Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
And you know what she did?
You guessed it.
She took one forward.
I’ll admit, I got a little scared then.
Jabbing her finger into my chest, she started in on a staccato tirade.
“You” Jab
“think” Jab
“I’m” Jab
“a” Jab
“bad” Jab
“judge” Jab
“of” Jab
“character?” Jab
She actually waited for me to answer. I shrugged like a coward.
“Well, you know what? You’re absolutely right. I let Andrew string me along for way too long. Yet somehow, when I found out who he was, it didn’t sting half as much as it did realizing how wrong I was about you. I was so sure you were just an asshole on the outside and a good person on the inside. I thought if I dug a little deeper, I’d dig past the dirt and find the hidden gold. But I was wrong. I dug through the dirt and you know what I found? More dirt.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. I went to say something, to tell her I was only screwing around, and she stopped me with more words.
“And you don’t need to worry about me believing the lies of a drunk guy. I already made that mistake once. You know, you were really convincing, too. Telling me how beautiful you think I am and that you were jealous of another man touching me. In fact, you were so good, I stupidly believed the drunk lies you fed me even after you didn’t remember saying them. That is, until I overheard you talking to Jim the other day and realized what a complete idiot I was…again. Shame on me. But trust me, I’ve learned my lesson.”
Before I could say or do anything, Annalise skirted around me and back into the bar. I hung my head, feeling like an elephant had just sat on my chest.
“Fuck.”
What have I done?
***
The next morning it poured. Not your typical, April-showers-bring-May-flowers type of bullshit rain, but the kind that comes with gray skies and thunder louder than a bowling alley on league night. Couple that with the pounding I had going on in my head, and the last thing I wanted to do was go to a monster truck show this afternoon.
I hadn’t even drunk that much last night. Hell, I had my third beer still in my hand when I finally grew some balls and went to chase Annalise after she’d finished chewing me out. I’d thrown it against the outside brick of the building when I found her—just as she pulled away from the bar inside an Uber. Not surprisingly, she didn’t make the driver stop, though I yelled after her.
When I pulled up at Lucas’s house, I didn’t bother to dig the umbrella I kept in my car out of the glove box, so my clothes were soaked after making the short walk from the car to the front door. I knocked and hoped by some miracle he answered today, instead of Fanny. The last thing I needed to go with a pounding headache and rainy-day trip to a loud monster truck show was a run-in with that woman.
The door opened. No such luck.
“I hope you plan on using an umbrella when you walk with Lucas. I can’t afford to get sick when he catches a cold.”
Shocker, she didn’t give two shits that Lucas might get the cold, only that he might pass it along to her. I wasn’t in the mood.
“I’ll make sure he runs between the raindrops.”
She pursed her thin lips. “He can also use some new sneakers.”
I ignored her. I’d long ago learned not to expect the monthly check I gave her to go toward anything Lucas might actually need.
“Is he ready? We need to be somewhere.”
She slammed the door in my face and screamed inside the house, “Lucas!”
I preferred standing out in the rain than talking to her anyway.
The smile on Lucas’s face when he opened the door made me smile for the first time since last night. About a year ago, he’d stopped running into my arms. So I’d come up with a secret handshake just for us. We went through the fifteen-second-long hand-slapping, fist-bumping, shake routine.
“Did you buy earplugs?” he asked.
I’d stopped at the store on the way over. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out two sets.
Lucas frowned. “When am I gonna be old enough to stop wearing these?”
“Old enough? I’m still wearing ’em, aren’t I?”
“Yeah. But that’s because you’re a dork, not because you’re old.”
I smiled. This kid could make me forget a bad day. “Is that so?”
He grinned and nodded.
“Well, just for that comment, I’m not giving you my jacket to put over your head while we make a run for the car, like I was going to do.”
Lucas shook his head again and scoffed, “Jacket over my head. You really are a dork.” Then he took off running for the car.
***
Shit. I had about a half mile to go to get to the arena when I realized I’d forgotten the tickets. They were in the top drawer of my desk at the office, along with the early entry passes I’d bought so Lucas and I could go check out the trucks before the show started.