Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Iggy’s eyes widened and his mouth formed a perfect O. “Holy shit, you went to Juilliard?”
“For a year. I dropped out a month ago.”
Iggy nodded his head. “Hey, man, if something isn’t making you happy, why bother, right? Life is too fuckin’ short.”
A hollow laugh echoed within me, carrying the weight of my shattered mind and tearstained melancholic memories. Hearing someone be so nonchalant about quitting a goal I’d literally bled for was a refreshing change from the nightmare of my upbringing.
My entire existence was a masquerade contrived with determination and commitment. They forced me to exhaust my body and mind to fulfill goal after goal. My entire personality was based on the next level of perfection I could achieve as a classical pianist.
When I told my father I’d dropped out, he’d told me I was a loser and always would be one. Good old Dad, the ever supportive and loving parent. The man wasn’t a talented enough pianist to make it, so he placed his fucked-up aspirations on his four-year-old son. Dad rode me until I broke. Who knew loving the pretty black and white keys would create thirteeen years of misery?
“Mrs. Donnavan.” A middle-aged man wearing a white coat steps into the waiting room.
“Yes,” Connie says, rushing to him. She turns around and extends her arm out to me. “Come here, Marley.”
I stand beside Connie as we death grip each other’s hands, waiting for the doctor to speak. Prayer has always been an unsettling practice for me, but I send out silent promises to God the doctor’s stern face is just how he looks and has nothing to do with the gravity of the situation.
“Ignatius is awake. He’s very lucky to have arrived at the hospital when he did. He suffered from hyperthermia, but his heart and organs are normal. You can see him now, if you’d like.”
“Marley,” Kaye yells as she rushes to me. I stare up at her, confused why her face looks so alarmed. Didn’t she hear Iggy is okay?
Two firm hands pull at me from under my arms. “Bro, you okay?”
Cain.
Why are they fawning over me? I’m fine. I stare down and notice I’d fallen, crashed right down to the linoleum below my feet.
Their voices seem distant. All I can focus on is Iggy. “I want to see him.”
CHAPTER 21
Iggy
The room is frigid, my hands are clammy, and I feel like an idiot.
“Once you’re better and out of here, I’m going to smack you up the head,” my mother shouts as soon as she walks into my hospital room. Her anger quickly dissipates, replaced by a tight grip on my hands and her uncomfortable sobs. “How could you, Iggy? You’re all I’ve got. How could you do this? Baby, don’t you know how much I love you? You’re my entire world.”
Guilt consumes me as I gaze at the pain laced in my mother’s tear-filled eyes. Knowing after my father died, she didn’t have a moment to mourn because she had me to take care of me. How she’d opened up her heart and home to anyone in my life. How she’d given the man I love safety, knowing I’d regret taking it from him. Yup, knowing I am the reason my mother is in pain is the worst feeling ever.
“I’m fine, Mom. I’m going to be fine.”
She lifts her bag and smacks me with it.
“Ow, what was that for?”
“For scaring me.” She bends down, her blue eyes so much like my own, glaring at me. “If I ever hear you took drugs again, I’m going to kill you myself.”
My lips twitch. There’s my mama. Beneath my mother’s loving smile and gentle demeanor lies a ferocious bobcat ready to pounce and tear apart anyone who threatens those she loves, even if the threat is from her own son.
“I’m not an addict, Mom.”
Another hit from the rectangular leather purse. “I didn’t say you were. I said if you ever take drugs again, you’ll have a reckoning.”
I laugh at her hysterics, forgetting for a moment they rushed me to the hospital, and I was about to die from the very thing she’s terrified of me doing again. The laughter dies as soon as I see him leaning against the door. He’s wearing blue jeans and a crisp white cotton shirt. Someone obviously brought him a change of clothing. Probably Kaye, she’d be the first call Marley would make.
“Hey there, handsome,” I say.
Marley’s hollow, sunken eyes well up with tears, his ashen face reflecting the weight of his sorrow. He says nothing, just stands there with a haunted look on his face as if he’s seen a ghost. Who knew just the appearance of sadness on bis face can make my heart plummet to the ground?
A heaviness settles in my chest as my mom wearily lifts herself from the chair, pressing a kiss on my cheek. She brushes her fingers against my shoulder, leaving me alone with the man that both makes my heart stop and beat. Marley Banks could make the heavens weep, gazing at his beauty. I’m gazing at the pierced, tattooed version of David or any other inspiration that caused Michelangelo to carve perfection from marble. Even now, with misery and fatigue etched on his face, Marley Banks takes my breath away.