Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
He leaned in toward me and rested his forehead against mine as we closed our eyes. The winter breeze swept over us, but my whole system felt warmth. This man made me feel warmth on the coldest day.
“Holly,” he whispered. “I’m so glad I met you.”
Before I could reply, we heard someone shouting, “Get out!”
HOLLY
Kai and I looked at one another before darting into the house's back door. We headed to the foyer to find Alec and MJ arguing. From the looks of it, Alec was at his wits’ end of dealing with MJ’s ridiculousness.
“Get out!” Alec hollered, gesturing toward the front porch. I stood there, frozen in place, as my brother kicked MJ out of the house. “I don’t want anything to do with you.”
MJ went to argue with Alec, but my brother stood his ground. “Go. Now,” he ordered, setting MJ’s suitcase on the porch. Before MJ could reply, Alec shut the door in his face. Alec’s body deflated the second he no longer had to be strong. His hand rested on the doorknob as if he was debating reopening it. He shut his eyes as tears streamed down his cheeks. Then, he released the doorknob, took a step backward, and wiped his tears away.
He sniffled a bit before he turned around and found me standing in the foyer. “Geez, Holly. Can’t I get a moment of privacy?” he huffed, still wiping his eyes. “You’re so nosy.”
He was trying to play it off as if he wasn’t hurting, but I knew how much his heart must’ve been suffering.
“Alec…”
“No. Don’t.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I don’t need your pity or judgment right now, all right? You were right. He was a piece of shit, okay? Just leave me alone, Holly.”
“No.”
He arched an eyebrow. “What?”
“I said no.” Instead of leaving him alone, I approached him and wrapped him in a hug. To be clear, we were not the hugging type of siblings. The last time Alec and I probably hugged was when my parents forced us to after we got into fights as kids.
Alec stood still, uncertain how to react to the odd embrace. “What are you doing?”
“Hugging you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re sad.”
“…So…?”
“That’s what people are supposed to do for the people they love. You’re supposed to hug them.”
“We don’t hug.”
“Yeah, I know. But maybe today we can.”
His body was tense at first. I felt as if I were hugging a stone wall. I didn’t step back, though. I kept holding onto him, not letting him go. Then, he melted into it and hugged me back. He didn’t cry anymore, but I knew his heart ached.
“I’m sorry about MJ.”
“It’s okay. He sucked in bed, so it’s not a huge loss.”
I laughed. “Good to know. He also looked like a big toe if you tilted your head a little.”
Alec dropped the hug and smirked. “I think he’s a year away from a receding hairline.”
“Six months, tops. And he makes awful lasagna.”
“He doesn’t make it. It’s that store-bought kind. I walked in once on him putting it into a serving dish as if he made it.”
I snapped my fingers. “I knew it tasted familiar! Don’t worry, Alec. You dodged a bullet.”
“I know. Still, it’s annoying. Hearts are stupid.”
“The stupidest.”
Alec flicked his nose with his thumb. “I’m sorry, Holly.”
“What? What for?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t hug you. After the wedding…I…” His eyes watered over, and he shuffled around in his shoes. “I didn’t know what to do. Our whole life has been around us bickering and being dicks toward each other. It would’ve been inauthentic if I did or expressed how I felt awful for what had happened. Your whole world changed that night, and I wanted to keep the status quo with our relationship at least. I should’ve hugged you. I’m sorry I didn’t.”
“I heard you,” I confessed. “The night it happened. I heard you outside my bedroom.”
He looked up, surprised. “You did?”
“Yeah. Mom gave me a few sleeping pills to help me rest, but I didn’t take them. I stayed up crying into my pillow and heard you outside my door around one in the morning. I heard you saying you were so sorry. I heard you slide down to the floor and sit there crying. That felt more like a hug than ever before. I was sitting in bed, heartbroken, and you showed up to remind me that I wasn’t.”
Alec gave me a small smile and shrugged his left shoulder. “What can I say? I only show care when I think people are asleep.”
I laughed as I wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry. I always feel the love even when you don’t know how to express it.”
“Hey, Holly?”
“Yes?”
“Can we stop this hugging thing now? It’s getting a little too much,” he said, picking up my arm and removing it from his shoulder.