Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 147136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
I don’t know how long I lay there before my phone rang, but it was long enough that my lips were cracked from sleep-riddled breaths bursting free.
I pulled my head out from under the pillow and flipped to my back.
The screen lit up above me. I wet my lips eagerly and answered with slumber lingering in my voice.
“Trouble. You okay?”
I heard his breathy laugh. It sounded cozy and familiar.
I wanted to watch his chest move with it, his throat and his mouth.
I wanted to see if he dipped his head or threw it back.
“Why are you asking if I’m okay?”
“’Cause you said your day went to shit,” I pointed out, pulling the covers closer. “Why did it go to shit?”
He breathed slowly, then replied, “You don’t need to worry about that, babe. It’s better now.”
I smiled against cool satin, but it didn’t linger when I thought about Brian’s reasoning from a day ago.
“Is this the bad in your life, Brian?”
“Yeah,” he answered without pause, like a relieving breath.
“Is it stuff you can’t share with me?”
“Yeah.”
Again, no pause.
I rolled toward the ocean-view window and sighed, not in disappointment.
In content.
I wanted this Later.
And he was giving it to me, even after his day went to shit.
“Then we’ll just talk about stuff you can share with me,” I said after tucking the blanket over my shoulder and getting cozy.
He laughed again, light against my ear.
“Like what, Wild? What do you want to know?”
I closed my eyes.
Everything, I thought, but I started simple.
Chapter Seven
BRIAN
“I haven’t had peanut butter in seven years.”
I dropped my pen in the crease of the book of crosswords I was working on and closed it.
“Say what?” I asked into the phone, then kicked the chair out next to me and stretched out, foot propped up and body angled back.
Sydney and I were shooting the shit, had been since I called her up after getting home at the end of a long as fuck day working at Wax. I was listening to everything she was saying while reading and filling in answers, set on finishing out the page, but not having peanut butter in seven years had me putting my pen down and giving up on Puzzle 17.
“Crazy, right?” Wild asked, sounding like she couldn’t believe it herself. “It’s because of Marcus. He’s allergic.”
“To peanut butter?”
“To peanuts,” she corrected. “And I mean really allergic. He can’t even smell anything with peanuts in it or he’ll start breathing different. It’s serious. He’s had to go to the hospital twice because of a reaction.”
“Shit,” I muttered, not really giving two fucks if this guy had to go to the hospital or not. I was more reacting to what I knew Syd was getting at.
“I love peanut butter,” she whispered longingly. “I love it enough to eat it straight out of the jar, but I couldn’t keep any in the house. I couldn’t even eat it when I wasn’t home because I’d come back smelling like it. It lingers.”
She was right. Even after brushing your teeth, you could sometimes still taste it.
“So not only did I give up peanut butter,” she continued. “But I gave up peanut butter cup sundaes at Friendly’s, and I loved that sundae. Whenever we got good report cards, my mom would take Barrett and me and I’d always order that sundae. It was tradition.”
Christ, I hated this fucker.
He couldn’t help having an allergy but it still pissed me the fuck off.
Her mom took her and Barrett there. That meant a lot to her.
Sydney should be eating peanut butter cup sundaes every fucking day of her life and keeping that memory.
“Couldn’t have a dog either,” she added quietly. “He was allergic to those, too.”
I cracked my neck, then asked, “You want a dog?”
“I’ve always wanted a dog. A boxer. Male. They’re beautiful creatures. And smart. I’d name him Sir Duke because he’d be regal and would need a regal name.”
Her voice raced with excitement.
I laughed under my breath.
“Sir Duke? You serious, babe? You can’t give a dog two names.”
“He’d have two names but he’d go by Sir. Just Sir. Sir Duke would be on his birth certificate and I’d only yell that if he was in trouble, which would be never because he’d be perfect.”
I shook my head, but I did it smiling.
She was quiet for a couple breaths.
I was about to suggest she get a dog after hitting up Friendly’s when she shut me up with her speech.
“I gave up peanut butter and a pet for him, but I didn’t mind because you give up stuff when you fall in love and you do it not caring because you’re in love. You gain so much more than what you’re losing, and I would’ve given up more than that to be with Marcus because I was in love and I knew he felt the same. There was a time he would’ve given up peanut butter and a pet for me, too, but you know what, Brian?”