Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 94897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
He accepted her invitation and went in for the spoon, tucking himself close, and curling his arms around her.
“Only boy I know who’s good with giving a girl a rush then moving on, his dick still hard.”
“Hmm,” he hummed.
“I’mma gonna get up in a minute and brush my teeth,” she mumbled.
“All right, baby,” he whispered, knowing by her vibe there was no way in hell she was getting up to brush her teeth.
He was right, she was asleep in less than five minutes.
So he was careful when he moved away from her to go to the bathroom to brush his own teeth.
He had eyes to the mirror and the brush in his mouth when her words came back to him.
I hope I’m a lot like her. I try to be.
And with these words in his head, he remembered something he hadn’t thought of in years.
His mom, sitting alone at the table in the kitchen, her hand wrapped around an empty bottle of beer, staring at the refrigerator like it’d open itself and spit a fresh one at her.
He also remembered the expression on her face.
And he had to stop brushing, because suddenly, he felt like he was going to hurl.
He spit.
Rinsed.
Put his brush back in Archie’s holder.
And bracing his hands in the sink, he went back to staring at himself in the mirror.
“That fridge wasn’t gonna spit a beer at her,” he said to himself. “My father would never let his wife sit with an empty bottle without bringing her another beer.”
He dropped his head and closed his eyes.
If your mom was even one percent like you, how your dad got over losing her…
After his dad died, Jag’s mother had lost herself in grief for nearly twenty years before she pulled her shit together.
That was the man his father was.
That was the magnitude of her loss.
I hope I’m a lot like her. I try to be.
“Christ, Christ,” he bit off toward the sink.
He got it then.
He knew what was eating at him.
And it was huge.
Unwieldy.
And ultimately unanswerable.
Because he was grappling with how he could give Archie all he should be if he didn’t know who to be.
He wanted to give her a love that wouldn’t die even with death.
The kind of love his mom had with his dad.
And the man who could give him that not only had he never met…
They had no chance in hell ever to meet.
Yeah.
What was eating him was huge.
Unwieldy.
And lost to him forever.
Chapter Sixteen
Free to Be
Jagger
“It’s set for next Tuesday, yeah? The parents are gonna show at the Compound for dinner?” Jagger asked.
“Yeah, baby,” Archie answered.
“Right. Good,” he replied. “I got the guys sorted. Dutch, Joker and Hugger are gonna swing by in their trucks to ferry the kids to Ride. We’re gonna do a store tour, a garage tour and finish with the parents showing and a cookout at the Compound.”
They were in her kitchen.
He’d just finished pounding some pork chops into cutlets for the schnitzel Archie was making for dinner for him and his parents. She was at a bowl that was full of broccoli, cheese, red onion and bacon she was mixing with some dressing made of mayo, sugar and vinegar.
She hadn’t yet met him, and still, she was going to serve the perfect Hound Salad: mayo, bacon, cheese, sugar with a nod to something green.
“They’re really gonna like this food, baby,” he told her after she turned to the fridge to shove the salad in.
She shot him a smile. “Awesome.” She wandered the short way to him and leaned against the counter close by his side. “Now, can we talk about how cute it is you’re all in to plan this field trip?”
“Sure, but before you push me up on that pedestal, when I do good things for your kids, I get head, so it’s not entirely altruistic.”
She busted out laughing.
The buzzer sounded.
“I’ll get it,” she said, still laughing. “Can you dredge those cutlets in flour?”
“What’s dredge?” he asked.
She changed her mind. “Never mind. You get the door. I’ll dredge.”
He nodded, kissed her cheek as he passed her and headed to the intercom.
He hit the button. “Yo.”
“Let us up,” Joany demanded.
Needless to say, Joany was not who he expected since his parents were due any second now.
Because of this, he turned his gaze to Archie to see how she wanted to play this.
And as he did, she was saying, “For shit’s sake.”
The intercom sounded again.
“Dude, buzz us up,” Joany repeated her demand.
“Ask her ‘who’s us’?” Archie ordered.
He hit the button.
“Who’s us?” he said into the speaker.
“Me and Lafayette,” Joany answered.
Again, Jag looked to Archie.
The instant he caught her eyes, she queried, “How non-judgy are your folks?”
“Very.”
“Very very?”
“Very very. Why?”
“Dude! Buzz us up!” Joany shouted through the speaker.
He hit mute and waited for Archie’s explanation.
“Okay, Joany is here because Joany is an equal mixture of protective and nosy,” Archie started to explain.