Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Next to me, Haven’s face had gone curiously blank as though she too was reliving a painful memory. I wanted to know what she was thinking. I had this strange urge to take her hand in mine.
I took another drink of hooch, this one more a swallow than a sip.
Easton, seeming to take advantage of the fact that everyone was turned toward Cricket, slunk out of the room, glancing back once at me before turning the corner and disappearing out of sight.
“He’s acting so strange,” Haven said, her brow furrowed, her gaze lingering on the place where her brother had just exited the room. “He didn’t even come over and say hi.”
I took a sip of hooch. It was true, it got better the more you drank. I could only imagine the headache one would wake up with after drinking too much of this rot gut. I set my cup aside. “Well,” I said, “it might have something to do with the fact that I walked in on him in bed with my girlfriend—ex-girlfriend now—last week and, thinking he was a sexual predator who’d broken into her apartment, had pulled my gun out and was aiming it at his head. The big one. Not the one stuck inside my girlfriend at the time.”
Her mouth had dropped open and she clapped a hand over it, her big eyes round saucers in her face. “Oh my God,” she breathed, dropping her hand. She grimaced and then met my eyes. “Your revenge. He’s the object. Oh God.” Her face had gone colorless.
“Do you blame me?”
She let out a long sigh, shaking her head slowly. “Not exactly.” She paused, her worried gaze moving over my features. “How exactly do you plan on exacting said revenge?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” I flashed her a devilish smile but she remained serious, finally sighing. But in all honesty? I had to admit I’d lost some interest in my revenge, even since that morning. I couldn’t say exactly why, but there it was.
“Maybe he deserves it.” She tilted her head, giving me a sympathetic look. “How serious were you about the girl?”
“I was considering marrying her.” It was true, wasn’t it? So why did that feel like a lie?
“Shit.” She reached out and put her hand on my arm. It was slender and tanned, her nails short and unpainted. The nails of a woman who liked to dig in soil. You’re Never Too Old to Play in the Dirt. “I’m sorry. On his behalf.” She looked so incredibly sincere and I felt a small knock in my chest.
“You can’t apologize on someone else’s behalf.”
Our eyes locked for several moments and something passed between us. Something I had no idea how to interpret. Sympathy? Understanding? “No,” she finally said. “I know. I know that. Sometimes I feel responsible for his behavior though. I practically raised him. For so long, it’s just been him and me. He’s…well…I don’t even know what to say.”
Haven looked away, and I studied her profile for a moment, taking in those runaway curls that definitely had a mind of their own. I wondered what her hair would look like down…all that wildness dancing around her face. “What are you two doing here?” I finally asked.
Her gaze found mine again and she gave me a very slight smile. “We left California—where, as you know, we’re from—two years ago.” She shrugged. “We’ve been exploring the country together, stopping for a couple months here, a few months there when we got short on cash.”
I whistled. “Nomads. How’d you choose Pelion as the place to enjoy the summer?”
She smiled and tilted her head. “Honestly, I’m not sure. We saw the lake through the trees as we came upon the sign for Pelion, and we stopped to stretch our legs. Standing there, the roofs of the buildings just within sight, the sound of the lake lapping the shore, and the smell of pine all around…it just felt so peaceful, you know?” She glanced at me and smiled. “Well, of course you know.” She shrugged. “Anyway, we checked in here and then found the jobs at the club the next day. It just worked out.”
I was mesmerized by her description of Pelion, the way she made it sound so calm and picturesque. Did I see it the same way she did? In some ways, yes, but in other ways, there were so many locations that held painful memories. Why had I never jumped in my truck and left town? Seeking something that Pelion could not provide? I loved my job, and the people of Pelion, but I could have been a police officer anywhere. I’d never considered leaving, and that suddenly seemed like an interesting choice I’d never even pondered.
What kept me here?
There was a whole world of other places where I wouldn’t be “one of those Hale boys,” or “that asshole Travis,” or “the guy who lost the town,” or “the one with the crazy bitch of a mother,” or even “second best.”