Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“I’m sellin’ the house,” I announced, putting Asa down so I could walk over and ruffle his older brother’s hair.
“I just fixed it,” Rhett complained, scowling at me as he tried to smooth the hair back into place.
“Hey, princess,” I crooned, ignoring his complaints as I kissed the baby on the head. The endearment was a little ironic considering the two-year-old was even more feral than her brothers. I swear, she always had something sticky in her blonde curls.
“What do you mean, you’re selling the house?” my mom said slowly, watching me from across the island. “You love that house.”
“It’s just a house.” I shrugged. I looked over at Emilia. “Didn’t you say it was a seller’s market?”
“Well, yeah,” Emilia mumbled, looking between me and my mom. “But—”
“Big place, on property, with the raspberries and shit,” I said, grinning. “I bet I could make bank.”
“But then you’d still have to buy something else,” my mom pointed out. “And you’d be paying through the nose for something not as good.”
“I bet Emilia could find something.”
“Does this have anything to do with—” My mom’s words cut off as my dad and older brother Mick came in the back door. She turned to him. “Titus is saying he wants to sell his house.”
Mick scoffed.
“Why don’t you hold off on any big decisions for the moment,” my dad muttered wryly.
“I’ve been thinkin’ about it for a while,” I argued. “That house is fuckin’ massive—”
“Language,” Emilia scolded.
“Sorry.” I shot her an apologetic look. “It’s huge. I don’t need all that room.”
“Bas and Cian movin’ out?” Mick asked.
“Not that I know of,” I replied. “But they could move into the new place. I’ve got the equity, I could get somethin’ with a few bedrooms.”
“What about when the girls crash at your house?” my mom asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Myla can sleep at her own fuckin’ house,” I shot back. I looked at Emilia in apology again. “Sorry.”
“Like I said,” my dad scoffed. “Wait a minute before you make any big life decisions, yeah?”
“Why?” I looked around the room.
“You had a pretty big day yesterday,” my mom replied carefully.
“Sellin’ my house has nothin’ to do with that.”
“Bullshit,” Mick coughed.
“What Esther’s sister does has nothin’ to do with me.”
“Oh, is that right?” my mom replied sarcastically.
“Yeah, it is.” Noticing that my hands had fisted at my sides, I deliberately loosened my fingers. “I’m glad her and Esther are back together. Glad she’s safe. Beyond that—” I threw my hands up.
“Titus, maybe your dad’s right,” Emilia said slowly.
“Should I just ask someone else?” I barked.
“Watch it,” Mick warned, pointing at me.
“I can ask someone else to sell it for me,” I said, changing my tone. He was right. I wasn’t mad at Emilia and I sure as shit shouldn’t speak to her like that. “I just thought you’d want the commission.”
Emilia looked at my dad for a moment. “Sure, yeah, I can get things started for you,” she said finally.
“Great.”
“You’re going to need to have the place cleaned and stuff,” she said, wincing. “We’ll need nice photos for the listing.”
“Sure, anything you need.”
She nodded.
“So,” my mom drawled. “I’m glad that you’re so cool with everything. You know, with Noel and all that.”
I just stared at her, unsure where the conversation was headed.
“Because we’re having a family dinner welcoming her home a week from Thursday—we want to give her some time to settle in first—and I expect you to be there.”
“Fine.” My stomach churned. I could be at the dinner. With the amount of people who’d be there, it would be easy to avoid Noel. After that, I could just go on avoiding her until when I thought of her, it was only as Esther’s sister. It might take time, but it would happen eventually. Piece of cake.
“Buckle up, buttercup,” Mick mumbled, his lips twitching.
Chapter 4
Noel
“There’s no way for them to contact me,” I told my sister and Otto, sitting on the back patio while we watched the girls play on a homemade obstacle course. “I left Caleb’s phone at the house.”
“They have to at least suspect where you went,” Esther replied quietly. “And Ephraim knows where we live.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Otto said. “Your dipshit brother might muster up the balls to drive all the way down here—and we’ll stay vigilant—but what are they gonna do once they get here? Noel’s an adult. It would be a waste of their time.”
We’d been living at Esther and Otto’s house for four days already. It was amazing to me that even though me and the girls were sharing a small bedroom, and even though Diana hadn’t slept through the night once, and even though we had no money and I had no idea what I was going to do moving forward—I was still more content than I could ever remember being. I woke up happy in the morning. I went to bed glad at night.