Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 75891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
I’m honestly glad they didn’t listen to the naysayers, not that my sister was going to listen anyway. She doesn’t care that her husband is almost thirteen years older than she is or that he’s a tattooed ruffian who talks more with his fists than his chompers; she sees what no one else seems to, I guess.
The truth is, at first, I thought she had some variation of Stockholm syndrome; you see, Elliot had been hired by my family to get Annabelle out of a sticky situation a few years back. She and her sorority had gone off to some hellscape disguised as an off-the-beaten-path type deal and got their asses snatched by some locals who were feeling froggy.
I’m not sure what the other parents were doing, but as soon as Dad heard wait for the authorities, he sprang into action. One of his doctor friends recommended his cousins, of whom Elliot was one. Whatever happened, the girls were home within twenty-four hours, and the authorities were still working out their negotiations.
Between getting her ass kidnapped and getting rescued, she met and fell in love with the most unexpected person in the universe. You see, up until that point, my sister was the preppy, bossy type. Her style ran to the spit-polish type with not a hair out of place and the latest casual wear fresh off the catwalk.
Elliot wears jeans and short-sleeved tees that show off his tats in the summer and long-sleeved Henleys any time after fall. His hair is an afterthought, meaning it’s sometimes down to his shoulders, but either way, there is no mistaking how hot he is. No wonder my sister fell head over ass in love at first sight.
As far as I can remember, there was only one conversation between her and the elders about her choice, but seeing the mutinous look on her face before she headed into the room with them, I knew the outcome before they did. That’s what you get for raising your kids to believe in themselves and go after what they want.
I don’t know if anyone warned poor Elliot because, by this point, it was obvious that he was running scared. He’d even tried to get Dad and the elders to talk some sense into my sister because, apparently, he was afraid of her. The first time I saw the two of them together, I understood why.
She’d just dragged the poor man into the house as I was coming down the landing. I watched as she slapped his arm and told him to look alive; she didn’t want her family to think she was marrying a corpse. She said some other stuff that I didn’t hear, but I was more focused on the way he was looking at her.
That’s what got me on his side more than anything else. He watches her like she’s a powder keg about to go off one minute, and the next, there’s a warmth in his eyes that makes you long for the same. And then he reached out and touched her hair, and she just settled right down. When she put her head on his chest and he rocked her, I knew he was cooked. I think that might be the night he was informed that he was getting married; I’m not sure.
Anyway, this brother-in-law of mine just sat and listened as his wife, my sister, filled him in on my situation and why she was going to have to come to Mom and Dad’s every day until I was straight. When she was through ranting on my behalf, Elliot just simply asked if I wanted him to take Dale out with a straight face.
I smiled and assured him that I had it covered. Like understands like; he knew exactly what I meant. Funnily enough, he’s the only one who doesn’t seem to think I need babysitting. He has more faith in my abilities, it seems, while the rest of them are acting as if I’m about to break.
So, as you can see, the last few days have been taken up with dealing with my family all day until I drop into bed at the end of the night, exhausted and overfull because Mom’s love language is stuffing her kids like stoats.
I hadn’t responded to Dale as yet, but his calls and texts were getting crazier by the day. The last one was a doozy. Apparently, his Mom had gotten around to telling him about her run-in with Julius, and he was on a tear, wanting to know who was the man who had accosted his mother in my driveway.
Each time I left him on read, his crazy went up a notch, which was right where I wanted him to be. I find it ironic that now that I had left to give him space to pursue his lady love, he was too busy harassing me to pay her any attention.