Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 117415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Don’t we deserve to feel free?
It’s just our luck the second we spill over the edge together, it isn’t us who cries out, but a distant woman, voice echoing through the house: “TJ? Are you home, sweetheart? Whose car is in the driveway?”
Chapter 15.
TJ
My parents used to complain how long it takes me to simply get dressed and be ready on time to leave the house for anything.
Today, I’ve got my clothes back on so fast, it’s a guess whether I had them off at all.
Picture the two of us tearing apart an innocent box of tissues trying to clean up while thrusting our clothes back on. I learn very quickly that Austin is a nimble guy who can fly over couches like he’s doing hurdles and slide his sexy legs into any configuration of pants with the dexterity of an Olympian.
By the time we emerge from the guest wing and approach the main foyer, my mom is rummaging through the downstairs study, back turned. “Sweetie?” she calls over her shoulder, sensing me. “I can’t for the life of me find my phone, which I swear I—” Then she seems to realize I’m not alone and stops at once, facing us, silent.
I literally feel like I forgot to put my clothes back on, standing naked here in front of my mom. Or there’s a dollop of jizz on my face I somehow missed. All of my shameful activities from barely twenty seconds ago on full display.
The next moment, I point. “Phone’s in your hand.”
She peels her eyes off of Austin—it takes an effort—before she looks down at her hand. “Oh. How’d that get there?”
“I thought you and Dad were, um …” I realize I don’t want to sound like I’m dismissing her. Why would I be? Doesn’t that make this even more suspicious? Like I’m mad mommy came home after I snuck a friend in through the window? “S-Sorry, where are my manners?” I ask, laughing it off. “This is …”
And then suddenly I can’t introduce him.
My friend? My buddy? Chase Holt, Texas’s hottest-country-musician-turned-rock-star? Who the hell is he?
He comes to my rescue at once and extends a hand toward my mom. “The name’s Austin,” he says, voice dripping in charm. “I’m a friend of TJ’s.”
“Oh, how nice,” she says, coming to life in an instant, reaching for his hand after awkwardly juggling her phone into the other. “I am always delighted to meet TJ’s friends. He … doesn’t bring many of them around here,” she adds sweetly, though I hear the hidden criticism. “You a friend from school? Or—Oh!” She lights up. “You must be the friend he met in Fairview!”
I suppress a groan, about to respond, when Austin surprises me with a nod. “That’s right, ma’am. We had a night of bowling and a movie that … went a tad longer than expected.”
“Well, good times always pass the quickest,” she reasons.
“That they do, ma’am,” he agrees.
They’re still shaking hands.
Her dang eyes won’t leave his, mesmerized or something.
“Call me Cissy,” she insists.
I sigh. “Will you let go of his poor hand already? He’s gonna want it back.”
She does just that, surprised she was still holding it.
“It’s a shame that night went by so fast,” Austin goes on, then glances at me when he adds, “I regret havin’ to take off so quickly in the mornin’.”
I stare back, strangely touched.
Then panic immediately and face my mom again. “Anyway, I thought you and Dad were at the … um, the …”
My mom smiles patiently. “The Carter Ranch. Perhaps if you spent just a teensy more time in the office learning from your dad, you might start recalling the names of our top clients. They do, in a way, pay for all of this.” She elbows me in the side teasingly as she passes by, turning her actual jab into some sort of loving joke in front of Austin, like we do this every day. “We finished up with the Carters fast, then the other errand we were gonna run ended up resolving itself, so here I am, home early to enjoy the rest of my day. Well, me, at least. Your dad had to rush back out for some other thing he forgot about, so he more or less just dropped me off, and—I swear I really did leave my phone here,” she insists when she notices the look on my face, “but I guess in my search for it, I must’ve picked it right up and didn’t realize.”
“That’s worrisome,” I mutter.
“Not as worrisome as you hiding your handsomest friends from me.” She stops halfway across the foyer and turns. “Do you have a special someone in your life, Austin? Someone like you has to have a lovely lady back home.”
After a brief glance my way, Austin shakes his head no at her. “No special lady in my life, no, ma’am.”