Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“She seems to be well adjusted to me.” I can’t tell him I’ve spent hours and hours on the phone with her. She’s talked about her parents, and how she thinks she needs to repay Forrest for all that he’s done for her. Both feel a sense of owing the other. It’s obvious the two of them need to sit down and talk about it.
“She is.” He nods. “She’s fucking thriving,” he says, speaking my earlier thoughts out loud.
“She is,” I agree.
“I want more for her than this little, small town, Rome. I want her to marry a doctor or some shit. Maybe she’ll meet one once she starts her new job? I want her to have everything she missed out on. I want her to be spoiled and pampered. She didn’t get that.”
“You gave her that,” I tell him. Internally I’m screaming at him, telling him that I am that man. I will bust my ass every fucking day to give her everything she ever dreamed of. The words are on the tip of my tongue.
“I tried, but she still lived without it for eighteen fucking years. Weekends with me, with us at that shop, weren’t enough.”
Panic rises in my chest. “She’s happy, Forrest.” My mouth feels as if I’ve been chewing on rocks. It’s gritty and dry, as what he’s saying takes root in my mind.
He’s never going to approve of us together.
It doesn’t matter how much I love her. I’ll never be good enough for her.
He’ll never forgive either of us.
“Doesn’t matter. I want that for her. I’ll encourage her to reach for better.”
“Better than you?” I ask, feeling the walls starting to close in. “Better than the brother who loves her unconditionally and got her out as soon as he could? Better than the man who bought this big-ass house to give her the home she never had?”
“Yes.” His reply is instant and without hesitation.
“Bullshit.” I don’t bother to try to mask my anger.
He turns to look at me. “She’s my sister, Roman. You can call bullshit all you want. Until you walk in my shoes, you are in no place to judge me.”
“She’s happy. You did that, Forrest.” Me too, but I keep that to myself. “You got her out of there, gave her a home, helped her get a car, helped her navigate college. She’s well adjusted.” I pause, collecting myself. This time when I speak, I’m calmer. “You can’t dictate her life, man. That’s not fair to her or to you. That’s too much pressure. You got to live and make your own mistakes. She deserves that same right.”
“She does.” He nods. “However, I’m never going to stop pushing her toward the life she deserves.”
My heart thunders in my chest like a field of wild horses. “What happens when she brings a guy home you don’t approve of? What then? What happens when she falls in love with a man like you? The man who showed her what it feels like to love and protect your family?”
He shrugs. “I’ll disapprove. No way will she be with someone I disagree with. Our bond is too tight for that. I’m not going to let some lowlife come in and her end up in a life that I got her out of. No way.”
“What if he’s not a doctor but still a good man? A man that loves her.” I feel as though I just tore my heart out of my chest and handed it to him in the palm of my hand. I know what he’s going to say, but I asked him anyway. I’m not the kind of man he wants for his sister.
“Honestly, Rome, I can’t think of one person that I know that’s good enough for my baby sister. I hope that never happens, but if it does, we’ll have to navigate that land mine when we get there.”
My heart stalls in my chest, and I suck in a deep breath.
She’s going to lose her brother, and I can’t let that happen. I fucking knew this was how it would turn out. My biggest fear is our reality. I can’t ask her to pick me over her brother. She’s young and still has so much ahead of her. Graduation and starting her career. It’s going to hurt us both, but I can’t be the reason she loses her only blood family. I have two loving parents and a handful of extended relatives.
She has her brother.
I knew that I loved her. However, it’s not until this moment, knowing that I’m losing her, I realize how much.
I’ll never love anyone the way that I love Emerson Huntley.
I opted to sleep in the basement tonight. I use the term sleep loosely. It's 3:00 a.m. and I’m still wide awake. I rub my chest over my heart, trying to soothe the ache. It doesn’t help. I know nothing will take the pain away. How could it? I’m about to break the heart of the woman I love. Not because I don’t love her. I crave her. She’s in my blood, imprinted on my soul.