Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 136791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
"How's Ma Lucia?" she asks a few minutes later, worry in her voice. She loves Ma Lucia. Everyone does.
"She's a little better," I lie. She's not better at all. Truth is, she probably isn't going to make it home from the hospital, but I don't have the heart to tell January that. I'm not even ready to face it myself. Ma Lucia is the only family I have left—except for January and Titan, anyway.
I've known for a while that she isn't doing well, but there is no such thing as preparing to lose someone you love. Watching her waste away brings back too many memories of losing my mom. She was there one minute, then gone the next…killed by a man who thought driving right after hitting the crack pipe was a good idea.
I still have nightmares about the accident. About lying there and listening to him scream about killing her. That memory is still painful. I try not to dwell on it, but watching Ma Lucia waste away brought it roaring back to the surface.
"Can I go see her soon?" January asks me.
"Yeah, sweetheart. I'll take you to see her tomorrow," I promise, knowing I need to give her a chance to say goodbye. It'll devastate her if she doesn't get to see Ma Lucia before she dies. It'll break Ma Lucia's heart too. Ma Lucia adores my girl.
"Okay," January says sweetly.
"You good now, baby girl?" I ask her a minute later.
She nods her head, the top of it bumping my chin with the motion.
"Then I need to go deal with Titan."
"Please don't get in a fight with him," she whispers, clearly distressed by the thought.
"I'm not going to fight him." He might take a swing at me, but I won't fight back. He has every right to be pissed that his best friend wants to sleep with his little sister. I can't blame him for that. If our roles were reversed, I'd be pissed. But he knows I love January and that it wouldn't be simple fucking for either of us. As soon as she's old enough, I plan to put my ring on her finger and make her my wife.
"Promise?" she demands, pulling back to peek up at me.
"I promise you that I'm not going to fight with him," I vow.
The worry in her eyes leeches away, replaced with trust.
"Okay," she says and leans in to brush her lips across mine in a sweet little kiss.
I find Titan reclining on the hood of my car, one arm thrown over his eyes to block out the setting sun. His body is tense, his cheeks flushed with anger. He appears as pissed as he did inside, but when he hears me coming, he doesn't try to take a swing. Instead, he lowers his arm enough to peer at me.
"Boots got picked up yesterday for boosting car stereos over on Rosecrans," he mutters.
"Dammit. They release him yet?"
"Nope."
"Son of a bitch." I tip my head back to stare up at the sky. Boots has been one of ours for a long time. He's a good kid, but he has sticky fingers and a penchant for getting himself into trouble when we aren't around to keep him straight. There's nothing I can do for him now though. I warned his ass that he was going to get hooked up for that shit one day, but he didn't listen.
"I'm not sleeping with January," I tell Titan, leaning back against the car.
He grunts and puts his arm back over his eyes.
"In the spirit of full disclosure, that's not because I don't want to sleep with her," I confess, refusing to let this be any more awkward than it has to be. "I just don't want you and your mom and Ma Lucia pissed at me. I know she's only sixteen, man. I'm trying to do the right thing, but it's hard. I love her."
He grunts again.
"I'm going to marry that girl someday, Titan. You going to be pissed at both of us for that too? Because I gotta tell you…it's going to break her heart if me and her being together—really being together—is a deal breaker for you now. It'll break mine too if I have to choose her over you."
"You'd choose her?"
"Yeah, man," I say honestly. "You're like a brother to me and it'd fucking suck to lose you, but yeah, I'd choose her. How could I not? She's been it for me since…fuck, probably since the day she tripped and fell trying to chase after you. I've wanted to protect her and keep her safe since then. I think I've probably loved her since then."
"Jesus," he mutters and then he sighs. "I'm pretty sure she'd fucking choose you too." He lifts his arm from over his face and sits up, but he doesn't turn to face me. Instead, he stares out into the street. "I'm not mad that you two are together. Hell, I'm not even really mad about the birth control. I knew you'd be together like that eventually. Honestly, I don't know how you held out this long. You have more self-control than I do, because I never waited for shit."