Liam: Branded Brothers by Raen Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

Jill. No one else would be texting
her so early. Jill already had a personal training workout in with a client and
was gearing up for her first kettle bell class of the day. She’d sent a
reminder text to Charla for the class at 7:30. The class and short shopping
trips were about the only thing Charla felt comfortable leaving Jack for in the
last two months. Any longer and she had worried Jack would burn the cabin down.
She’d missed the last few classes, but now that Jack was gone, she didn’t have
any excuses. Jill was on her case to get back in the gym.
    She texted back that she’d go to the next class. She held
her phone, knowing Jill would reply within seconds: One last free pass. No
excuses on Friday. Lunch today?
    At least Jill let her off the hook for today’s class. She
knew Jill was worried about her so she texted back: 11:30 Tigerwood Cafe.
    Jill: CU there .
    Charla tossed her phone on the bed and wandered into the
kitchen to start the coffee. She’d never been a coffee drinker, but Jack had
insisted he drink one cup every day. She started to enjoy a cup with him every
morning, most of the time on the back porch overlooking the lake during the
warm months. She smiled at the thought of Jack leaving her with habits of
coffee, Guinness, and 6:30 a.m. wake-ups. She leaned against the counter,
waiting for the Keurig when she noticed the door to the cellar was open a
crack. She didn’t remember leaving the door open. She’d only been down to the
cellar a handful of times in the last two years. There wasn’t much down there
besides a few old boxes, a dirt floor and mess of cobwebs so rampant you had to
walk down with a stick to clear a path. She’d learned her lesson the hard way
the first time she went down. It only took her one face full of webs and a
creature scurrying across her feet to hightail it back upstairs. Heading back
down to the cellar wasn’t number one on her priority list. She had planned on
getting those last boxes once she had the rest of the house cleaned up.
    She walked toward the door and placed her hand on the knob.
She wasn’t in any condition to go down with her bare feet and exposed skin so
she pushed the door shut with a small click.
    “Jack, you better not be back to haunt me. You know I don’t
believe in ghosts,” Charla said as she pressed her back against the door. She
waited, hoping like hell not to hear a response. “Don’t forget what I told you,
once you’re gone, you’re gone. There’s no coming back.”
    The Keurig machine whirred, making her heart jump.
    “God damn it,” she swore quietly to herself as she walked
back to the cabinets to grab a mug. She was edgier than she’d been in a long
time. Now that Jack was gone, the cabin was becoming a distant memory of her
safe haven. She couldn’t ignore the unrest she felt being here. She decided to
spend the morning packing as much stuff as she could and making trips to
Goodwill. She could be out in a few days. The problem was where to go next.
    Most people her age could put their tails between their legs
and drag their sorry asses back to their parent’s house. She didn’t have that
option, unless she wanted to move back in with her alcoholic mother in a
cramped place she was on the verge of being kicked out of. She wouldn’t go back
there, even for a few days. She filled her mug and wrapped her hands around the
warm ceramic before taking a sip of the hot liquid. She knew Jill and Aaron
would take her in, but they were getting married in less than a month. Charla
wouldn’t allow herself to disrupt their lives like that.
    Her only option was to find a quick lease on an apartment
and bank on getting a job while selling Jack’s house as soon as possible. She’d
have enough to pay a security deposit and the first month or two of rent, but
that was all. She’d spent almost all her money paying for nursing school. She
cursed herself for not taking on more student loans. She had anticipated Jack
living longer than he