Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Mom rolls her eyes before kissing my head. “I’m not sure what your ‘shift’ is aside from watching TV and napping. But yes, we can go to dinner now. We’ll see you later, sweetie.”
“They’re discharging me,” I say.
She gives me a frown as Colten sits on the edge of my bed. “I fear it won’t be until tomorrow now.”
I shake my head. “I’m leaving today.”
My parents try to appease me with fake smiles before exiting the room.
“Missed you today,” Colten says, leaning in for a kiss.
“Have I given you a blow job lately?”
He stops an inch before my lips, blinks several times, and clears his throat before releasing a soft chuckle. “Why do you ask?” He pecks my mouth and sits up straight, loosening his tie.
“Because it popped into my head. We were in your car.”
He fails at suppressing his grin. “The day of the shooting. We uh … did a lot that day.”
My memories around that day are sketchy at best. “A lot?”
“Let’s just say it was a good day … until it wasn’t.”
“My mom asked about us. Have you not said anything to them?”
“It hasn’t come up. It’s hard to fit ‘I’m in love with your daughter’ into conversations about drugs, mass shootings, and a GSW to their daughter’s abdomen that caused her to nearly drown.”
“Was it a good blow job?”
“Jesus Christ …” Colten rubs his face, trying to wipe off that grin.
It was a good blow job. I figured. Blow jobs make me less crazy than talking about dead girls and the whereabouts of their bodies. I really need out of here. I need my computer and some time alone.
“When we do disclose our relationship status to your parents, let’s not start with the blow job. Okay?”
“What is our relationship status?”
Colten opens his mouth to speak then pauses for a few seconds. “We’re getting married.”
My face scrunches. “What?”
“Yeah. It’s probably part of that day’s events that you don’t remember. I proposed over donuts and coffee. You said yes. Then we went grocery shopping and home to discuss … wedding plans.” His grin doubles. “And then I was called to the pier, and you came with me.”
I really need my memory of that day to come back. “You proposed without asking my dad first? He’s awfully old-fashioned. I don’t know how he’s going to feel about it. And I’m surprised I said yes.”
“Oh? Why is that?” He cants his head to the side.
“Because I can’t imagine wanting to get married.”
Gazing out the window for a few breaths, he twists his lips. “You didn’t say yes. You said no. And then I asked you to move in with me, and you shot me down again.” He cringes, returning his attention to me. “Sorry, bad choice of words.”
I grin. “That sounds more accurate.”
“But now that you’ve danced with death, I’m sure your outlook on life has shifted.” He kisses the inside of my forearm over my tattoos that cover another great shift in my life.
“Rains? Is he okay?”
Colten nods. His drooping expression squeezes my heart. “But we lost two others, and three were injured.”
“Are you okay?” I cup his cheek, and he leans into my touch.
“I didn’t get shot.”
The pad of my thumb tracks his lower lip. “Are you okay?”
His gaze makes a slow assent to mine.
“I didn’t die,” I whisper.
He nods and takes a hard swallow before wedging his large body in bed with me, burying his face in my neck on a long exhale. “I think a part of me did,” he mutters.
The gravity of all the things I can’t remember from that day settles on my chest, leaving a dull ache. I wish I remembered. I wish I could take away Colten’s pain.
I wish I knew why I can’t stop thinking about these girls.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“I’m in love with your daughter, but she won’t marry me or even move in with me,” Colten spews out his confession over dinner—his belated birthday dinner—a week after I’m released from the hospital. He doesn’t even glance up from his plate.
My mom smirks. Yeah, she knew.
Dad? Not so much. He’s waking up from his ignorance-is-bliss state. And now he looks sorely hungover with the news.
“And since you’re leaving tomorrow…” Colten blots his mouth with a napkin and risks a glance in my parents’ direction “…Josie’s going to move in with me so I can take care of her.”
“I’m not,” I blurt.
He clears his throat and smiles, but not at me. It’s like I’m not here. It’s reminiscent of the hospital when everyone talked about me while my eyes were closed, but I could still hear them.
“What I meant to say is I’m going to stay with her at her place … because she’s comfortable there … until she gets better, which realistically could take several months if not longer. So you both can feel rest assured that she’ll have all of her needs met.”