Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
I hadn’t meant to yell quite so loud, but with the cab of the truck, it echoed off all the corners and made it much louder than I’d intended.
James’ head turned, and my breath started coming in pants when I saw the raw emotion and heat in his eyes. “Five fucking weeks. It’s been fucking torture. The only good thing about all of this was the job I got with the PD. I didn’t realize how much I missed being a useful person. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t hurt every fucking second to ignore your calls. Your emails. Your texts. The only thing making it bearable was Janie. Then Janie would tell me how much she missed you, and I’d be thinking about you all over again.”
I pursed my lips because I was unsure of what he wanted me to say. I’d done those things, and he hadn’t called me back once. Although, if I’d known he was staying at his mother’s place, I would’ve just bombarded him there instead of stewing for five weeks.
With my non-response hanging in the thick air, he started my truck and drove it out of the hospital parking lot.
He didn’t acknowledge Sam’s wrist flick, and neither did I.
His mother’s place was in a very nice neighborhood that I hadn’t seen yet. Although I’ve passed it many times. Its location was perfect. About three minutes from the local schools, five minutes from the police station, and two minutes from Free. The house was immaculate. I was willing to bet my entire life savings that James was the reason it looked so beautiful.
“The house is beautiful.” I said in awe.
“This is the historical district. All these houses were from the beginning of the Oil Boom we had in the 1930s. Solid in structure. The inside looks even better than the outside. My father bought it when it was a piece of junk, and fixed it up during his leave from the Army. When he died, it started to deteriorate. Old houses need constant upkeep. Shit breaks, and you have to replace it. Then something else breaks the next week. My mom wasn’t much of a handyman, and couldn’t afford much in the way of extra fees. When I started working, I used my money for the upkeep on the house. I learned a lot of shit just from having to fix everything myself.” James explained.
He sounded a tad nervous, and he was speaking much more than he usually did. Which I found quite cute. “Can I see the inside?”
“Of course.” He nodded and opened the door.
When I went to open my own, his voice froze me in my tracks. “Wait for me. I’ll get it.”
I waited. Because it wasn’t often when you found a man that would open the car door for you. James was that old-fashioned type of man that did it without thought. Never once had I managed to open my own door, and I loved it.
I probably resembled the biggest bitch on the planet when I watched him hobble around the truck to my door instead of just getting out myself. I could see the grimace of pain on his face no matter how much he tried to hide it. However, I knew that he wouldn’t appreciate the fact that I was trying to help him out.
I knew from experience that men didn’t like their defaults on display. Men like James and my brothers didn’t show pain, didn’t acknowledge it, and didn’t speak of it. If you knew what was good for you, you just didn’t bring up the obvious. Instead of ignoring the fact that he was probably in a lot more pain than he was letting on. I’d grown up with Sebastian. I knew better.
I slid down from the truck before he could actually lift me, and I got a growl at my impertinence. I ignored it. There was no way I was letting him lift me as he usually did.
“How long does it take to mow this place?” I asked, aghast at the vast amount of green grass that covered the corner lot.
“A while. It needs to be done again, but seeing as we only have a push mower, it’ll be a good week or so before I can get it done. It’ll feel worse tomorrow.” He said gesturing towards his ripped pants and the bandage that poked through from underneath.
“I can do...” I trailed off at the sharp look of Hell No on his face.
I smiled and started walking towards the front door, stepping over the bike that lay down across the walk, but then turning back to move it out of the way so James didn’t have to do the same. He gave me a mock glare, but the smile that curved up his lips let me know he wasn’t really irritated with me.
I kicked the kickstand out on the bike and had to laugh when I remembered how Janie had reacted last week when her mother tried to give her a bike with training wheels.
“You should have seen how Janie reacted when her mother pulled out this pink sparkly bike with streamers on the handles. Oh, my God. I thought she was going to explode.”
“I saw. It didn’t make me happy. Janie’s been riding a bike without training wheels for two years now. It was too small and she hates pink.” James said with exasperation.
“You were there?” I gasped.
I’d continued to take Janie over to see her mother one day a month. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be far behind on those days. He didn’t trust Anna in the slightest. Hell, each subsequent visit we had with her made my status of her as an unfit parent even more and more concrete.
James grin was blinding when he turned around from opening the front door. “Oh, I was there. I watched as you held Janie when that bitch went to put her arms around her. I watched when Janie left two hours later attached to your back. I watched you drop her off at Cheyenne’s. I watched you walk inside your apartment and forget to set your alarm.”