I winced.
My place wasn’t actually my place anymore.
After shit went down with Lolo, I’d sold our old place and purchased a new house. When Amber and Keir had married, Amber had moved into Keir’s house, leaving our barely lived in one completely empty. I had renters move into it after realizing I wouldn’t be back for a while.
I’d never lived in that house for more than a week.
But it would do for now until I found something I truly wanted.
Luckily, it was on the bay, giving me time to do whatever the hell I wanted.
“Don’t know why you want that old piece of shit,” Keir grumbled. “You’re a multimillionaire, and you’re gonna drive a POS from high school?”
“That POS from high school will be Lolo’s first car,” I teased, knowing it would cause Keir to get annoyed.
I knew the reason he hated my truck.
It was where I’d taken Amber’s virginity and tied her to me for the rest of our lives by creating Lolo. To Keir, that truck resembled something that would forever be a reminder that I’d been there first.
Not that I ever wanted Amber back.
Quite the opposite, actually.
If I could choose one person to ‘undo’ it would definitely be her.
Which was hard, because without her, I wouldn’t have Lolo. But without Amber, there would’ve never been Amber’s brother. Meaning, my child wouldn’t have been sexually assaulted by a man that was supposed to protect her. Not hurt her.
“I like it,” Lolo said. “I’ll drive the hell out of it. All the boys will be jealous.”
Danyetta hooked her arm around mine, then caught Lolo by the hand as she led us to her tiny little SUV.
I held out my hands for the keys, which she easily dropped into my waiting palm.
“Thanks,” I said as I eyed my brother. “You want to catch lunch with me?”
Keir shook his head, and then he was gone, leaving us alone.
When we got into Dan’s SUV, it was to Dan saying, “I can’t believe he even had the balls to come, to be honest. He’s been scared shitless of what you might say or do since we heard you were getting parole.”
I could very well imagine. The thing was, had my brother outright come to me and told me he was interested in Amber, I sure the fuck wouldn’t have thrown the fit he thought I’d throw. But he hadn’t even tried. He’d waited until I was in jail before they’d made it official.
I snorted. “I’m not going to do anything. If he wants to have Amber, that’s completely fine. It just sucks that he had to lose his niece to do it.”
I looked in the rearview mirror at Lolo. Lolo, who was smiling at me already.
“You okay?” I asked her.
Lolo met my eyes in the mirror and said, “I’m okay as long as she’s not here. It’s when she comes around that my mind likes to replay things…”
If I could take that from her, I would.
I clenched my hands on the steering wheel and said, “I’m home now, honey. If you don’t want to deal with her, I won’t make you.”
She blew out a shaky breath. “I was wondering… do you think that I can stay with Aunt Dan for a while?”
I looked at her until she brought her head up to stare at me before saying, “I’ll do anything and everything you want, baby. If you want to stay there forever, I’ll be there every night to hug you good night. Promise. I will never be upset with you. It was due to my bad decisions that led you to not choosing me, darlin’. I’ll never hold that against you for as long as I live.”
My sister patted my arm and whispered, “You’re such a good man, Wake Westfield.”
If only she knew just how wrong she was.
CHAPTER 7
Call me superglue, because I get attached.
-Wake to Dutch
WAKE
My first night as a free man, I stayed up thinking about multiple things.
Tex, who’d come home with me upon seeing me and getting so excited he passed out, placed his head on the side of my bed and nudged my hand.
I looked at him with a grin. “It’s only five, but if you’re up for a walk, Bud, I’ll take you for a walk.”
Tex jumped up at the word ‘walk’ just like he used to, and that was my first reason to smile that morning.
After brushing my teeth and changing into jogging shorts and tennis shoes—shoes that my sister had gotten for me upon hearing of my return—I headed out the door.
The blast of salty air hit me like a wet towel in the face, and I smiled for the second time that morning.
People don’t realize the things that they’ll miss until they’re taken away from them.
Such as the way your skin felt in warm, wet climates.