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Back Where There's A Will Save as PDF
Chapters (39)
  1. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. Interlude
  37. Acknowledgements
  38. Content Warning
  39. About the Author

I feel more than see her nod. “You’re right. That’s where we fucked up last time. Both of us. But not anymore.” She pauses to make sure I’m listening. I bring my gaze back to hers. “I just need to know you won’t shut me out. No matter what. I’m a big girl, Waylon. You don’t need to fight my battles anymore. You don’t need to pretend for me anymore.”

A breath rushes out of me. “I know. I know that. It’s just...hard.”

“To be selfless?” She scoffs, not unkindly. “Yeah, for you, it is.”

I huff out a humorless laugh as she climbs off the bed. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

She walks toward the window, ripping the curtains open, and I cringe, holding up a hand up to ease some of the glare so my eyes can adjust.

“It is when you’re martyring yourself on account of some misplaced notion you don’t deserve good things.”

I blink.

“Stop punishing yourself for shit you had no say in. Like, say, I don’t know, being born.”

I wince.

Ivy crosses her arms, staring down at me.

I rub a hand across the back of my neck as I scoot out of the bed. “Not holding back any punches, are we?”

“Not anymore.”

I nod. Right.

“But let’s save them for breakfast. You’re taking me to Chickie’s and you’re buying. It’s the least you can do after waking me up at the butt crack of dawn just to tell me you kissed a boy.”

I roll my eyes, a short laugh escaping me. Leave it up to my cousin to take something so damn heavy, and take fifty pounds off it.

“Well, for your information, we did more than kiss—”

“Nope!” She slams her hands over her ears and starts walking toward her closet. “La la la la la, I can’t hear you.”

I’m laughing, and my cousin’s smiling. The sun’s out, and the birds are up, and I just told someone for the first time in my life out loud that I kissed a boy.

And guess what?

The world didn’t come crashing down around me.

Maybe it’s all not as hopeless as I thought.

31

31

Will Foster

I arrive at O’Leary’s just as the sun falls for the night.

I park my bike in the back lot, taking off my helmet, and hanging it off the handlebar. I run a hand through my hair before sliding off and releasing the kickstand with my boot. Chilly air bites at my cheeks, and I hunker down in the collar of my black leather jacket as I walk toward the back exit.

I guess the weatherman wasn’t lying when he said summer was well and truly over after that storm. It’s only mid-September, but the nights are already frigid as fuck.