Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 89535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
I can’t fucking wait.
18
Kole
The snow crunches underfoot, and Hades pulls desperately at his lead, trying to get to the dog park. He’s always been a pain to walk, but seeing his happiness the moment he’s let off the lead is my favorite part of the day.
Unfortunately it’s now getting way too cold to run around with him.
I hunch down into my coat and pause at the top of Asher’s street. In all the afternoons I’ve walked past, I haven’t seen Asher around … until now. He’s out front with who I’m assuming are two of his siblings.
Even from here, heat pools in my gut. Tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday and we’ll be on the bus to Connecticut for the next away game. And while I love what we’ve been doing, it’s like we’ve been edging each other this whole time.
I give Hades a massive tug to redirect down the street and get a whine of protest for my efforts. That is until we’re two houses away and Asher spots us.
“Hellhound!”
The sharp tug of the leash is so unexpected it pulls from my hand, and my dumb dog takes off. He launches himself into Asher’s arms and knocks him straight over. Hades is barking like a madman at all the attention, and Asher’s having a hard time keeping the dog’s tongue off his face.
“He’s a terrible judge of character,” I say when I finally walk up the path.
“Like his owner?”
I reach a hand down and help Asher back to his feet. “At least I know when I’m—what did you call it? Slumming it?”
A whine comes from Hades, and I glance down as he starts to hump Asher’s leg.
“Aw, another thing he gets from his daddy,” Asher says, pulling away.
“I told you that you exude sex appeal. We’re the innocents in all this.”
One of the kids comes running over before Asher can respond, which is probably a good thing. “Whose dog?”
“Did I say you could stop?” Asher throws back.
The kid huffs and turns to run back over to the other … well, his twin, actually. I blink for a moment, watching them run back and forth, thrown by how identical they look.
“Wait, are they doing suicides?”
Asher shrugs. “They’ve been fighting since I got home. Figured they needed to expel some energy.”
Unconventional, maybe, but it’s effective. “They look like they’re about to pass out.”
“You think?” He cocks his head. “Em, Ben, back in the house. If you two cause shit again, we’ll be out here all night.”
“You can’t give your kid brothers frostbite.”
“Yeah, but they don’t know that.”
The twins go running past, and Hades takes off after them into the house. “Oops, let me just—”
A shrill scream comes from inside, and Asher reacts like he’s on autopilot. He bounds onto the porch and through the front door, and I trail after him, completely unprepared for what I’m about to find.
There’s a girl standing on the dining room table as Hades struggles to get to her. One of the twins is restraining him, while the other is keeled over laughing. I sniff and tilt my head toward the kitchen.
“Asher, is something burn—”
“Fuck!” He darts past me into the kitchen, and I go retrieve Hades, managing to wrangle him outside into their backyard.
“Sorry, boy.” I slide the door closed on him and turn to look around.
The house is … well, to put it nicely—umm … okay, there’s no way to say a complete shithole and make it sound nice. Okay, so not a total shithole because it’s not like we’re in an episode of Hoarders here, but it looks as though no one has been bothered to look after the place.
Given how busy West and Asher are, and that their siblings are all young, I really shouldn’t be surprised.
I walk over to the girl now sitting on the table. “You okay?”
“I am now.” She looks around me to the back door. “What was that thing?”
“My dog. He’s really friendly, just … loud and excitable. Sorry.”
She presses a hand to her chest. “My heart is beating so fast. I was not prepared for a dog to come running at me like that.” Her eyes sharpen. “Who are you?”
“I’m Kole. Friend of Asher’s.”
“I’m Hazel.”
“Nice to meet you.”
She drops back into her chair and pulls her laptop toward herself. Right before she puts her headphones back on, she looks back up at me and says softly, “I like that he has a friend.”
She can’t be much older than the twins, but she’s a whole lot quieter than them. Which they prove a moment later when a loud crash comes from the front room.
“Asher! Emmett broke the controller!”
“Bennett did! He’s lying.”
They start to argue until a piercing voice comes from upstairs. “Ash-er!” A second later, two pairs of footsteps thunder downstairs, the arguing from the twins recommences, Hazel starts humming behind me, and when I walk through to the kitchen, I find Asher with his head in his hands, large pot of burned pasta in the sink.