Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 75754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Garrison turned on me, and I stopped at the look on his face.
“You being gone scares the shit out of me. I worry constantly whether you’ll make it home this time. But I don’t complain because I know you fuckin’ love it. That doesn’t stop the fear in me, though. So how about you stop trying to play it off and for once tell us how you’re really feeling,” Garrison said accusingly.
I winced.
But they were my brothers, the ones that would have my back no matter what. The ones that did have my back when it mattered most.
“I didn’t think I’d make it home this time,” I said honestly. “The bomb exploded the minute I stepped foot on the fucking yard that surrounded the motel. Had I not been wearing a bulletproof vest, I would’ve had shrapnel in my fuckin’ heart. I had over ten pieces stuck in my vest.”
Silence.
“You did make it home, though. And you’re alive and well,” Cormac finally said.
I nodded.
It’d been close, though.
I’d thought that I was going to die.
Would have died had Parker not pulled me down with him.
Parker and I, we traded turns saving each other’s lives.
Obviously, it was now my turn to do the same for him since he had my back this time.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I want to work off some of this aggression,” I told them, hastening my steps.
I could practically see the two of them trading off knowing looks, and I hoped that they’d keep their shit comments to themselves.
But they didn’t.
“So that’s all that’s bugging you? You got blown up?” Garrison asked.
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
I was lying, and they both knew it.
“Come on, we promise we won’t tell,” Cormac teased, shoving me forward by planting his foot on my ass and pushing off me.
I turned a glare onto him, but I knew that he liked Thomasina even less than I did.
So I took glee in telling him what I did next.
“I also saw Thomasina today, and she called Ruthie a slut,” I blabbed.
“What the fuck did she want?” Cormac growled.
Cormac and Thomasina shared something when we were living together, and I couldn’t tell you what. Although I’d asked, he’d refused to tell me, and I’d given him that out.
I picked up the baseball glove and fit it onto my hand.
“Thomasina is the PAR officer. She has the beat that Ruthie’s house falls into. And since they’ve gotten so many complaints on Ruthie from so many different people, Thomasina was sent out to talk to her. Except neither one of us spoke to her because she was so fucking rude,” I answered.
“She’s still having problems with her neighbors?” Garrison asked, picking up the ball and tossing it up high in the air before catching it once again.
I nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll be staying there for a while…to keep an eye on her and all.”
Cormac snorted. “I’m sure that’s why you’re staying there. All because of her neighbors. I’m sure it has nothing to do with her sweet pus…”
I threw the ball at him, and he caught it with a laugh.
“Touchy, touchy for someone who only wants to protect the girl from the neighbors,” Cormac laughed.
I flipped him off.
“I didn’t say that was the only reason,” I hedged.
“So you looooooove her?” Garrison cooed.
I launched the ball at him extra hard, and he caught it with a laugh, pulling his glove off and shaking out his hand.
“You’re picking up high school etiquette now, dick wad?” I asked him.
Garrison smiled unrepentantly. “Yeah, that childish crap sure rubs off on you when you’re smothered in it every day.”
“That’s why you don’t have a girlfriend,” Cormac said.
“You don’t have a girlfriend either,” Garrison rebuked.
They both looked at me simultaneously.
“Why are you both looking at me?” I asked, picking up the bat and heading for home plate.
Cormac got into position as I adjusted myself into my stance.
The one I always used when I was getting ready to bat.
Left foot planted.
Right foot planted.
Swing three times.
Turn left. Right. Up. Then down.
Finally, I settled my gaze on Cormac and nodded.
Cormac stilled, looked left and right, and then lifted his leg before tossing a fastball at me.
Straight.
Down.
The.
Middle.
I yacked it.
Hit it so hard it sailed over the fence and into the trees beyond the field.
“Boom!” I yelled, running the bases.
It wasn’t until I’d run all three bases and hit home plate that I realized neither of my closest cheerers were cheering me on.
“What the fuck?” I asked them.
Garrison was the one to speak.
“You didn’t celebrate like a lunatic. What the fuck else is wrong with you?” Garrison asked.
“Just had a bad day,” I said, shrugging.
My mind went to the other thing I’d tried very hard not to think about since I’d gotten the news, and I gritted my teeth as I handed the bat off to Cormac and picked up another ball.
“Get ready,” I ordered.
Cormac did, but Garrison stayed at my side and stared at me.
“What else? That’s not all,” Garrison pushed.
Knowing it was futile, that they wouldn’t stop until I’d said it all, I finally said what was bothering me the most.
Even more than all of the other stuff.
Last but not least and all that shit.
“And to top it all off, I figured out that my mother is in town…at our old place,” I said finally.
Cormac threw the ball at me, and I caught it before turning right around and tossing it at Garrison.
Garrison caught it, firing it right back at Cormac.
Guess he was done batting until we got this all out.
We did this for a long time while nobody spoke.
I thought they’d let it drop, but Garrison finally piped in.
“Why don’t you go confront the whore?”
I sighed.
“I have to go back to base in two days. So right now wouldn’t be a great time to go. Not to mention I’ll be leaving Ruthie here all by herself,” I answered.
“You want us to watch over her?” Cormac asked.
I gave him a look.
“And how exactly would you do that from three hours away?” I countered.
He shrugged.
“I can’t, but Garrison can,” he answered.