Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
When I walked inside, the sight I was greeted with made me freeze. Adam was sitting at the table with another man similar to him in age playing chess. Adam looked...healthy.
He’d filled out considerably. His skin appeared smooth and healthy. His hair had grown out to shiny blond waves that would have made any model jealous. He looked like my handsome little brother again. For the first time in a very long time, the tears that sprang to my eyes were happy ones.
As if sensing he was being watched, he looked in my direction and smiled. He stood up and held out his arms, and I immediately rushed into them.
We held each other tight for one beautiful moment in time. The last time I’d hugged him, I could literally feel his ribs. He was still thin but more solid. I finally pulled away to stroke the side of his face just to ensure this wasn’t a dream.
“You look great Adam. I mean really great.”
He brushed away a tear that had slid down my cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Don’t go crying on me. You’re going to make me feel like a bigger asshole than I already am.’
“I’m not going to dispute the asshole part.”
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to this hot little number? Is this your woman? Gotta say you did well, man,” called the grinning guy still sitting at the chess table.
Adam and I both pulled away from each other and gagged.
“Dude, she’s my sister.”
The man’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, not much of a family resemblance.”
Having grown up with white parents we got that a lot.
“Well, I have a disease called reverse melaninitis.” Adam was so deadpan even I would have believed him if I didn’t know he was just fucking with his friend.
I popped him playfully on the arm and turned to the confused man. “He’s joking. I’m adopted.”
“Oh. You single?”
Adam growled. “Cut it out, Puck. Why don’t you make like a tree and leave.”
The man called Puck rolled his eyes. “That’s not very original.” But he stood up and walked over to me.
Puck took my hand and brought it to his lips in a kiss before revealing a smile with every other tooth missing. “Well, sweet lady if you ever need someone to keep you company, give Puck a call.” He walked away with his chest puffed out like a rooster in a pin full of hens.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to react to that, so I said nothing.
Adam waved dismissively. “Ignore him. He’s not a bad guy, but he thinks he’s the Romeo of this facility even though romance is against the rules.”
“Then why hasn’t he gotten in trouble.”
“His parents have a lot of money and donate generously to keep this place open.”
“I see. Makes sense.” I stared at him again unable to stop smiling. “You look so good Adam. You really do.”
“Thanks, Sis. How about we head out to the patio where it’s nice out, and we can have a little privacy.
Once we were out, we took our seats on the lawn furniture.
“Sis…I could tell by the surprised expression on your face that you didn’t expect to see me in this condition,” Adam began with his head hung. He scratched the back of his head. “I mean I haven’t given you a reason to think I would actually follow through with treatment, and I’m sorry. From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry for everything I’ve put you through. I’m sorry for the late night I was out getting high with my friend. I apologize from stealing from you. I apologize for letting you down over and over again.”
“And I want to be completely honest right now. When you got that 50 grand, I had considered taking it when you weren’t paying attention and disappearing. I know that’s a shitty thing to do. Then I saw the dark circles under your eyes, and the stress etched in your face, and for once my conscience overruled my need for another hit. I’m really sorry for putting you in that position. I’ve learned accountability. I can’t continue to keep blaming our parent’s death on my problems especially when I know you were doing the best that you could. There was a point where I blamed you for seeming to have your shit together when I was falling apart.”
His confession was like a blow to my chest. Though he didn’t go through with it, the fact that he thought of double crossing me yet again hurt. But it was pointless to get upset over something that never actually happen and the fact that he’d even told me about it showed a growth on his part I hadn’t seen before.
“Do you really think I had my shit together all the time? I didn’t, Adam. For as long as I can remember, I had to be all and everything for everyone. I had to hold it in my pain after losing the people I love one after the other. First my birth mother, then my grandmother, and then our parents. I had to be strong for you because you were all I had left. I used to cry myself to sleep every night while trying to juggle school, work, and a resentful teenage boy who stayed out all hours of the night. You had so much potential, and you threw it away on heroine. So, my life was a shambles.”