Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Abby says when we enter their house.
“It’s beautiful,” I tell her honestly. Some might call it small and older but not me. Before I lived in my grandma’s house, we always stayed in tiny apartments. Their home is a real home with family pictures lining the walls up the stairs to the second floor. The whole place smells of Tate, and he takes my hand like he can read my thoughts.
His fingers slip through mine as he gives me a little tour of their place. Upstairs is his mom’s room with a bathroom in the hallway. There’s another area that isn’t walled off, but it’s used as an office.
“Where’s your room?” I ask curiously because I only saw a kitchen and living room downstairs.
“I’m in the basement. My dad and I actually redid it a few years before—” I give his hand a squeeze in understanding.
“I can’t wait to see it,” I tell him, wanting him to know that his past is important to me too.
When we pass Abby in the kitchen, she’s staring into the open fridge. “I’m going to order pizza. Is that good with everyone?”
“I can make something, Mom,” Tate offers.
“Nah, I think we all deserve some pizza.”
“Sounds perfect,” I tell her.
I’m just thankful I have somewhere to go. The Albrights opened their home to me without question even though apparently, I own a whole-ass house. That’s still hard to wrap my mind around, but a lot of what’s happened in the last 36 hours has been wild.
When I moved to Noblesville, I thought I would be getting a quieter life. I also hoped it would settle my mother, but now she’s gone off the rails. I should have known when she didn’t sell Grandma’s house for the cash that something was up.
That and the fact that she picked up her bartending job so quickly. I didn’t think Grandma was loaded, but I was sure she would’ve had some money put away. She made sure to always have some for me, so that should have been my first clue. If my grandma left my mom money, she would’ve lived off it as long as she could before getting a job.
“Great, I'll order. You two go ahead, I call down when it gets here,” she says.
Tate is already leading me toward the door that goes to the basement, and neither of them find it strange that Tate is taking me to his room to be alone. Not that I mind.
“Wow,” I say when we get to the bottom of the stairs.
Tate has the biggest room in the house because it’s all an open space. He’s got a love seat in front of a TV with a few game consoles, and in another area, he has a desk with a bookshelf next to it. The space is clean and tidy, but the thing that catches my eye is the massive bed.
“It took us a few weeks. The drywall and carpet were easy. It was the bathroom that was a pain in the ass.” He points toward a door, letting me know it’s there.
“It’s really nice down here.” I smile when I see a framed picture of Tate with his parents sitting on his desk. “You really are one of the good ones,” I say as tears spring to my eyes.
“Hey.” He rushes over to me. “If you let me, I'll be more than good to you.” Tate strokes my cheek, and I hold his wrist before looking down at his hand. His knuckles are red, with a few scratches.
“I’m not so sure I’m good for you, Tate. I bet the football team is done for.” I’m sure either Tate or Jack will be kicked off the team, and who else knows what the fallout might be.
“Rosie, you have no idea how good you are for me.” He leans down, brushing his mouth against mine. “Every day before you was about making it to the next. All I did was what I needed to, but then you came along. You brought me back to life. I don’t give a fuck about anything else right now but making sure you’re okay. You’re my future. Everything else is what we do to make our lives together.”
“Tate.” I wrap my arms around him as he lifts me off the ground. When I wrap my legs around his waist, his hands grab my ass, and I rock against him. He’s hard all over.
The next thing I know, he’s walking us to his giant bed and lowering me onto it. Our hands roam over each other, and our mouths never separate as we hungrily explore.
“I love you,” I tell him when we finally come up for air and I’m panting for breath.
“I love you too.”
When I start to pull him back down to make out again, his mom’s voice has me scrambling to sit up. This makes Tate chuckle, and I elbow him in the side.