Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
“Greer? Are you there?” Livvy asked.
“Hey, Livvy.” Shoot. Her voice was shaky.
“How are you? How’s Mr. Helmet Head? And the Nutty Bangers?” she asked.
“They’re fine. Mr. Helmet Head got a haircut.”
“No. Way. What to? Please don’t tell me it’s a mullet! I would die if he got a mullet.”
She had to giggle. “No, silly. He doesn’t have enough hair for a mullet. Nah, he just got a trim. The helmet hair is still intact—greased and styled to within an inch of his life. Oh, but the Nutty Bangers . . . this is really good. Get ready for it . . . they broke the bed.”
“Nooo,” Livvy breathed out.
“Uh-huh, they were doing their nightly, uh, banging, and then I heard this crash through the wall. I think Mr. Nutty might have hurt something vital because they called the paramedics, and when they wheeled him out on the stretcher, he was groaning and curled up into a ball.”
Livvy started giggling.
“Greer! Livvy!” Aidan said demandingly.
“Yes?” Livvy replied.
“Can you two please stop discussing Greer’s weirdo neighbors and get back to what she thinks she is doing driving halfway across the country by herself to come back here.”
Greer sucked in a breath.
“Maybe she’s ready to come back, Aidan,” Livvy told him gently. “You should be supporting her, not trying to get her to change her mind.”
Whoa. Okay. She hadn’t expected Livvy to back her up her.
“I don’t want her driving all that way alone,” Aidan said. “Anything could happen. Did she even get her car checked before deciding to drive here? What if she gets caught up in that storm they’re talking about on the news?”
He was right. What had she been thinking? Sure, she’d managed this far on her own without anything bad happening. But she wasn’t truly safe anywhere, was she?
Someone could hurt me at any time.
The world swam for a moment as her breathing grew shallow.
“I’ll turn back,” she whispered.
“What did you say?” Livvy asked.
“I’ll turn back and go home. Maybe you guys could come visit me soon?”
Wow, she sounded pathetically lonely.
There were some hushed, harsh-sounding whispers before Aidan was back on the phone.
“Squirt, I’m sorry.”
“About what?” She was getting confused.
Aidan sighed. “Fuck, I’m a terrible big brother.”
“No, you aren’t! You’re the best big brother in the world.” What other big brother would have done what he had?
She was the one who should be apologizing.
“No, I’m not. You really want to come visit, don’t you?”
“Well, I wouldn’t have driven all this way if I didn’t.” She’d left early yesterday morning and driven all day before passing out in a hotel room last night. Then, this morning, she’d forced herself to get up early again.
The truth was, she was kind of tired. She didn’t like driving long distances. Especially by herself.
But there was no way she was getting on a plane with her bad luck. Nuh-uh.
“I wish you’d told me you were coming, sweetheart,” Aidan said.
“So you could have talked me out of it?” she asked dryly.
“Yes. But not for the reasons going through your head, Greer Emily Savage.”
“Hey, you can’t three-name me. So not fair.”
“I can. I’m your big brother. I’ll pull it out when you need it.”
“And I need it now? Because you want me to go home?” Except Savannah didn’t feel like home. It never really had.
And as much as she’d miss Helmet Head and the Nutty Bangers . . . she missed her brothers more.
She wanted to see Cash desperately. It was eating away at her. As though she couldn’t truly believe he was alive until she touched him. Hugged him.
Then knee him in the balls for worrying her. It was her right as his big sister.
Aidan sighed. “If I’d known you wanted to come, Squirt. I would have arranged to get you.”
“You’d have to take time off work. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Greer Savage, you could ask me to walk on the fucking moon and I’d do it for you. I love you, you stupid idiot. Ouch, Bubbles, what are you hitting me for?”
“You can’t call your sister a stupid idiot.”
“Sure, I can. It’s our love language. Right, Greer?”
“Right.” She grinned through her tears. Because this felt so right. It was how they always spoke to each other. But for so long, it felt like there had been this rift between them.
Her fault.
Her guilt.
I got him arrested and sent to prison.
All those years wasted. All my fault.
Fuck! Stop it, stop it, stop it!
“Greer, there is nothing I want more than to see you,” Aidan reassured her. “But I do not like the idea of you driving all that way by yourself, staying in hotels alone. And knowing you, you’re driving long days and not bothering to stop regularly. What if you get tired and fall asleep at the wheel?”
He actually made a good point. She wasn’t very good at recognizing that she needed to stop and rest.