Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
At first, all he did was run his fingers through it.
But then, he started to wind a perfect curl around his finger, twirling and twirling and twirling.
He played with my hair for the entire movie, and the longer the movie went on, the more he’d wind his finger, reeling me in closer and closer until eventually I was pressed fully against his side.
It was the best day of my life.
• • •
“Let go of my hair,” I rasped.
His eyes looked stricken after I asked, and I closed them as I tried to struggle to sit up.
He helped me, once again using his big body to help prop me up.
But this time, I struggled straight to my feet, feeling my limbs come back online one by one.
“Whoa,” he said as he stood with me. “You shouldn’t be moving so fast just yet.”
I avoided his fingers and his attempt to get me to stay, and said, “I really have to go.”
I looked at my watch and groaned.
I had five minutes to get to the shop before the morning rush started.
“Are you sure you should be leaving?” Aodhan asked, sounding off.
I took a few tester steps, knowing that if I stayed, things would get bad again.
That was just the way it was with me. There was no limit to how many episodes I could have.
But if I could get to my shop, deliver the milk, and get a seat…well then I might be able to make it through the rest of the day.
I smiled at him sadly as I said, “Thank you again, Aodhan.”
With that, I pulled my keys out of my pocket, got into my car that was only a few steps away, and prayed that I was recovered enough to drive.
How does one like me drive, you ask?
Because when I’m sitting down, I don’t pass out.
Ever.
Which is really freakin’ weird, but it is what it is.
That’s how I warranted getting a driver’s license and staying on the road.
I could also read that question on Aodhan’s face, as if he wasn’t quite sure he should let me go.
Well, before he could answer that question rolling around in his brain, I started my car and backed out of my spot.
I didn’t look back.
There was no point.
My past was my past, and it needed to stay there for my sanity.
CHAPTER 4
We go together like fuck and you.
-Aodhan to Morrigan
AODHAN
“What are you doing?”
I looked up to find my son opening the door to his mother’s place with a look of confusion on his face.
There was no excitement to see me.
There was no “hey, Dad!” that ever came out of his lips.
Instead, his intelligent eyes took me in as an intruder on his property.
“I’ve come to speak to your mom,” I said, unsure how to address my own son.
It freakin’ killed that he wouldn’t look at my unexpected arrival at his house as a good thing. Instead, I was met with suspicion and not even a little bit of anger.
Would it kill him to give me a damn hug? Because, just sayin’, I’d kill for one of those right then.
“She’s busy,” Bowie lied.
I crossed my arms over my chest, then stared at my son until he started to squirm.
Eventually, he threw up his hands and stalked back inside, slamming the door closed behind him and locking it for good measure.
The little shit.
I waited for two whole minutes with my bulk leaned up against the header for their porch stairs before I texted her and told her to come outside.
She did within two seconds.
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
“Long enough to wonder what kind of manners you instilled in our son while I’ve been gone,” I grumbled.
She shot me a roll of her eyes.
We both knew that she’d done really well with what she’d been given. With her brother and me both being in prison at the same time, well, you got what you got.
“We need to talk,” I said. “And not about my son’s lack of manners.”
Danyetta smiled.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” Danyetta asked. “The girl at the coffee shop. She’s your one.”
Danyetta and I, when we’d first started talking to each other, had talked about our “one that got away.”
Danyetta’s was a guy she’d graduated high school with that had recently been divorced. A guy that she was trying to get to notice her by using me as her instigator.
Danyetta knew all about Morrigan and my relationship. Why I’d let her go.
“Mom, I’m going to Uncle Wake’s house,” Bowie said, coming out of the front door with his bike helmet on and his phone in his hand.
A phone that I’d insisted we buy him that he still hadn’t thanked me for. If his mother had had it her way, he wouldn’t have a phone until well into his teens. But, as the world changed, I knew that not letting him have a phone would be a disservice to him. Especially when his genius-level IQ meant that he could be doing things with it like hacking into the world.