Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
My phone started ringing in my hand. I recognized the number. It was the prison. Perry. Worry for my brother replaced the constant internal battle about my feelings for Oz as I answered. There was a pause as the prison connected us.
“Hey, Winzy,” he said, his voice sounding years older than twenty-one.
The sorrow that came with that sank into my chest, along with the rest of the heaviness I carried.
“Hey. Is everything okay?”
He used to tease me that I was always checking on him. My first words were asking if he was okay.
“Yeah, uh, listen. Could you come see me soon, like this week, and come alone? Don’t bring Marley. I just want to talk to you. I need to.”
He sounded bad. Something was wrong. I knew when he was upset.
“Visiting hours aren’t until Friday, right?”
I wanted to go right now. I was going to worry until then. Had someone hurt him there? I felt sick, thinking about horror stories I’d heard about prison.
“Yes, normally, but the psychologist they have me seeing here can get me a visit if you can come sooner.”
“I’ll call and get a substitute for tomorrow. How early can I be there?”
“Eight.”
“I’ll see you at eight.”
“Thanks, Winzy.”
“Of course. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He ended the call, but I knew his call hours were limited each month. I held my phone tightly as one horrible scenario after another played in my head. I hadn’t known he’d been seeing a psychologist. I was glad. I thought perhaps we both needed one.
Marley had begged us to see one when she took us in, but we both refused, and she didn’t force us. Instead, she tried to casually sneak in her brand of therapy, attempting to get us to open up and talk about things. She did it when we were together and singled us out when we were alone. That hadn’t worked. There were things you didn’t want to share after living in the home we had.
That was then. We weren’t kids anymore. I could see the damage it had done to both of us. Perry committing a crime so severe that he was in federal prison for eight years. Me needing a normal, excitement-free, scheduled life. One that held no surprises and where I worked with children rather than dealing with adults. I had placed myself in a bubble, and until Oz popped it, I’d thought I was happy. Satisfied. I had been neither.
Oz
You own me.
The text lit up my screen, and a longing pang came with the words. Yet I reread them. Touched the screen as if I could feel him. Did loving him make me broken?
The rain pelted down, making my drive to Yazoo City a solid hour. I’d left early, already having checked the weather. Just like with everything else in my life, I was a cautious driver. Marley often asked to drive because my staying the speed limit drove her nuts. I never let her because she scared me to death, changing lanes and speeding around other cars.
Although it wasn’t cold temperature-wise inside the facility, it still chilled me to the bone when I followed the officer. He was taking me in a different direction than usual, and I debated asking him about it. Was he new and didn’t know where to go? The way he had checked me out, however, kept me from speaking. It had been an ogling leer that gave me the creeps. I’d rather he not turn around and look at me again.
When he stopped at a door, I hesitated, thinking I might need to go back and find someone else. This was not where you went to talk to prisoners. If he was trying to get me alone, he wasn’t going to succeed. I’d scream this place down.
“This isn’t where I’m supposed to see my brother,” I said, standing as tall as I could, not wanting to appear weak or as an easy target.
He glanced back at me after he knocked on the door. “It is today,” he said as his eyes did another once over of my body.
Nope, did not like him at all.
Another officer appeared, one that I recognized. He nodded at me, then stood back for me to enter. I didn’t move.
“Where are we? This is not where I normally see Perry.”
“You do today,” he replied, sounding annoyed, as if I had no right to question him.
I moved closer and peered into the room, and my eyes found Perry sitting at a table. There was no glass separator between us, and I rushed past both men as my heart lifted for the first time in days.
“Perry!” I gushed, wanting to wrap my arms around him. Try and give some warmth to his frail body.
“Stop,” the officer behind me said in an authoritative command.
I paused, agitated. I’d not hugged my brother in two months, and he was delaying the moment. I glanced back at him.