nearly burst into fucking tears as relief slammed into me. Jax stared down at her and laughed like the devil spawn he was.
“I’m so fuckin’ sorry, darlin’,” I blurted. “Me nephew didn’t mean to batter ye. He’s only a baby.” I looked at Jax. “A bold baby.”
My nephew stuck out his bottom lip, but he didn’t cry. The woman suddenly stumbled back and lifted her hand to the crown of her head. Her swollen, red-rimmed eyes looked up at me in fear, and it broke my bloody heart.
“I’m so sorry,” I repeated. “He’s a right wagon for smackin’ ye. Does it hurt?”
She looked from me to Jax and widened her eyes.
“He hit me?”
Did she think I did?
“With his toy.” I cringed. “I’m so sorry.”
She looked back at me and said, “What?”
Christ. Was she concussed? How fucking hard did Jax hit her?
“Are ye okay?” I held up my free hand. “How many fingers am I holdin’ up?”
The woman blinked. “Three.”
I counted my fingers and exhaled another breath of relief.
“Not concussed. Ye had me worried there for a second.”
She was looking at Jax when I spoke and when she looked back at me, she frowned.
“What?”
What in the hell is going on with this young one?
“Love, I’ve been speakin’ to ye.” I frowned. “Are ye deaf?”
She sniffled and bobbed her head.
“Yeah, mister.” She tapped her ears. “I am deaf. I can’t hear ye.”
I felt like I’d been sucker-punched. Shame slammed into me. Not only was the pretty woman Jax beat on with his rattler my new neighbour, but she was deaf too. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. I hope I didn’t embarrass her, but it didn’t matter if I did because I was so mortified I wouldn’t have even noticed.
“I’m very sorry.” I cleared my throat. Twice. “That was a shitty thing to say, and I shouldn’t have said it.”
She rubbed the crown of her head one final time, then waved her hand at me.
“Don’t worry about it. Ye’d be surprised how often people say it without actually meanin’ it. They say it out of second nature, not because they actually think the person they’re speakin’ to is actually deaf.”
And I was one of those idiots.
“I can only imagine.”
She looked back at Jax. “He’s so cute.”
When she looked back at me and adjusted her glasses, I let out a breath. She was pretty and not in an in-your-face kind of way either. Her prettiness was subtle. It was both in her looks and the way she moved. I never knew a woman could look good pushing glasses up her nose, but in the hallway of my apartment building at four in the morning, I found out it was very possible.
“What’s your name?”
She looked back at me just as I finished asking my question, and she frowned.
“Did ye say somethin’?”
I nodded. She stared at me then slowly, and a smile took over her frown. She had tiny dimples. Fuck, she was a pretty little thing.
“I can’t hear ye, remember? Deaf as a post,” she teased. “Ye’ll have to repeat that so I can read your lips.”
I was making an absolute thick out of myself.
“Sorry,” I said, saying it clearly so she could understand me better. “I said, what is your name?”
“Oh. I’m Ina.”
“Eye-nah,” Jax repeated, gaining both Ina’s and my attention.
“Did he just say me name?” she asked, smiling at Jax.
When she looked back at me, I said, “Yeah, he repeated and pronounced it the way you did. He has a thing about names. Make sure he is sayin’ it correctly because he’ll call ye it forever, even if it’s wrong.”
She giggled, and I found myself smiling too until I realised I was smiling a little too wide and wiped the grin off my face. I didn’t want her to think I was a simpleton.