Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
“Are you happy here?” he asked.
“What?”
“Would you like me to find you an apartment or something like that?”
“No. I like it here, and there’s no one or anything for me to go back to. Do you want me to leave?”
“No, I don’t. It was the wrong thing to say. I want you here, Faith.” He reached out, touching her hand, and she stared down at it.
Just like that, he ruined dinner.
Faith excused herself, taking her plate into the kitchen and then heading outside.
“Well, what happened here?” Anne asked, coming to take the seat that Faith had been sitting in.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I know you, Caleb. Women and you have always gotten on well.”
“She’s eighteen.”
“I’ve had a great many adult conversations with that woman. Eighteen or not, she knows her own mind. Sure, she’s quiet a lot of the time, and it takes her a while to warm up to you, but her heart is there. She’s a good woman, Caleb.”
“Her father gave her to me for a debt, Anne. What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to stop feeling guilty about wanting someone younger than you. Stop trying to push her away, because Faith could be the one person to understand you. Now, go and talk to her.”
“We’ve got nothing to talk about.”
“Ugh, you men are stubborn, and it’s going to drive me into an early grave.”
“Early? Last I checked you were nearly sixty.”
“And to a lot of people that’s still young. Don’t back talk me, Caleb Carson. I used to change your diapers, and your hard-ass approach is not going to work on me.”
He rolled his eyes. He couldn’t help it. No matter what he or Beast did, Anne had their back. Of course, she’d seen the evil within their middle brother, and would do everything she could to help him, but there really was no helping him. That’s why he was dead now, and Beast was raising Dwayne, the evil brother’s son.
It was one of the many reasons he didn’t trust Dwayne. He didn’t come from a good man, and there was nothing to suggest that he wouldn’t turn out the same as his father.
“Go and talk to her.”
“You know it’s not going to work.”
“Have you ever thought she’s as lonely as you are?”
“I’m not lonely.”
“Screwing whores does not make you happy or fulfilled. It gives you satisfaction for as long as that feeling lasts, which I’m guessing is not that long.”
“Your mouth always surprises me.”
“I had to help some Carson boys. I had to learn not to be a prude, especially when I found porn underneath your beds at such a young age. Now, be a good boy and go talk to her.”
She took his plate and offered him a smile.
Anne was the closest thing he’d ever really had to a mother.
He did as she asked, and made his way outside. Once again, he found Faith at the rose bushes, her fingers brushing against the softness of the petals.
“I’m not used to having company,” he said.
She offered him a smile. “I’m not either. For the most part, Dad said kids were to be seen but not heard. He didn’t really like to see me all that often either.”
“I killed him,” he said, blurting out the words before he could even stop himself.
“I figured you had.”
“A man that was willing to put his daughter in danger was not a man I wanted out on the streets for you. He could have brought a lot more complications.”
She simply nodded.
“You’ve not got anything to say to me.”
“Nope.”
“I admitted to killing your father.”
“He wasn’t really a dad to me, Caleb. He spent most of his time elsewhere. I’ve been on my own for so long that I forgot what it meant to have a parent or anything like that.”
“Is that why you didn’t return to school?”
“Schools are full of people with parents and problems. I had a father with a reputation who was addicted to gambling. No matter where we went people seemed to know who I was related to. I simply stopped going to school to avoid the inevitable problems that would come.”
“I know a woman that could help you,” he said, thinking about Hope.
“What do you mean?”
“She tutors. If you’d like, I could ask her to come over here, and she can help you with your studies, bring you up to date. I’ll even arrange for the high school to let you take your last exam if you don’t want to go to classes.”
“You’d do that for me?” she asked.
“Only if you want to. I’m not going to pressure you or anything.”
“I’d love to do that.”
“Okay. It may take some time. The woman I’m referring to belongs to my brother. He’s a little possessive.”
“I don’t mind waiting. I’ve waited all this time, so what’s a few months more?”