Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Between the Titans women and my sister, Lilly will have all the female support a woman could want and fuck if that doesn’t bring a level of joy to this day that I didn’t know I needed.
I stick close to my parents and Damien, catching up on all the things that don’t get said in our multiple calls and texts during the week. They’ve spent a lot of time asking about Aiden and learning more about his disease and recovery, which I’ve been understanding more about every single day.
My mom nudges me in the arm and nods toward Lilly and Claire as they talk. “You know your sister is divulging every embarrassing story she knows about you, right?”
Laughing, I put my arm around my mom and squeeze her. “Lilly’s solid. She won’t go running.”
Damien snorts. “She will when I tell her about that time you tried to catch that foul ball and flipped over the fence.”
That was indeed embarrassing as the waistband of my pants caught on the metal at the top and the resulting force of my flip over pulled my pants all the way off.
I shrug as I watch Lilly excuse herself to the bathroom. “She’ll find it charming.”
“Or when you got into Paw Paw’s chewing tobacco and ate it,” my dad tosses out.
Claire walks up to rejoin us at that moment and wrinkles her nose at the reminder. “I’ve never seen someone vomit so much. He projectile-painted the wall in his bedroom with it.”
My stomach rolls at the memory. Again, nothing to be ashamed of. Lilly will laugh her ass off.
Claire wraps her arm around my waist. “Well, I won’t try to embarrass you, baby brother. Lilly is solid gold in my book and you’re lucky to have her. We don’t want to do anything to run her off.”
“You did good, bro,” Damien says, a strong hand on my shoulder where he squeezes. “Now you can settle down and have babies and Mom will get off my case.”
“You’re older than Boone.” Our mother sniffs with mock offense. “You should already be married.”
Both me and Damien roll our eyes because she’s being silly. She’s a progressive woman who doesn’t think marriage or kids have to happen before a certain age, although she’d love more grandkids to dote on.
A waitress approaches and asks if we want another beer. Damien orders another one, but I wave her off. “Lilly and I are going to head out. She’s got an early day tomorrow.”
Claire gives me a knowing smirk but my mom and dad both reach in for hugs to start the goodbye process. They’re going to stick around for game two and we’ll meet up for breakfast tomorrow after I run Lilly back to her apartment. She’s going to spend the day at the deli and Steven will hang with Aiden. Not sure if they’ll return to that schedule but if they do, I’ll adjust. If my evenings with Lilly are to hang out at the hospital, so be it. It won’t be forever.
I glance over to the bathrooms and see Lilly walking out, but she’s waylaid by Bailey approaching her. The reporter sticks out her hand, making an introduction to Lilly that boils my blood. I have no clue what she’s saying but Lilly’s gaze immediately cuts past her over to our section, searching for me.
“Excuse me,” I say to my parents, putting a hand on my mom’s shoulder briefly before I head Lilly’s way.
Bailey says something else to Lilly, getting her attention from me. A slight frown in place, Lilly listens to Bailey and then shakes her head.
As I reach them, I hear Bailey ask, “Is it true that you and Boone met at the children’s hospital?”
“Don’t answer that,” I growl. Lilly jolts and I hold my hand out to her and she skirts around Bailey to take it. Giving my regard to the tenaciously annoying reporter, I glare at her intently. “You’re a piece of fucking work. I told you Lilly was off-limits and you jump her when she comes out of the bathroom.”
“Just a little girl talk,” Bailey says with a smirk.
Yeah, that’s not what that was. “The entire story is off. Go find someone else to hound.”
I tug on Lilly to lead her back to our tables.
“You can’t do that, Boone,” Bailey calls after me. “The media office already said yes.”
I whirl back to face her. “They don’t have power over me to make me do an interview. Surely you know that. But I told you the parameters and specifically that you were to leave Lilly alone. Since you can’t play by the rules, you can fuck off.”
“No, you can fuck off,” Bailey snarls, stepping forward to jab me in the chest.
“Gladly,” I say as I turn away to lead Lilly back to my family.
“And you know what?” Bailey calls after me. “You were a lousy boyfriend.”