Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 41839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 209(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 209(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
“My brother is an amazing dad, lawyer, and grade-A asshole.”
“Your brother loves you, a lot.”
“But he can be a pain in the ass and he’s not the subtlest when it comes to being protective. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after he stole you away.” He grabbed a beer from the fridge, removed the cap, and took a seat opposite her. “Well, what did he say?”
“He was just being very protective of you. I think he feels guilty about something. I don’t know.” She folded her arms. “He hinted at things with you and Tilly. Did something happen between the two of you?”
Lies would be easier. He tipped the bottle against his lips and watched her. “Do you want the truth or the lies?”
“I want whatever it is you can give me.”
He took a deep breath. He stared at his cold bottle that had already gotten droplets of condensation. “Tilly and I, we were doomed from the start. I didn’t love her. Sleeping with her was the biggest mistake I ever made.” He ran a hand down his face. “I think she thought we had a lot of money. I make good money, but with the time I’ve been away, my savings have dwindled. She wanted the high life that you see on the movies with lawyers. Drinking champagne, being on the celebrity party list. I’m a small-town lawyer. Once we had Meghan, there was no way I was going to move to the city life. Tilly didn’t like that.”
He didn’t talk about this with anyone. Not a doctor, not no one. “Our relationship had never been great, even in high school. We used each other. After Meghan, I don’t know, Tilly got mean. She got resentful. She hated that she had a kid. When I got home, I’d have to clean and cook. I did what I could, you know. Anyway, she got mean. We got into a lot of fights, but Tilly didn’t stop at screaming at me. No, she liked to use her fists.”
“She hit you?”
“Yep. Punched me. I went to work once with a black eye. There were times I had to take Meghan to my brother’s, or I’d stay with him. She once came at me with a skillet. I stopped her from hitting me. She was a violent woman.”
“Wow, I’m so sorry.”
“Anyway, since all of that, my brother believes I should have reported her.”
“Domestic abuse?”
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to do that.”
“Drew, maybe you should have. You’re trying to get a divorce, reporting her could have worked in your favor.”
“I’m not going to do that shit. I could handle it.” He wasn’t some kind of weak person. He was twice the size of Tilly. If he truly wanted to, he could have snapped her neck. When she got really violent and no amount of restraining her would work, if she kept coming with her fists and kicks, he’d leave her to cool down.
He knew in the back of his mind he was wrong. It didn’t make him any less of a man for taking the beating, but, damn it.
Callie pushed her chair out and moved around the counter. Her hand rested on the surface and he saw her nerves. The shake of her fingers. Her hesitation.
He turned toward her, looking into her eyes.
There were a few times during high school he’d stared into those brown depths and he’d seen tears. She’d never cried in front of him. She’d always run away from him and right now, he wanted to go back in time and beat the living shit out of his past self.
He expected her to pat him on the shoulder and walk away.
Callie always liked to surprise him though. Rather than walk away, she wrapped her arms around him, sinking her fingers into his hair and kissing him.
She was offering him comfort.
He wrapped his arms around her waist.
“I think I understand why Callum was so worried. With our history, he thinks I might be like Tilly. I’m not. I’m not going to hurt you.”
He pressed his face against her chest, breathing in her vanilla scent. Her tits were nice and big. A cushion for his head. He breathed her in, never wanting to let go. “Don’t pity me,” he said.
“I don’t. I’m offering you a hug, Drew. I’m not pitying you. Have you told anyone about what happened?”
“No.”
“You’ve only shared this with me?”
“Callum doesn’t even know the extent of it.”
She pulled away and stared at him. “Why me?”
“Why not you?”
“I don’t know. I’m a stranger. Callum is your brother. He loves you and he wants to protect you.”
“And what about you? What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
He ran his hands down to her ass, squeezing the cheeks. “I won’t report you.”
“I know.”
“Not because I don’t want people to know we fuck.”