Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 114211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
I bite my lip and lean back on Juni’s couch, phone raised in the air as I gaze at him. “How’s your brother and mama doing?”
Bridger glances off to the side. “A lot better than I expected,” he admits. “My brother’s thriving with the school he teaches at, all his kids love him, the other teachers, too. Recently told me about a kid in one of his classes who … struggles. He recognizes something in that kid, thinks maybe there’s a problem at home.” He shakes his head, appearing emotional for a moment. “It’s a good thing my brother’s there for kids like that, recognizing the signs. And then there’s my mom,” he goes on, his mood lifting as he laughs. “She’s got a whole army of women friends around her now, I don’t think any man’s got a chance of hurting her ever again.”
I grin at him through the phone. “That sounds perfect.”
“It is, it is,” he agrees, nodding at me. “Better than I could’ve hoped.” His lips droop in thought. “Almost like they don’t need me anymore.”
“Of course they need you,” I throw right back at him.
Bridger sighs, chuckles strangely, then looks off again. “After I got discharged, I was sure my whole life would make sense. Have a job lined up. Help out my mom and little bro again, like I used to back in the day. But my brother isn’t so little anymore. And my mom …” He laughs to himself. “Once told me she’s stronger than she looks. She wasn’t kidding.”
“You got a purpose here,” I tell him, “right here by me, sittin’ on this couch and holdin’ me tight …”
“Oh, I want nothing more than to be right there, you’d better bet.” He looks away again. “But I’ve gotta figure myself out first, Anthony. I’m no good at your side otherwise.”
I want to argue with him, stubbornly insist that all he needs to do is come back here to Spruce and all the answers will fall into his lap—one of those answers being me.
But I know that isn’t true. “I’ve had to figure myself out, too,” I admit to him. “Feels weird, havin’ my dad’s respect again. Being responsible. Wakin’ up for morning jogs.”
His eyes light up. “You still keep up with them?”
“Every morning.” I smile. “Makes me think of you. Wakin’ up at some hour I can barely function, forcin’ my feet into a pair of shoes, then makin’ a circle of Spruce …”
“It grows on you, that feeling.”
“Torturin’ yourself every morning?”
“Progress,” he says, looking at me.
I gaze right back at him, moved by that word.
I’ve sure seen a lot of progress in myself recently.
Progress I wish I’d done before meeting Bridger.
But maybe it wasn’t possible without him. I needed him in my life, giving me a reason to clean up my act, to work harder, to find myself, to set some goals and stick to them.
“Few weeks have already flown by since you left,” I point out, still gazing at him, still moved. “What’s one more month?”
“What’s one more month?” he agrees.
I suck in my bottom lip, then lower my voice. “You alone?”
His mind seems to be in the same place. “Are you?”
I glance over my shoulder at the hallway. Juni’s sound asleep. “As alone as I can be,” I tell him, slipping a hand down my pants.
“That’ll do.” He leans back in his bed. His free hand disappears somewhere down below. His eyes meet mine through the screen. “Funny, isn’t it? So many miles apart, feels like you’ve got a hand down my underwear.”
“What a coincidence,” I mutter back, already jerking. “I’ve got a mystery hand down my own, too.”
“You look really hot tonight.”
“Your hand feels great on my cock.”
“Yours, too.”
“I’m speedin’ up.”
“Not me.”
“Why not?”
“I want it to last.”
“Mmm, I’m so pent-up, I don’t know if I can last.”
He smirks. “You already had a boner the moment you picked up the phone, didn’t you, I’d bet anything.”
“Oh, I was rock hard the second I heard your ringtone.”
“I’ve got a ringtone?”
“You know what my favorite thing about you is?” I ask him.
“Wait, wait, what’s my ringtone?”
“It’s that no matter what the heck mood I’m in when I first pick up your call, I know without a doubt you’ll slide right into sexy times with me the second either of us instigates it, and then everythin’ is just plain better.”
He seems to slow down, his arm relaxing. “You’re right. Guess I never noticed.”
“You’re in sync with me, Bridger, whether you know it or not. Got you twisted ‘round my finger like putty.” I stop jerking to lift a finger at the phone, wiggling it. “Right around this, right here.”
“I can think of a few things to do with that finger.”
“Can you now?”
“Five things, actually. They all involve your cute butt.”
I give my finger an enticing lick. “This drivin’ you crazy? Bet you miss my cute butt more than you miss me.”