AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Meet me in the parking lot.”
The door falls closed behind them and I start making my way around the building, not wanting to walk her straight through the party for the world to see the mascara all over her face and give them something to talk about.
By the time I get to the parking lot, Henley is busting out the front door with a little purse that matches Tully’s golden dress. She hands it over and looks at her best friend with a tight smile. “Is she going to be ok?”
“I fucking hope so,” I tell her as she balances the purse on Tully’s stomach.
“Just…make sure you put water and pain-killers on her bedside table because she’ll need them in the morning, and check the doors are locked, and…and maybe put a bucket beside her bed in case she gets sick.”
I grin at my little sister, still unable to actually believe that’s what she is to me. “I’ve got it,” I tell her. “This isn’t my first rodeo with Tully. I’ve been dragging her drunken ass home and putting her to bed since we were teenagers.”
“I know, but…”
“I’ll take good care of her. I’ll even be a perfect gentleman.”
Henley rolls her eyes and I sense the smartass comment on the tip of her tongue, only Noah’s booming voice by the entrance of the manor cuts her off. “Spitfire, get that fine ass back up here.”
She grins up at me. “Got to go.”
“Use protection,” I laugh. “You wouldn’t want to pro-create with that thing.”
Henley skips away and the sound of her scolding her new husband is the only sound I hear through the darkness. It’s got to be close to two in the morning, but I really couldn’t be sure. I’ve been so caught up with Tully that time could have stood still and I wouldn’t have known.
I search through the cars for the black one Tully was driving earlier in the day and make my way towards it. It doesn’t slip my mind that the last time I was driving with Tully on the passenger’s side, she was almost killed.
I try to put it out of my head, but it’s hard. It’s something that’s woken me at least once every week since it happened. With all the shit I’ve been involved in and the crap I’ve suffered through while being deployed, that’s the moment that has always stuck in my nightmares, always there and ready to come back and haunt me right when I least expect it.
I fish her keys out of her purse before unlocking the car and placing Tully down in it. I can’t help but look over the car, once again wondering why the hell she would have gotten rid of her Jeep. But I guess it doesn’t really matter. That thing was getting old anyway, though I don’t doubt that she misses it. She used to love that thing.
After sliding the driver’s seat back as far as it will go, I get myself in and start the engine. This car is way too small for me. I feel like a fucking mammoth in here. My knees are practically squished up against the dash and I have to bend forward to be able to see clearly out the windshield.
I let out a sigh. I guess now that I’m back, it’s time to get my Firebird fixed, but then that could take a while. Maybe I should be buying a new car and fixing up the old one on the side.
I back out of the parking spot and get Tully home. With no traffic on the roads, I get us there in less than twenty minutes and scoop Tully out of the car, thankful that Eddison hears me and opens the door.
He gives me a tight smile as I make my way past him while Violet hurries ahead and opens Tully’s bedroom door. She bursts in and prepares her bed before slipping her purse off her stomach and leaving me to deal with the rest.
I place her down on her bed and start taking off her heels. It doesn’t go unnoticed that her bedroom is exactly the same as it was four years ago. It’s still filled with all her things, but there have been no changes. There’s nothing here that tells me what her life is like now. There’s nothing to give any hints about her life with Spencer and no business degree up on the wall.
Maybe she doesn’t live here anymore, but that’s a question that can be answered later. For now, I need to get her into bed.
I find an old shirt and pull it over her head before letting it fall around her thighs. I slip my hands under the fabric and pull down the zip for her dress before shimmying it down her body while trying my hardest to keep my word and be a perfect gentleman.
