Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
I had to admit, my mind had been drifting in the direction of commitment, of the future, of settling down a lot lately.
I mean, for fuck’s sake, my cousin Vi found a guy to slow down for. And if Violet thought love was worth giving up her favorite things in the world (coffee and take-out), maybe it was something I might want to look for too.
You know, in a year or two. Five, maybe.
A crack of lightning lit up the clubhouse, casting everything in an unnaturally white light for a split second.
Before everything sank into complete blackness.
“Shit,” Perish said, sighing.
“I’ll get the lanterns,” Brooks called when the power didn’t come right back on.
“At least we got some hot coffee first,” Perish said.
I stood there, listening to the thunder roll, a strange prickling sensation moving up the back of my neck.
I wasn’t an overly superstitious man.
But I couldn’t seem to stop the thought from forming.
That this was the kind of storm that brought trouble in its wake.
“Stupid,” I mumbled to myself, making my way through the clubhouse and back to my room.
Completely fucking oblivious to how right I was.
CHAPTER TWO
Lolly
“Okay. Alright. It’s alright.”
My heart was attempting to punch its way out of my chest, and my knuckles ached from gripping the wheel.
The wind was whipping so relentlessly it was making the car pull hard toward the center divider. I’d given up on anything close to visibility ten minutes ago, when the rain started to pelt with fury against my windshield, making it impossible for the wiper blades to keep the glass clear. It wasn’t helping that one of the blades was falling apart, the little rubber protector hanging off from the midway point, making it whine across the window with each rapid swipe.
I had to get off the highway.
There was no way for me to see if something was in the road ahead. And with wind like this, trees could be down anywhere.
I searched the darkness, looking for the right place.
Not the well-lit chain gas station. Or the convenience store across the street. Places that, in a past life, would have looked like safe havens to me. But now, all I saw was all the ways I could be spotted.
I drove further down until I came across a sprawling abandoned building. So long abandoned, in fact, that an actual tree had burst through the roof—swaying in the wind.
The chances of video cameras on a building in that much disrepair seemed slim to none.
Just in case, though, I turned off my lights before turning into the lot, wincing as the car hit the curb, then climbed it before slamming back down again.
“Almost there.”
I wasn’t sure if I was talking to myself or the chocolate brown toy poodle sitting in the passenger seat with her tight purple anxiety shirt on under her harness.
Her little body was trembling as I pulled behind the back of the building, letting the engine idle so the window didn’t fog up. To be fair, she shook relatively often. But her whole body was vibrating when I unclipped her safety belt and pulled her into my arms.
We were quite a pair, the two of us.
“I know. It’s been a rough couple of days, huh?” I asked, burying my face in Edith’s soft, powder-scented fur.
The urge to cry was almost overwhelming, the stinging at the backs of my eyes requiring a lot of blinking to fight off.
I needed to at least try not to let my emotions get the better of me. It was more important than ever to attempt to keep myself calm.
Even if my whole world just went off its axis and had been spinning ever since.
“I’m sorry we had to do this,” I told the dog that had been the sole reason I kept chugging along the past several years.
Because even on the days when the hopelessness of my life made me think that there was no reason to force my weary limbs to climb out from underneath the fort of blankets piled on top of me, Edith’s soft little whimpers to go outside or be fed were the only things to force me to be vertical. Even if it was just for an hour.
Sometimes, the act of caring for her reminded me to eat and drink and shower as well. Others, at least I had a buddy to curl up with me under the blankets and sleep the day away.
While taking her with me created a whole new complication that had required a lot of preparation, there was no way to leave her behind.
Edith gave my cheek a quick lick before letting out one of her dramatic huffs.
“I’d offer to take you out to go potty, but you and I both know you’d rather gnaw off your own foot than go out in that.”
To that, she sniffed, wiggling until I let her down onto my lap. She curled up in a circle, tucking her head in tight against me, and drifting off to sleep.