Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 62737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“Here. I grabbed this from the pantry.” Ronnie places the taste of the rainbow, but the tropical variety, in the palm of my hand.
“Fuck, I love you.” I cup her cheeks and lay a hot and heavy kiss on her lips. My tongue slides in, hers chases mine, and it’s only the opening of the door that has me pausing our moment. “We’ll come back to this, soon.” I sit down, leaving room between Ronnie and me. Nine times out of ten, Rory will plant herself right in the middle, even if there’s no space. It used to be because she needed to have us within reach, now she does it to be a damn pest.
“You called me?” Rory walks through the door, and my knee starts bouncing up and down. I’m unphased at this getting back to her that I had a hand in the process. What I’m worried as fuck about is if this is going to slow the progression in her healing journey.
“Yeah, come sit down, Roar girl.” My sister rolls her eyes, lets out a puff of air, and stomps her black combat-booted feet toward us. She’s taken to scouring Ronnie’s clothes in our closet, and it looks like she pilfered the entire outfit. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask where the other half of her shirt is, but I think better of it. There’s nothing better than having my girls living under one roof, until they gang up on me because I don’t agree with them. Now we’re living life to the fullest, even if I’m getting a few gray hairs between Rory’s driving and Ronnie working at the bar late into the night.
“Wow, Jude can’t think of anything new or original?” Rory tosses back at me, a good sign that her spirits are up and her head might be in a good frame of mind.
“Nah, too many hours spent behind the computer. You know, making me vision impaired. Could be cooking my brain, too.” I shoot her a wink as she sits down. She caught me squinting at the computer screen and made a joke that my old age is ruining my eye sight. I tried to get my sister to take it back without any luck, and the next day, a pair of reading glasses appeared on my desk. A sign that Rory told Ronnie about the situation and they conspired together, I’m sure.
“I think you look hot with glasses,” Ronnie says.
“I know you do,” I reply.
“Okay, enough you two. I’m missing a game, and I’m camped somewhere, so can we get this talk taken care of?” The teenager in my sister comes out.
“Fine.” This position makes it impossible for me to tell her face to face without Rory being blocked, so I quickly move until I’m in front of her. Ronnie laces her fingers with my sister’s, and I take the other one in my hand.
“Oh God, what’s wrong now?” Rory’s face pales. “He didn’t get out, did he? Please tell me that isn’t possible. Please, Jude.”
“Ah, fuck, I’m screwing this all up. He can’t get out, sis. Kind of hard to do that when he was found dead in the shower this morning.” I move my hand to the back of Rory’s neck, lightly massaging it as she stays quiet. Ronnie rubs her back while she soaks in the news I delivered. Maybe I should have left well enough alone, except he’d made a threat in front of everyone in the courtroom, causing distress like no other. It took Tysen and Johnny to hold me back when he said he’d kill Rory the minute he got out after he did something else entirely too profane for me to ever repeat, not even in my deepest, darkest thoughts. It solidified my stance. The dumb fuck got what he deserved. The only part that pisses me off is that he didn’t suffer nearly long enough.
“Rory, sweetheart, it’s okay to cry, to scream, and to be okay with this. Whatever you need, we’re here, no matter what,” Ronnie attempts to draw it out of my sister.
“Is it bad that I don’t feel anything?” She looks from me to Ronnie.
“Nope.” I don’t hesitate with my answer for even a second.
“Good. I hope he suffered. Thank you for letting me know. I’m going to go back to my game now.” She gives us a hug before walking back into the house.
“Fuck it, I’m having a cigarette,” I mutter once the door closes behind my sister.
“She’ll talk when she’s ready. All we can do is wait for her to come to us. Plus, her appointment with her therapist is tomorrow, and then I’m taking her to get her belly button pierced in the afternoon. It’ll be good for her to look forward to.” I grab my pack of smokes, pull out a cigarette, and light it. The first inhale calms my nerves instantly.