Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“No, I mean… I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “I guess nowhere has really ever felt like home.”
“Ever?”
“We moved around a lot. As little kids with my mom. There wasn’t a lot of money. Especially after she got sick and her medical bills started piling up. Then after she passed, we were with King, and there was even more moving around. A fuckton of moving around. Never stayed anywhere longer than a few months.”
“Is that why you travel so much?” I asked. “Because it’s what you’re used to?”
“I think that’s part of it, yeah. I got to see almost all of the States growing up. But there was so much else to explore. But then there’s the love of the thrill of doing new or crazy shit.”
If he didn’t even know what home felt like, I could honestly see why he didn’t think twice about not being in his own home much.
“Don’t you miss your family?” I asked. “Since you moved around so much with them,” I clarified.
“We all crashed here for a while when Scotti got with Mark. And everyone else was eager to start putting down roots. I just… wasn’t ready for that. Back then, I was in the area more than I was gone, though. I needed the money, so I worked for King. Then as soon as I had enough, I was off again. I was lucky to have a brother who would put up with that bullshit.”
“Kingston seems like an all-around great guy,” I said.
“He is. The man doesn’t have a flaw,” Atlas agreed. “Was really fucking happy when he got with Savea. He deserved that kinda happy.”
“All your brothers have wives, right?” I asked. Even though I knew the answer, thanks to my handy dandy list of phone numbers.
“Hard to believe someone actually wanted to put up with Nixon for life, right?” he asked, shooting me that smirk I liked so much.
I’d met Nixon briefly. And, yeah, he was kind of a grump. But a lovable sort of grump. Always picking at Atlas, but just as willing to take a ribbing too.
“He’s the one who is with the, like, whiskey heiress or something like that, right?”
“Right,” he agreed, nodding. “You know all about my family. I know nothing of yours.”
“Because I don’t have any,” I said, shrugging off the pang of hurt, of need. “We were a very small family. And then my parents each passed. Now it’s just… me.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Atlas said, those gooey eyes of his looking so sad for me. As if I needed more reasons to like him.
“I really envy your family,” I admitted. “You have such a big circle around you. That must be so nice.”
“You must think I’m a real dick, huh?” he asked, making me stiffen, my belly twisting hard. An old, familiar feeling. That worry I’d screwed up. That I said the wrong thing.
“What? No!”
“It’s okay,” he said, watching me with those eyes I swore saw just a little too much sometimes. “I meant because I have this big circle and I don’t spend any time with them. When you, clearly, would like to. They’d totally fucking adopt you, by the way. That’s how they are.”
“I don’t think that about you, though,” I said, shaking my head. “I just… don’t understand it, is all.”
“Guess I don’t really either,” he admitted, then looked really far away, like he was trying to wrap his head around why he did things the way he did.
Luckily, the server showed up to save us from the awkward turn of the conversation.
“So, did you always work with animals?” he asked after we ordered.
“Ah, no,” I said, trying not to lie, but also not offer him the truth of what I’d been doing prior to coming to Navesink Bank. “I did volunteer at the animal shelter a lot as a kid and teen, though.”
“Do you like it?”
“I love it,” I told him truthfully. “I love dogs. They’re full of life and love.”
“Never had one of my own, but I’m digging Samson,” he said. “He does the weirdest shit.”
“You should drop by the doggy daycare sometime if you think Samson is a trip,” I said, shaking my head. “We have a particularly instinctual Border Collie who herds all the smaller dogs into a circle at least ten times a day. And a Basset Hound who lets out this soul-deep howl when the delivery truck makes the backing up beeping noise. And there’s a Beagle mix who takes all the toys, little by little, and hides them.”
“That’s a good look,” Atlas said, making my brows pinch.
“What is?”
“Your face lights all up when you talk about work,” he said.
“Do you feel like that about your work?”
“That’s… a good question,” he said, looking confused. “I honestly don’t really care about filming and uploading. I don’t think I’ve ever even looked at the comments on the videos. I never wanted to be famous or some shit. Posting them just… pays for the lifestyle.”