Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
But boy, could she throw it.
“Wow!” I caught the ball, then promptly dropped it because I couldn’t close the mitt.
Weak.
“Yes!” she cried, picking the ball up and tossing it back at me.
I reached high over my head, but missed it.
Luckily, there was a man who knew how to catch behind me, and he caught it before it could hit the ground behind me and roll.
I looked up and smiled. “Well hello there, Dad.”
“Daddy!” The ear-piercing screech hit a new octave. “Hi!”
“Hi, baby.” Gunner’s smile was so damn wide and pure that it made my heart ache. “Whatcha got there?”
“A gwove!” She slapped it into her hands, then threw it down onto the floor and stomped on it.
Gunner snorted and lifted his girl. “You got a good arm on you, my girl.”
“Stwong.” She flexed her little girl muscles.
“Yes, you are,” he teased. “Are you almost done?”
“Actually, just got started.” I flopped onto my back and crossed my leg over my chest, pulling it out to my side so I could stretch my hip out. “Today has not gone as planned.”
Just as I said those words, I felt the water seeping into my back.
I looked backward to see that in my flop backward, I’d knocked over my water.
I groaned and lifted it back upright, hoping that I hadn’t lost the entire contents.
“I guess I’ll run with you and give you a little competition,” he teased as he placed his girl on the ground. “Baby, can you play by yourself for a bit so we can run?”
“I run!”
“Sure you can,” he offered. “But just make sure you don’t cross in front of us. I don’t want to run you over.”
“Yes, Daddy.” She nodded. “I will.”
I had a feeling that “I will” was more like “I will trip you up, but I’ll look cute doing it.”
“Good deal,” he said. “I stopped to get food, too. Got your favorite. Shrimp.”
“Yum!” Lottie licked her lips comically.
God, she was sure a cute little girl.
“And your hair looks fantastic, darling,” Gunner teased as he pulled a loose strand out of the messy bun that I’d put it in.
For three years old, Lottie had more hair than a full-grown adult.
“Yes!” Lottie pursed her lips and blew a kiss at her dad.
We both had a stunned moment of silence, and then burst out laughing.
“The sass on this one,” I teased as I got up to stretch my hamstrings. “You taught her everything you know, huh?”
“Of course.” He winked, his eyes going from my face to my ass. “Do I need to stretch?”
I shrugged. “I’m not your keeper, Gunner Lewiston.”
“Penn,” he corrected me gently. “I don’t want to be associated to that asshole.”
“That asshole” being his grandfather.
A long time ago, before we were smart enough to comprehend, Gunner once had a mom and a sister.
Gunner’s father had been very intensely entrenched in the gang life. He’d pulled Gunner’s mother into it, too. They’d produced two children together, but neither one of them had been able to pull themselves out of the gang life. In fact, Gunner’s mom had even gone as far as to pull Gunner’s Uncle Parker into it.
The one good thing that we could say that Gunner’s grandfather had done was force Parker to turn his life around.
And he had.
Parker had gotten married to a wonderful woman named Kayla, and they’d had two children—Abram and Elinore.
Where Parker had been able to turn his life around, Parker’s sister, and Gunner’s mom, had not.
Parker’s father had killed Gunner’s mom and sister, and the only one to survive the whole tragic event had been Gunner.
Gunner had been raised by his grandfather for the most part until Gunner was an almost adult.
However, Gunner hadn’t thrived under his care.
It wasn’t until he’d emancipated himself and had relied more on Parker, that he’d really started to be happy.
At least, that was everything that I’d gotten from Kayla over the years as she talked and talked—and talked—about her favorite nephew.
Though, Gunner’s grandfather had the potential to fix all of this just by being a better father to his children. It wasn’t until he’d fucked up his own kids that he’d decided to start over with Gunner.
The only problem was, Gunner didn’t approve of how his grandfather, Ben, had treated his beloved uncle. He also didn’t approve of Ben’s lifestyle—a polygamist household where all wives were not treated the same.
Eventually, he’d just wanted out.
And he’d dropped his last name once he got out.
“Sorry, Gun,” I murmured. “Slip of the tongue.”
He touched the top of my head before saying, “I know. I just don’t want to ever be associated with that bastard ever again.”
“If it makes you feel better, everyone gives him a wide berth every time he’s seen in town.” I paused. “You know that he just had his thirteenth child, right?”
Gunner made a gagging noise. “Parker also told me that his newest ‘wife’ is barely over the age of eighteen.”