Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
In the hospital on the day she was born, Abilene hadn’t even wanted to hold her after Briley had been pushed from her body. I’d taken her that day in my arms, and Abilene hadn’t held her ever again.
Though, we’d all tried to get her to pay attention to Briley. To give her just a single chance to change her mind.
Hell, Boz, Abilene’s brother, was a significant part of Briley’s life, which was odd since Boz and Abilene had been so close.
But honestly, I thought it might be because Briley looked so much like Abilene. He saw pieces of his sister in my daughter, and he missed her dearly.
Abilene had been killed by a serial killer. A serial killer that just so happened to be the principal of our old high school.
The man had something against teenage mothers who gave their children away as if they were unwanted.
If he found out that they’d given their child away in a way he didn’t like or think was acceptable, he stalked them and murdered them, then delivered them along a stretch of highway that was known as the ‘Highway to Haughton.’
“Daddy, this is going to be bad,” Briley said, interrupting my thoughts.
And as if he heard her, Keene started to notice a few of the same things we’d already realized.
“That one has a drop, too,” Keene said in horror.
“I know.” Hades snickered.
I refrained from calling her a bitch underneath my breath.
Not because I didn’t want to curse in front of my child.
I was a single dad and a professional football player. Literally every other word that came out of my mouth was a curse word.
No, I refrained from saying it because I didn’t want to bring their attention to me.
We’d come with the “Circus Sisters,” a.k.a. the Singh family.
Sloan, Titus, Banner, and I had all grown up together. We were the best friends that you could have. But now that Banner was in the Navy SEALs, he had a new set of friends, and because we all loved Banner, we hung out when they all had time off.
Now being one of those times.
We’d originally come up to spend time with Banner. But shit had gone down last night at the circus that Banner had asked us to come to with our kids, and that’d gotten his whole team the day off the next day.
So they’d all requested we go to the water park.
Honestly, I was fine with that.
I liked spending time with them all, and my kid was now entertained for the day.
It was a win-win situation for me.
But it didn’t look like the woman I couldn’t take my eyes off of all day cared for the water park.
“Well, I guess we’ll see how this goes,” Hades admitted.
We all watched in fascination as she got situated on the slide some more, shifting her butt forward inch by inch as if she meant to go over the top while sitting up.
She closed her eyes and started to breathe deeply.
“What is she doing?” Hades asked.
“She’s shimmying to the edge,” Keene said.
I looked over with Briley at my side to see she was doing just that.
She had no clue that the second bump launched you straight into the air then dropped six feet.
The lifeguard said something to her, and she reluctantly laid down.
She pushed herself forward with her hands, looked like she was whispering something to herself, then the lifeguard got tired of the holdup.
He pushed her, and she went flying and screaming over the top.
The first drop wasn’t the problem.
It was the second one.
It was a straight drop down that left you airborne for at least five seconds.
But, as if she knew the drop was coming—but likely didn’t because when you were on the slide itself it looked innocuous—she sat up.
Which was the complete wrong thing to do.
Sitting up changed the trajectory of her drop.
Eventually, the fall forced her to lie back, but the move also caused the ill-fitting swim dress she was wearing to fly up and completely cover her face.
“Oh, god,” Briley said, echoing my thoughts.
Seconds after her swim dress covered her face, she slid sideways as she finally made contact with the slide beneath her back. Seconds after that, she was then facing backward on her back as she barreled down the rest of the slide headfirst and backward.
The scream that left her mouth would’ve been comical had she not sounded so terrified.
Keene laughed with the rest of his sisters as she finally hit the bottom where the pool met the slide.
She went under and didn’t come up.
I was the only one not laughing. Well, me and Briley.
Though, I’d done just about everything I could to ensure that Briley wouldn’t be a bully.
Because when my daughter was newly born, Briley’s mother had tried to take her own life thanks to bullies at our high school.