Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 170878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
He was leaving tomorrow. First thing. Thank fuck.
Jack had been curt around me. He didn’t trust me.
It pissed me off.
Deeply.
As an older brother, it had been his right to protect his sister, not instantly trusting a new man.
He had lost that fucking right.
He hadn’t done his job of protecting her. He wasn’t there when her fucking husband was laying hands on her. When she had nothing. No one. He’d disappeared from her life because he’d found his own. Because he had let a woman get between him and his family.
Naomi had tried that with me. And even though I’d been wrapped up in her bullshit, I’d never let her get her talons in me deep enough to alienate me from my family. Only weak men did that.
And Hannah’s brother was a weak man, in my estimation. He was making the effort now. After Hannah had stopped needing him.
I sensed the conversation was coming when I heard the front door open and shut.
“Fuck it’s cold,” he muttered, rubbing his arms over his jacket.
Pussy, I thought in my head, letting out a noncommittal grunt out loud. It was not cold. It was almost spring. The bite to the air only cut through the skin of those with weak blood.
There had been a late dumping of snow that still covered the ground. Not unusual for this time of year, but I was ready for winter to fuck off.
Hannah had worn shorts today.
Shorts with fucking cowboy boots. The restraint it took not to drag her back into our room should’ve been studied. Soon she’d be back in sundresses. And I’d be able to act on my desires to lift up those dresses, tear off her panties, and fuck her into oblivion.
Yes, I was ready for summer.
It would also mean this motherfucker was not in my house, settling in next to me on a chair. It would mean that Hannah was in school, that Clara was in kindergarten, both things I was dreading and looking forward to in equal measure. It meant that our life was starting. That I might just be able to breathe.
But there was still a weight on my chest, a voice in my head that told me I was being selfish. That Hannah had a whole future ahead of her. That she had been tied down by selfish people her whole life and deserved to spread her wings, get to know herself.
I tried to quiet that voice. Some days it was louder than others.
“I know you don’t like me,” Jack said. As much as I didn’t like the guy, I was glad he jerked me out of the thoughts that had been harder and harder to silence.
“I don’t really know you,” I replied. “But from what I do know of you, from what I’ve seen, yeah, I don’t like you.”
It probably wasn’t fair to Hannah, speaking to her brother like that. Surely it went against whatever etiquette rules there were for conversing with your woman’s family.
I wasn’t practiced in that regard. Naomi didn’t have much family, and none who spoke to her or were worth speaking to, according to her. And there had been no girlfriends after Naomi. Before her, there were some high school girls, but interactions with their fathers were just being as polite and saying as few words as possible.
“You don’t mince words,” he remarked.
“I don’t,” I agreed.
The silence that descended might’ve been awkward for Jack. Not for me. I was happy in the silence that wasn’t really silence since I could hear the low hum of music from inside, the sounds of my girls. Hannah getting Clara ready for bed.
“Well, I guess if you don’t mince words, I shouldn’t either.” He cupped his hands, breathing into them in an attempt to warm them. “I like you, despite the fact that I am seriously worried you may punch me in the face at all times.”
He was joking, or at least I thought he was. But I had considered punching him in the face at least twice over the course of the day.
“I would never commit an act of violence in my home,” I told him. “Where my daughter sleeps. Where my woman sleeps. I would never subject them to that.”
Jack nodded, visibly swallowing. “Yeah. I’ve seen that. You’re a good father. A good man for my sister. I apologize for jumping to conclusions when I first arrived.”
The apology seemed genuine, yet I wasn’t in the mood to accept it.
“It’s a shame that for the rest of my life, I’ll carry something with me that I won’t ever be able to atone for. But the truth is, I’ve only ever seen men hurt my sister.” His eyes, the same shade as Hannah’s—though Hannah’s were flecked with hazel—roved over the twilight-cloaked backyard. “My mother brought violence into our house. Since before we were young enough to understand. And when I was old enough, I was too weak to protect my sister.” He looked at the ground, features coated in shame. “I stopped them from going into her room while she slept. I made sure that didn't happen."