Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 162003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 810(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 810(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Five years was a long time to stew on all the sick and twisted shit you want to do. I reasoned that Brighton could fulfill whatever childlike dreams she entertained in her head by then. She could go to prom and date nice boys. Or bad ones, with her family history. I wasn’t exactly certain which way the pendulum would swing. She blindsided me completely when I took her innocence.
It all snowballed from there. If you haven’t already gathered this about me, I was completely hedonistic. Some might say selfish. Entitled. Whatever label you want to give it, I always got my way. And until Brighton understood this, I just needed to learn how to bide my time. Find a new direction. One that didn’t involve killing Brayden. Because I would have her. She was already mine, and this stalemate couldn’t go on forever. I’d see it through, till’ she came back to me.
She had to. Right?
My dicking around and day drinking was interrupted by Matt poking his head into my office. Ah, perfect. Another shitty item on my agenda. Mind you, I was doing this for Nicole.
“You wanted to see me?” he asked.
I nodded and gestured to the chair. He sat down. “Heard from Nicole, lately?”
He shook his head and stared at the floor. Guess I wasn’t the only sap in the room.
“That makes two of us then.”
I walked over to the cabinet in my office and rummaged through my whiskey collection. Jack, Jim, Johnnie… the boys were all there. Something stronger was in order for what came next. It wasn’t often in my life I admitted regret, but it’d been happening an awful frigging lot as of late.
Would Jackson see it as a betrayal? I imagined myself in his shoes. Wondered what I’d want for Brighton if I wasn’t around. Nobody could ever love her the way I did. The thought alone made me want to crack some skulls. But if I wasn’t there, she’d need someone to take care of her. I was too blind to admit before that Nicole did too.
“I need to talk to you,” I began. “About Jackson.”
Matt’s face grew wary, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why. I hadn’t mentioned Jackson’s name since he died. The one time Matt tried to bring it up, I clocked him in the jaw. Needless to say, it’d been a dead subject ever since.
“What about him?” Matt asked.
I sat back down at my desk and scrubbed the heels of my hands across my face. This was even harder than I thought.
“About what he would have wanted for Nicole.”
Chapter Fourteen
Brighton
“How are you?” Norma asked.
I stared out at the garden, taking it all in since I hadn’t the last time I was here. The rehab center really was beautiful. I still couldn’t believe that Ryland had done this for her.
“I’m good,” I lied.
“Doesn’t look like it.” She sat back in her chair and bobbed her foot up and down. “You’re getting a little hefty.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. Okay, so I guess some things hadn’t changed. Norma could still be as blunt as ever.
“I’m not getting hefty, Norma. I’m pregnant.”
Her eyes widened, and she stared down at my belly in shock. “You are?”
“Yes.” I swallowed. “Four months now. But you can’t tell anyone, okay? Especially not Ryland.”
“Is it his?” she asked.
“Of course it is,” I scoffed.
She held her hands up and gave me a gentle smile. “I didn’t mean it that way, Brighton. I’m just surprised. I can’t believe you’re going to be a mama.”
“I know,” I agreed. “I’m scared.”
Her expression softened, and she reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze.
“You’re going to do great,” she insisted. “So much better than I ever did.”
“Thank you,” I murmured. “I’m trying to do what’s right, but sometimes, I don’t even know what that is anymore.”
She nodded in understanding. If there was anyone who could relate to my predicament, it would be Norma. I never really cut her any slack for that, but I knew how much she both loved and feared Frankie. And he didn’t want her, so she dealt with it in the only way she knew how.
“I wish I could tell you what to do, Brighton,” she said. “But I hardly know myself. I guess that’s part of life, is figuring it out as you go.”
“Yeah I guess so,” I agreed.
We fell silent for a moment, and I fidgeted with my hands in my lap. There was something else I needed to ask, but I was half-afraid to.
“Have you heard anything from Brayden?”
She frowned, and right away, I knew I was justified in being worried.
“He’s called a couple times since you told him where I was. But he’s not real happy with me.”
“Of course he’s not,” I sneered. “Because the only thing he’ll see in the whole situation is that you’re taking Ryland’s side. He can’t see past anything else.”