Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I didn’t feel anything. Should I?
The garage door opened and closed. I slipped my phone in my pocket. It was Gage. He stopped and studied me. Normally, I was never sitting in the living room when they returned in the evenings. I was sure it appeared odd now. The television wasn’t on. Just me, alone in the living room, sitting there.
“You good?” he asked.
I nodded. I was fine.
“Dinner is ready,” I told him.
His gaze searched my face again before he walked on through to the kitchen.
Huck hadn’t texted me all day. That wasn’t like him. Today must have been a busy one. I stood up and decided to go get a shower. I didn’t know how late he would be. It was already after seven.
My thoughts kept going back to the fact that Tabitha was dead. It was strange. Seeing Roy, then this, when I’d gone over half a year, barely thinking of them. I was sure Hayes would be disappointed in my thoughts. He’d have wanted me to feel something. Oddly enough, what I felt was relief. The house with all those terrible memories that haunted me was gone. Did it mean I was human that I felt this way, or did this merely justify Tabitha’s belief that I was evil?
After my shower, I curled up in the middle of Huck’s bed and closed my eyes. The next time I opened them, I knew I had been asleep, but I didn’t know for how long. Sitting up, I looked around for any sign that Huck had come home. When I didn’t see anything, I got off the bed and checked my phone. It was after twelve in the morning. No text or call from Huck.
Are you okay? I texted him.
I waited several minutes and no response. I was now officially worried. Pulling on a pair of shorts with Huck’s shirt I’d been asleep in, I headed for the stairs. Didn’t he know that I would worry? I knew that he did dangerous things. Not coming home or explaining why was concerning.
When I reached the main floor of the house, I heard voices. Feeling somewhat relieved, I followed the sound. It was coming from the living room. Gage and Levi were talking, but I didn’t hear Huck. I heard Gage say my name, and I stopped before walking in so they couldn’t see me.
Gage lowered his voice. “I don’t know what to tell her if she asks. He hung up the fucking phone. Maybe he texted her.”
“Do you think he’s with her?” Levi asked.
“He’s drunk. It’s not like him.” Gage paused. “I don’t know.”
“Why would he get drunk?”
“Fuck if I know.”
“Blaise will know. Huck tells him shit.”
“If I’ve got to go down to Devil’s tonight, I’m gonna be pissed,” Gage grunted.
“Liam will handle it if he has to.”
“Can’t believe he went to fucking Devil’s.”
“What? Since Liam bought it, the strippers have gotten way better. It’s kind of like family, right? Liam’s Cree’s grandfather, too, you know.”
Gage muttered a curse.
“I’m going to bed. He’s going through something, apparently,” Levi said, then yawned.
“What do you think Trinity is going to do if she finds this shit out? If he calls her drunk with ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ playing in the background and whatever female he’s with talking, it’s gonna be ugly.”
I stepped back, then turned and walked quietly away. I felt as if I’d been punched in the gut. When I reached the steps leading upstairs, I walked up them and back to the room I’d been given here. Tears burned my eyes. Not just because Huck had chosen to go to a strip club and get drunk, but also because he’d felt he needed to. This was what I’d known would happen.
My reaction to seeing Roy had probably been the turning point for him. He had acted different since that night. As if his head was somewhere else. Could I blame him? Even though he’d been sweet and held me, the more time he had to think about it, he had to have questioned a future with me. I hadn’t told him what Roy had done to me as a teenager. He didn’t know the abuse I’d suffered from Tabitha and Roy. I didn’t think telling him about it would help. He would just see how completely damaged I was.
Closing the bedroom door behind me, I wiped the tears from my face and looked around the room. Perhaps it was time I left. He was getting drunk because of me. The weight of dealing with this and us was getting to him. I didn’t know where to go or how to go anywhere. There was one person I thought I could trust, but I might be wrong there too. It was my only option.
I took the time to pack up the things that were actually mine, then climbed in bed in hopes that I could get some sleep. I would call Maddy first thing in the morning. Either she would understand and help me or she’d tell Blaise, who would tell Huck. But if Huck was ready to end things, then perhaps he’d be relieved I was leaving.