Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Sadly, his bedroom was now an uninhabited place where Mom kept a ton of books on shelves that she didn’t even read. It was where she kept his box of trophies and his old mattress that was now standing tall against the north wall. I didn’t like going in there much.
It still had a whisper of Mitchell’s breath, his aura, his life. I went in there a couple times and I felt his spirit there, heavy with compassion. Sometimes it would feel colder than the rest of the house, mainly because no one ever opened the curtains.
Not even Sue went into the room unless it needed some serious cleaning… which it never did… because, like I said, no one ever went in there.
* * *
I didn’t hear from Drake for six days.
I guess I’d really ticked him off… or he really meant that he wanted me to leave him alone.
That couldn’t work for me, though. See, I didn’t want to follow the signs. I didn’t want to give up on him. Not that I thought I could “fix” him or anything, but I wanted to be some sort of outlet for him. I kept thinking about fifth grade and how great we were as buddies back then.
I wanted to be friends again. I don’t know why this urge consumed me so much.
Maybe I was just bored, and seeking someone other than Kylie to entertain me. Maybe I really wanted answers to some questions that I had about him. Or maybe, just maybe, I wanted Drake as my own…
I shook that last thought off as I picked up my book.
“Stop thinking about him, Jenny. He doesn’t want you,” I scolded myself. But I didn’t believe it. Drake liked me. He’d always liked me. There was no way in hell he hated me now.
I dropped my novel, turning for my phone on the nightstand. As I grabbed it, Kylie’s name and a picture of us at an art festival popped up on the screen. I answered.
“Jen, guess what!” she hollered into the phone. I heard voices in the background. All of them were loud. Hollers. Screams. Laughter.
“What?” I asked, sitting up.
“Wait—hold on! I need to get away from this crowd. One sec.”
“Where are you?” I asked, laughing.
“I met Fiona at this wet and wild summer party by the boulevard.” She said something away from the phone, shouting an “Excuse me!”
I knew she was irritated now. She hated when people were in her way.
When she was finally clear and the noise as well as the bass of the music had faded a bit, she said, “So… don’t hate me or anything, but I think I have a plan for us tonight. One that involves Oscar… and your buddy Drake.”
Something crinkled in the background, but it couldn’t have crinkled up more than my nose did from hearing his name. “What? What are you talking about?”
“There are these flyers floating around at this party. Some guy—I guess he’s like the promoter for it or whatever—gave me one and you will not believe who’s on the front of it!”
“Who?!”
“Drake, Oscar, and his twin.”
“Otto too?” Damn. I wished he was the safer one, even though he was a huge goofball.
“Yeah, that’s him! They’re all on here, and everyone at this party is welcomed to an exclusive night life event at the Dirty Dawg Pit.” I could tell she was reading straight from the flyer. “Jen, we have to go! We have to! I need to see him again. I know it sounds crazy, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since the party.” She sighed. “I feel like fucking Cinderella waiting for her prince to show up again.”
“Oh, Kylie, I don’t know,” I groaned. “I’ve already embarrassed myself twice with him, and I definitely don’t want to see him during some brawl.”
“You are such a liar. You and I both know you want to see him.” She had me there. “Look, as long as we bring this flyer, we’re in! Of course they’re taking bets, but you don’t have to bet anything. Don’t you want to see what has them so occupied? Why they believe we should stay away from them? I need to know if this thing they do is really as big as they make it seem.”
When she put it that way, I kind of did wonder. They only fought at night, but worked a lot during the day. They were busy with making money but they couldn’t have been that busy or that devoted to it… could they?
“My cousin said he’d get us a front spot. He’s security there. Remember I told you he worked there?”
“We don’t have to be up front.” I rolled my eyes.
“Oh, please, Jen. Don’t be modest. I know you want him to see you. So this is what you do: meet me at my place in about an hour. I’m about to get out of here. Once you’re at my place we’ll find you something sexy as hell to wear. I saw the way he looked at you at the party. Couldn’t keep his eyes—or hands—off of you.”