Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“Christ, yes, let’s do it. I had no idea you were so bossy.”
“You haven’t seen the extent of it yet.”
After that, we give my car the attention she deserves. About two hours later, my stomach growls, and Morgan pops his head up. “Shit. You should have said you’re hungry. I wasn’t even thinking. What do you want?”
I shrug. “I’ll eat anything.” I’m not known for being picky when it comes to food.
“How about we stay here, and I’ll order pizza. I’ll even break the no-pineapple rule for you this time.”
“It belongs on pizza, Morg.”
“No. It really fucking doesn’t.”
We’ve been having this argument our whole lives. Mostly just for fun because while Morgan doesn’t eat it, he always got me what I wanted. Sometimes he’d surprise me and show up with pepperoni and pineapple pizza even if he playfully complained the whole time.
“One day I’ll get you to taste it.”
“Never gonna happen.”
“Is you ordering me dinner gonna happen? Because my stomach is about to eat itself.”
He chuckles as he tugs out his phone and puts in an order. We continue working until the delivery driver messages from outside to let us know he’s there.
“You can stay here. I’ll go get it,” Morgan tells me, and I nod. I take a quick trip to the bathroom, wash my hands, and when I get back, he’s sitting on the concrete floor, against the wall, with two pizza boxes, paper plates, napkins, plastic cups, and a two liter of pop.
“You know there’s a table in the breakroom in the back where Easton and I eat, right?”
“Something wrong with right here?”
No, there’s not. I’ve always loved that Morgan is the kind of guy to wear expensive suits and go to expensive parties, but he’s also fine sitting on the floor, eating pizza, with the smell of car parts all around us.
“Nope. Just wanted to make sure.”
He pushes to his feet. “I do need to take a piss and wash my hands, though.”
I nod and sit on the floor while Morgan goes to take care of his business. I put a couple of pieces of barbecue chicken pizza on a plate for him, then grab some of mine. When he comes back, I say, “I can’t figure out why you think pineapple on pizza is weird but not barbecue.”
“Because everything you do is weirder.” Morgan plops down beside me, the two of us leaning against the wall and eating. After a few minutes, he says, “I’m not staying at Dad’s tonight. Rhett lost his shit about it, when really, it makes no fucking sense. Dad is okay. I think he just wants to control everything, wants to feel like I’m doing something he says I have to do because I haven’t been here for so long. I’m probably going to grab a room for the night. I just…can’t be around Dad.”
My gut clenches as I wonder what Gregory did this time. “That bad, huh?”
“I feel like a child when I say this, but sometimes I really think I hate him. I’ve tried to tell myself I shouldn’t. He’s my family, and that’s not what Mom would want, but…”
“But you’re allowed to feel how you feel. And love is earned, so is respect, and like, it’s not something people get just because they share the same blood as you.”
“Fuck. Thank you. I know that, but sometimes I just need to hear it from you. Hell, if it wasn’t for you and Easton, I would have already jumped back on a plane for home.”
Again, I try not to flinch at the word home. The truth is, Santa Monica is his home now.
“I’m glad you’re staying…not just because of me, but for East. I think he needs you more than he’ll ever admit.” I think all three of the Swift brothers do. I touch his foot with mine. “And you don’t have to get a hotel room, dumbass. You can stay with me tonight. It’s a big sacrifice, but I’m willing to make it for you.”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s terrible having to share a house with me. I don’t know how you’re going to survive it,” he teases back, then nudges my foot too, only Morgan leaves his there, close and resting against mine. “I might not deserve you, but I sure as hell am thankful for you. Every day. Even while I was gone, Dust.”
He doesn’t understand what words like that do to me. The way they pump blood through my heart, making it swell and grow.
Making me hope.
“You deserve me. You’ve never seen yourself as clearly as I see you. You deserve the whole damn world if you want it.”
Morgan doesn’t reply, but he drops his head against my shoulder and doesn’t lift it for a long damn time.
CHAPTER NINE
Morgan
We finish eating, and then Dusty gets up to start working again. I would have no trouble continuing, but I think about the fact that he’s been working all day and hasn’t been home since this morning. He looks beat. He has to be exhausted.