Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“You hate my sister,” she whispers, and my muscles lock.
“I don’t hate—”
“Every time I mention her, you get a look on your face.” Her cheek moves against my chest and her hair slides over my skin. “It’s not a nice look.”
“I don’t hate her, Mags. I worry about you and what will happen if you let her in again. There is a difference.”
Her head lifts and she looks down at me. “Because of your mom?”
“Yeah.” I nod, wrapping my hand around the back of her neck under her hair.
“Our stories are not the same, honey,” she whispers with concern in her tone. Lifting her hand, she places it against my jaw, and her fingers trail toward my chin. “I hate what happened to you. I hate it and I’m so sorry.”
Closing my eyes, I let her words settle through me and her touch heal a wound I didn’t even know was still wide open. Only she could do that; only she could heal me with a touch and a few soft words.
“I love you, Sven. I know I shouldn’t have lied about meeting up with Morgan. I don’t know that she’ll get better, but I know I love her enough to want her to have the chance to get help.”
“Family,” I whisper, and her face goes soft. She’s right; family does that kind of shit and our stories aren’t the same. My dad fucked up, even after he was released from the hospital. He tried to plea for my mom’s return home. Thankfully, the judge sent her away to a place where she wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else. On weekends, my dad would go stay near the facility to spend time with her, and when I graduated high school, he moved to be closer to her. Every time my father left me to be with her, my resentment grew a little more.
If I was honest, I felt abandoned. To this day, we talk rarely. He checks in sporadically, and I do the same. Our phone conversations are never long, neither of us willing to talk about the shit that’s bothering us.
If it weren’t for Asher’s family, I wouldn’t understand the way family worked. I wouldn’t know that parents, real ones, never turned their backs on you. They didn’t push you aside to get what they wanted or needed. I wouldn’t know that family stuck by you. No matter what, they didn’t abandon you; then again, I knew how badly I fucked up with Maggie when I asked her to choose me, testing her loyalty instead of doing what she needed me to do.
“I should never have asked you to choose.”
“You shouldn’t have. I understand why you did, and that killed me, but even knowing it’s just a hope that Morgan will get help, that hope is enough for me to want to help her.”
“You should feel that way. She’s your sister,” I tell her, and she presses a kiss to my chest then lays her head back down.
“How did you know I was here?” she asks after a long moment.
“A friend of mine followed you.”
“Seriously?” she asks, lifting her head once more.
“Yeah, I was gonna, but didn’t want you to spot me and do something stupid that would cause you to end up getting in a wreck in that death trap.”
“I’m a good driver.”
“Baby, you almost ran me over then pulled out on the road without even touching the brakes.”
“I was upset.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I didn’t follow you,” I remind her.
“How did you get in the house?”
“Your dad and I talked. He told me what room you were in and sent me up.”
“What?” she whispers.
“Though I gotta say, baby. I thought you said your dad was a hippy. He sure as hell doesn’t strike me as one.”
“I don’t know what’s going on with my dad,” she mutters.
“He’s probably seeing that his brand of parenting hasn’t been working.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen my dad look disappointed or angry, and he was both tonight. It was freaky.”
“Freaky,” I repeat with a smile that she must hear, cause her hand smacks against my chest.
“Freaky, and it’s not funny; it’s weird.”
“I think it’s a good thing. He cares, baby, and he’s showing it.”
“I guess you’re right,” she mumbles, and I run my hand down her back and pull up her shirt so I can run my fingers over her skin, and realize her ass is bare. “Sven,” she whispers as I tug her up to straddle me.
“Gotta be quiet, baby. Your mom said she heard you cryin’ through the walls, which means she’ll hear if you’re too loud.” I shift and pull down my boxers, feeling her wet heat against my abs as I do, and then whip her shirt off over her head.
“I don’t know if I can be quiet,” she whimpers the truth as I adjust her again and fill her with one stroke. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I hold her in place, drop my forehead to her chest, and grit my teeth to keep from coming. No matter how many fucking times I get inside her, nothing can prepare me for it.