Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
But, fuck, all bets were off when I had the damn cast off. I was going to fuck her to oblivion morning, noon, and night.
“You always were impatient to get on the move again,” Scotti said, a sadness overtaking her features.
“So, what do you think of that SUV?” I asked, glancing back at it.
“My car?” she asked, brows pinching as Rush came down the ladder to unburden her of the boxes, but only because he wanted a slice. “It’s… fine. Why?”
“I’m taking recommendations for a car. I’m going to get one after my appointment tomorrow.”
“Wait,” she said, brows pinching. “You’re buying a car? Like… to keep here?”
“Well, to use,” I said, kind of enjoying her confusion. I’d had similar conversations with Rush and Nixon since they showed up, watching as their confusion led to understanding at what I was saying.
That I was planning to hang around.
At least for the most part.
“To use until your boot is off?” she asked.
“Yeah. And after that. Gonna need to get around somehow.”
“Wait,” she said, body stiffening, like she was bracing for me to disappoint her hopes. “Are you saying you plan to… stick around? Even when you’re healed?”
“I mean, I still have some traveling to do here and there. But I’ve been… researching some shit, looking into opening a business.”
“In Navesink Bank?”
“Well, over by the beach,” I clarified.
“And you’re going to… work there?”
“Someone’s gotta,” I said, working to flatten the smile that threatened to pull at my lips.
I didn’t anticipate the way a sob escaped her.
Scotti, as a whole, was not a woman who cried often. I would know. I’d been close with her for most of her life, until she went off and married Mark.
“Hey, no, none of that,” I said, uncomfortable as she buried her face in her hands.
“The fuck she crying for?” Nixon, ever the gentlest of men, asked, eyeing our sister.
“Nice, real nice,” Rush said, rolling his eyes. “She obviously realized that she brought us mushroom and onion pizza, and is feeling real bad about it,” he said.
“Hey,” I said, reaching out to use the back of King’s car to help me up, then reaching for her. “Come here,” I demanded, then grabbed her shoulder, and forced her toward me, wrapping my arm around her. “Way to make me feel like a real dick, Scotti,” I teased.
“You are a real dick,” she said, sniffling hard.
“That’s the sister I know and love,” I said, smiling as she pulled it together, then moved away, wiping at her cheeks.
“I just miss you. A lot,” she said.
“I miss you too,” I said. “I just didn’t realize it until I spent some more time around here.”
“This is because of AJ, isn’t it?” she asked.
“That’s… part of it,” I admitted.
“What kind of gift do you get the woman who makes your nomadic brother come back home and put down roots?”
“Dunno. But she likes bird stuff.”
“Bird stuff?” she asked, brows pinching.
“Dunno. She feeds all the birds and shit. She likes birds.”
“Birds,” she said, nodding. “Right. I’ll keep that in mind. So, you’re not hooking the house up because you’re leaving then,” she mused, watching as Nixon climbed up the ladder Rush had abandoned to chow down on the pizza.
“No,” I said, reaching for my chair, and dropping back down because the bulky cast made standing awkward. “I’m hooking it up because there’s something inside now that I want to protect.”
“Christ, that’s sappy,” Nixon said, shaking his head.
“Oh, shut up. Like you don’t still get all moon-eyed over Reagan,” Scotti shot back.
“Kids, behave,” Kingston called, coming out of the garage, fiddling with something on his tablet. “Hey, Scotti,” he said, giving her a smile, then looking around at all of us.
The look of peace and joy that crossed his face at seeing us all casually together on a random day that wasn’t a holiday made me feel like a real shit for keeping that from him for so long.
“The inside is all set,” he told me. “If these bums could get off their asses and get the outside done, we’d be all set,” he said.
It was pure teasing on his part, but Rush snagged one more slice of pizza before heading back off to work.
Everyone hung with me until well after sunset before they all headed home to their families. I hung with Samson, both of us seeming to miss his mom.
She sneaked inside that next morning, quickly plugging the code into the door that I’d texted her earlier, then trying to tiptoe past me toward the bedroom.
“Trying to go to bed without me?” I asked, voice sleep heavy.
“Go back to sleep,” she whispered. “You have the doctor soon.”
“Still rather spend an hour with you,” I said, transferring to my chair, then rolling behind her down the hall where she cast off of her pants, then reached under her shirt to remove her bra, before crawling into the bed.