Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Over at Nash’s house the party is in full swing. I just want to go home, but if we leave now, we’ll have to pick up food from somewhere. And that’s a waste. The barbecue is good, there’s lots of beer, and as soon as I get a few of those in me, my mood improves.
But three hours later, I’m also a little too drunk to drive home.
“Give me your keys.” Lowyn is holding out her hand. She didn’t drink. Not even a single beer.
“Are you the DD?” I wink at her. “Gonna take care of me tonight?”
She nods, trying to hide a smile. “I don’t know what you and Amon talked about down there in your secret room, but when you came up you looked like you needed a drink, Collin Creed. And that’s all good. But you’re not driving home.”
I hand her the keys and get in the passenger side. “I’m not that drunk. I’m just in a happy place.”
She starts the Jeep, pats my leg, then backs up and we’re heading home.
Home.
It’s literally home. And all the way there I think about that. How Lowyn McBride is the reason I still have a home in Disciple. And my room is still there.
I look over at Lowyn. She’s focusing on the curvy bit of road that leads into the Disciple river valley. Her face is lit up by the dashboard lights, a fingernail tapping the leather steering wheel. “Why are you staring at me, Collin?”
“You’re pretty.”
She smiles. “I think you might be drunker than you realize.”
“I don’t get drunk.”
“OK.” She laughs.
“I’ve missed you. I mean… I didn’t really know I missed you until I came home and saw you in that bar in Bishop.”
“Of course you had to go there. Right to the night when I was drunk and you had to drive me home.” She chances a look at me, but it’s just a quick one. Her eyes go back to the road because she’s responsible like that.
“I’m gonna marry you, Lowyn McBride.”
She huffs. “Is that so?”
“Yup. I’m gonna ask you to marry me in some spectacular way. And you’re gonna say yes. And we’re gonna do that in front of everyone. The whole fuckin’ town. And then I’m gonna take you somewhere. Somewhere nice. Like… like… I dunno. I’ll think of a place. Somewhere you’ve never been. Never heard of, even. And we’ll get a nice room with pretty things in it, and I’ll fuck the living shit out of you on that bed.”
She starts laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“You. That’s all. First you’re all dirty-talking me during sex and now you’re all dirty-talking me on the drive home.”
“Shit.” I let out a sigh and look out my window. “This ain’t nothing.”
“Hmm.”
“What’s that ‘hmm’ for?”
“Your promises are intriguing.”
I smile. Grin, actually. Like a drunk-ass fool. But she’s intrigued.
I leave it there, staying silent for the rest of the ride home.
When we get there, and get inside, I realize I do kinda feel buzzed. Not proper drunk, but definitely buzzed. And I’m still running Lowyn’s words through my head as she and I go upstairs like we’re some kind of couple and this is normal. Like we do this every night. We go out with friends, and come home, and go upstairs, and get in bed, and I get to touch her all over before we fall asleep together. And then wake up and do it all again.
She flicks the light on and her beautiful bedroom appears. The covers on her bed are all a mess, but it doesn’t matter because we’re gonna be under them any minute now. She stops in the middle of the room and turns to me, reaching for my leather jacket, sliding it down my arms. It’s heavy and the zippers jingle a little as she takes it over to a chair that sits in front of a vanity and drapes it over the back.
She’s wearing jeans, a tight-fitting t-shirt, and an oversized flannel as a jacket. She takes the flannel off, drapes it over my jacket, and then sits down on a bench at the end of her bed. Smiling up at me as she takes off her boots.
I don’t even move. I just stand there and watch.
When she’s done she gets up, comes over to me, and starts taking my shirt off.
I hold my breath until it comes up over my head and she’s tossing it on the floor.
Then she looks at me. Like really fuckin’ looks at me, her eyes taking in my chest. When they slide up my body and meet my eyes, I take a step forward—because that’s all the distance there is between us—and then I’m pulling her shirt up too. But I don’t take it off. I just hike it up to her neck and start fondling her breasts through her bra, never breaking eye contact.