Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
No more.
This was my last trip, my last weekend. My last time.
Eyeing a higher rise, I headed for it. That was my last trick for the morning. After that, I’d go back and hand over the keys.
I could hear other ATVs farther down the beach now.
Driving up to the peak took a little while. I had to gun the engine a few times, but I got up there. I was higher than everyone else, high enough to see where we were camped, and I saw a lot starting to move around.
Another ATV drove down the beach, coming right for me.
I waited, watching it.
It was bypassing all the ridges and trick spots, heading straight for me.
Just below me, it paused, and the driver leaned out, looking up.
Even with his protective gear on, I recognized my brother.
He leaned back in and the ATV shot beyond me. He was coming around, starting up the path to where I was waiting. After a moment he pulled up right next to me. He raised his head in greeting.
I didn’t respond, just watched him.
He cut his engine and leaned back against his seat, waiting for me.
We were totally alone. The others had remained below.
Fine. I was Mara déjà vu here.
I turned my engine off.
“I figured we should talk,” he said.
I grunted. No shit. “What do you want to talk about?”
“You done hating me?”
Yep. Right for the jugular. I didn’t answer.
“I saw you talking to Taz last night. She was glowing when she came back.”
“Maybe you should try talking to her too.” I eyed him, resting an arm over the wheel.
He glared. “What’s that mean?”
“She’s lonely, dickhead. Fucking talk to her. Give her the time of day.”
“Like you do?” he shot back.
I shrugged. “You knew about this fucked situation before I did. You were digesting it the day I saw you for the first time. Fuck off if I’m not handling it the fastest rate I could.”
Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to say, but it was the truth. And right now, that’s all I had. I didn’t know what else was going on with me, but finding out about Stephen, then finding out about Cross and Taz had thrown me for a loop. A big loop.
I still didn’t know if I was right again.
But I was getting there.
“They were separated.”
I looked over. Cross wasn’t looking at me anymore, and his hands were tight on the wheel in front of him.
“My mom told me that recently,” he added. “I thought it was an affair, but it wasn’t. Not really. My mom and dad were going to get a divorce. I’m guessing they’d been struggling for a while. She told him she was pregnant before your mom did. That’s why he and my mom tried again.”
Shit.
This sucked.
My insides felt scraped, like an ATV had been joyriding over me.
“Did you talk to your mom?” he asked. “Find out why she lied to you?”
Yeah. Right. Like I was going to tell him how that conversation went? “You first.”
His face clouded instantly. “Why are you like this? I’m trying. I’ve been trying—”
“I tried first. Remember that?”
He stilled. “Yeah.”
And I had tried. When this first came out, I’d approached him twice. He wasn’t receptive either time, and since then, well, forget him. That’d been my motto, and that was around the same time my anger had started to bubble up. I’d been pissed, then angry, then livid, and I’d been running on furious ever since. I was trying to get back to the pissed level, but it took work. A lot of work.
“I’m sorry I was an asshole to you first,” he said, still not looking at me. “Can we, just…I don’t know. This is hurting Taz, and I didn’t get it until last night. It made her night that you talked to her for a while. Seeing that, I started thinking differently.”
I wanted to gut myself. With a plastic knife.
But…
“You were nice to Aspen last night,” I told him. “Thank you for that.”
He let out an abrupt laugh, shaking his head. “I bet that killed you to say.” He pulled his helmet off, and he was grinning. “It wasn’t hard. She’s a nice girl. Got no clue how the fuck you ended up with her, but it is what it is.”
I knew that. At this point, I was certain everyone knew that. I didn’t need him to say it. But whatever.
This felt weird. Uncomfortable.
I was sitting here, on top of a cliff, having a talk with my brother.
I still hated him. Except I didn’t, actually. Not really.
I rolled my eyes. “Lay off your dad.”
He turned to me. “How’s that your place to say?”
I looked right at him. “Because he beat the shit out of the guy who used to lock me in closets. He’s there for my mom. You have a good dad. Don’t take that for granted.”