Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
A fast little thing ran past me with a breathless, “Hi, Mister. Bye, Mister!” and I did a double take and realized it was Pipsqueak.
“Where’s the fire?” I called.
She stopped on the sidewalk and adjusted her gym bag. “Sorry, I’m late. Darius is gonna teach Willow and me self-defense at Ethan’s gym.”
“Ah.” I caught up to her. “Then I won’t keep you. I’ll see you on Saturday for the meet.”
This time, I was staying for the whole event.
Pipsqueak grinned, though it looked a little uncertain. Her cheeks were flushed from her run too. “By the way, I didn’t know you were dating someone.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “I’m not.” Oh, she must’ve seen me with Taylor. “You mean—ah, that was nothing. A casual thing that ran its course.”
Why was I explaining that to her? I was an idiot.
Pipsqueak scrunched her nose and squinted. “Casual thing…?” Next, her eyes widened. “Oh. Casual, got it.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, full of regrets and internal cringing. I could’ve just called Taylor a friend. Christ.
“Sometimes I forget you have a life outside our family,” she said awkwardly. “Anyway, I gotta…” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder.
I nodded once. “Have fun.”
“I’m gonna kick Darius’s ass.” She offered a two-fingered salute, then darted off again.
It left me with an unfunny feeling for some reason. I hadn’t wanted her to know about…that. And the truth was, I didn’t have much of a life outside the Quinn family. I’d carefully carved my own little space in their proverbial doorway. One foot inside and one out the door. Close enough to get reminders from Mary when I hadn’t shown up for dinner in a while, distanced enough that no one assumed I’d show up for every Sunday supper.
I preferred to keep those two boxes separate, because everything I did away from their family could be summed up in four words. Getting my shit together.
I liked how Pipsqueak looked at me, how she viewed me. I didn’t want that tarnished.
“Finally…” I threw myself on my couch.
I had showered, I had changed into sweats and a beater, I had beer and chips, I had my remote control.
I wasn’t leaving unnecessarily for the rest of the weekend.
I adored Pipsqueak, but an all-day swim meet was a fucking feat to survive. I’d spent a whopping eight hours at the pool to see her compete three times. Three races that were over within minutes.
I didn’t understand how Mary did it, much less Pipsqueak. Before a meet, they arrived at the pool at six in the fucking morning.
She’d been amazing today, though. Two personal records and one silver medal.
After getting comfortable with the cold beer and the bag of chips next to me, I turned on the news and hoped for an update on the latest events in the Middle East and North Africa. Ever since Egypt’s president had resigned and handed over the power to the country’s military, I’d had a bad feeling. Going from bad to bad wasn’t going to fix anything.
Darius believed we were looking at a civil war in Libya soon, and I doubted he was wrong.
I had my eye on Tunisia and Syria too.
Two quiet knocks on my patio door interrupted my peace, and since there was only one person who used that door…
I knew it was Pipsqueak before I glanced that way.
“It’s open,” I called.
She looked like she’d come straight here from the swim meet. Her hair was damp and pulled back in a haphazard bun, and she was wearing her team’s sweats and hoodie.
“Hi. Is this a bad time?” she asked, biting her lip.
Something was up. “I’m just watching the news. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing?” She adopted a look of innocence, and I didn’t buy it for crap. “I just thought, it’s been a while since we hung out. I wanted to see how you’re doing.”
Uh-huh. While Pipsqueak was a caring person who enjoyed making the people around her smile and feel better, I wasn’t born yesterday. She was visibly drained after a long day. The water had given her green eyes a nice bloodshot touch, and she was fidgeting nervously.
“I thought you’d be locking yourself in your room and processing your day by now,” I said.
She snuck closer and carefully perched herself on the armrest of the couch. “I feel okay. I do not have a hidden agenda.”
I coughed to suppress my laughter. My God, I had no words to describe how cute she was. She made my chest feel weird, but I settled for shaking my head in amusement. Because it was funny. When the women in my past had lied, I’d been furious. When Pipsqueak tried to bullshit me, she just succeeded in making a Bond villain come off as a stealthy genius.
This soon-to-be seventeen-year-old couldn’t lie to save her life.
“Okay, then.” I humored her and patted the spot next to me. Let’s see how long she lasted before the not-so-hidden agenda tumbled out. “I’m waiting for the next segment on what’s going on in the Middle East. I’m sure you’re up-to-date, so I won’t bore you with details. But do you think we’re looking at a new Cuba too?”