Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
The fact that she didn’t remember me—us—was unfair. Memories of her seemed to cling to my damn soul. I fucking despised her, but it didn’t mean she hadn’t owned a piece of me once that I never got back.
Carmichael appeared at the door. It was time for her to leave.
He glanced at her, then back at me, frowning. “I’m sorry about that. I’ll talk to her about remaining alert.”
He walked over to her and shook her shoulder gently.
Anger stirred in my chest because he was waking her up. What the fuck was wrong with me? She had fallen asleep on the job. He should wake her ass up. I should have woken her ass up instead of watching her sleep.
I watched as she pushed the hair from her face and looked up at her uncle. Her eyes were still so fucking expressive. I could see the panic when she realized she’d fallen asleep. She sat up quickly, then turned to me.
“I didn’t—I mean, I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I’m sorry,” she said, looking so fucking afraid that I needed to punch something.
Shiloh had never been afraid of anything. Especially me.
She stood up and then swayed slightly. My fucking reflex was to catch her, and when I tried to move, the pain slammed into me. I let out a string of curses. Carmichael caught her and was sitting her back down, whispering something to her. She nodded and gave him a weak smile.
Why was she pale? What the fuck was wrong with her?
“She needs a minute. I’ll check that wound and see how things are looking with you,” he said as he walked around the bed.
My eyes stayed locked on her.
“Why is she pale?” I didn’t like this one fucking bit.
“Uh, well, that happens from time to time. She has some other things that come with the trauma to her brain,” he said, then began to work over me, checking my bandage he’d changed out this morning.
“What other things?” I demanded. Why hadn’t they mentioned the other things?
Carmichael cleared his throat, and I could see he was uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. I should have been clear about all her health issues. If you prefer I come from now on, I will.”
I glared at him. “No, I want her here, but what are her other issues?”
“Gage.” Huck’s voice filled the room, and I shifted my heated gaze to him.
“What?” I snarled, pissed the fuck off about not being told everything.
He nodded his head toward Shiloh, who had her arms wrapped around her waist, watching me with wide, terrified eyes. Dammit! I was scowling, but I couldn’t help it.
“Stop looking at me like I’m about to do something to hurt you! Jesus Christ, you don’t have to be scared of me.”
That outburst clearly didn’t ease her mind. She nodded and started to stand up again. I didn’t miss the way she held on to the chair and placed a hand on the wall for stability.
Carmichael stepped away from me and gave me a tight smile. “All looks good. If you don’t need anything else, we will leave for the evening,” he said and made his way over to Shiloh.
She went to get her bag, and Carmichael stopped her silently, then picked it up. She was too damn pale. And I still didn’t have any fucking answers as to what all was wrong with her. The rage slowly churning inside of me had to stop. So what that they hadn’t told me? Why the fuck did I care?
This shit ended now. Caring about her led to other things. Shutting down my emotions completely was the only way to handle being around her.
They headed for the door with Carmichael holding on to her arm. There was no real support in that. The old man wasn’t going to be able to protect her if she fell. I bit my tongue so hard that I tasted blood to keep from telling Huck to help her.
I refused to let myself give a fuck about Shiloh Ellis’s health.
Six Years Ago
A cover band was singing George Strait as I walked inside of Bandits, the local bar in town. They were ruining a great song.
My eyes scanned the crowd for Blaise and Levi. They’d texted me to meet them here an hour ago while I was closing up the shop since Huck had left early to go see his younger brother in Alabama.
There were girls surrounding them when Levi waved his hand to get my attention. I headed over to them, ignoring the women as I slid into the booth side of the round table that had chairs on the other side, then reached for a handful of the pretzels.
“Gage, this is Chelsie, Shanda, Becky, and Tina,” Levi introduced the girls, like I gave a fuck.
I didn’t acknowledge them but looked over to get the waitress’s attention. I needed a beer. I had texted Shiloh and told her where I was headed, but she’d only responded with, Okay, and nothing more. I knew she had senior shit at school this week. All fucking spring was full of things that took her away from me. Thinking about the possibility of her going off to college made me fucking ill.