Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“If revenge isn’t memorable, then it’s not really revenge. Is it? That will be on there for a while. It will be memorable,” he said.
“Your brother is going to see it.” I fisted my hands at my side. “What am I supposed to say?”
“Tell him the truth. You wrote your name on something that was mine, so I wrote my name on something that’s yours. He’ll be pissed off because he only sees himself, and you’re nothing more than an accessory to his dreams. And I know this because you fucking fell in love with a guitar. And my brother has thousands of dollars saved up, but he’s never given you the one thing that makes your heart sing. He doesn’t see you. How can you take off your clothes for someone who doesn’t. Fucking. See. You?”
I slowly shook my head, but I couldn’t speak past my heart in my throat. It was easier when nobody saw me. Invisible people didn’t feel vulnerable.
Isaac made me feel everything.
Finally, I cleared my throat and composed myself. “Beverly Whitmore ordered half a steer. I was looking for your dad.”
Isaac tossed the rag aside. “I’ll get it.” He walked past me without making eye contact.
After work, I returned the key and money bag, but I didn’t linger in case Wesley was entertaining his mistress. On my way to my car, I saw Isaac in the pasture, working on a fence. He defiled my breast, so I should have climbed into the car and hightailed it out of there, but I was the moth, and he was the flame. So I trekked toward the pasture.
“Where’s your dad?” I asked.
“He ran to town. Why? What do you need?” He tossed the wire cutter aside and glanced up at me while wiping his sweaty brow with his partially rolled-up sleeve that exposed his tattoos and muscly forearms.
“We’re low on ones and fives for the register.”
That was a tiny lie or at least a stretch, but I blurted out the first thing that came to me.
“Ya ever heard of a bank? They can exchange large bills for small bills.”
“I don’t take the money with me.”
He gathered his tools and tossed them into a bucket. “Because you can’t be trusted.”
“Is that a question? It better be a question. And the answer is... Yes. Of course, I can be trusted. I’m way more trustworthy than you are.”
“How do you figure?” He toted the bucket and a spool of steel wire toward the machine shed.
“Everyone trusted you not to write your name on my boob, but you couldn’t control yourself.”
Isaac looked over his shoulder, giving me a slow-growing smile. His teeth looked extra white because he was so tan, and he had dirt smudged along his scruffy face. I plucked a stem of hay and pulled off the seeds, scattering them with the wind as I tried to keep a straight face.
He redirected his gaze to the barn. “He doesn’t deserve you,” he mumbled.
I barely caught it, but I didn’t think he meant for me to hear it.
“Would your dad write his name on my mom’s boob?”
“I’m not sure. Why don’t you ask him?” He opened the door to the barn.
“Don’t you think you should apologize? You’ve had all day to contemplate your insane response to what I did to your old guitar case.”
He dropped the bucket and the spool of wire before slowly turning toward me. “How old are you?”
I parked a hand on my hip. “Eighteen. Duh, you know that.”
Pursing his lips to the side, he studied me. “That guitar case is maybe ten years old. So it looks like the excuse is mine, not yours. I just scribbled my name on your old tit. Why are you acting so insane?”
“Stop,” I snorted, covering my mouth. “I’m serious. This isn’t going to come off for a long time.”
Isaac lifted his shirt and wiped his face, drawing my gaze to his tight abs.
“Well, maybe you’ll just have to keep your tits covered until it comes off.”
“What if Matt sees it?”
Isaac glanced at his watch. “What if some girl I like sees your name on the inside of my guitar case?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who?”
“Sunday Morning, you’re not the only girl who looks at me that way.” He smirked, strutting past me to the door.
Again, I followed him as he headed to the horse barn. “I only look at you with pity because you’re so obnoxious, and everyone knows it.”
“You look at me like Matty’s not getting the job done.”
“What’s that supp—” I caught it too late, but Isaac couldn’t let anything slide.
“And just like that, you proved my point all by yourself.” He filled a bucket with feed for his horse and carried it to the stall.
I watched him, letting my response die because I didn’t want to talk about Matt or my boob, for that matter. I wanted to know why their father was cheating on their mother. It angered me and broke my heart at the same time.