Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC #4) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,25
eight-hour shift before I clocked out. And the second I stepped out onto the sidewalk; I drew in a big breath of fresh air. I was off for the next two days, though I didn’t like that idea. I knew Dani wanted to get me on a normal working schedule like the one she was on, but I’d take any shift they could throw at me. I gazed up and down the street, eyeing the white-washed brick buildings that housed colorful shutters on the windows and tie-dyed doors. It brought a bit of life to the street and always managed to make me smile.
But Cherry Branch wasn’t home.
And I wanted to be home.
I took a left after giving myself a short pause and made my way back to Dani’s place. With the key to her door in my pocket I kept my head down, hoping no one recognized me. Except for maybe JayJay. But I knew that was a longshot. I knew that man would never find me, way out in the middle of nowhere in some weird-ass small town that just kind of got plopped into the middle of the woods. Even the sidewalk was entertaining, though. It was made of some dark material shaped into cobblestones, and it greatly contrasted the white-washed brick of all the buildings downtown.
JayJay would love a place like this.
When we were younger, he always enjoyed looking up those kitschy and weird small towns online. For example, when I was around nine years old, he showed me an article on our foster parent’s computer about a town in Alaska that was literally dubbed “The North Pole.” It was this wonderful, magical place that was decked out year-round with Christmas stuff. And for the winter months where the snow just kept piling on, they hired an actual Santa to come and live there with seasonal “elves” to really sell the idea to the children that came from all corners of the globe to experience it. I remembered those pictures as if he had showed me them yesterday. Christmas lights from head to toe on some of the facades of businesses in the little town. Cobblestone walkways and unmarked paved roads and headlamps decorated with bows and sparkling wraps and tinsel. In some ways, Cherry Branch reminded me of that little Christmas town. That didn’t make me want to stay, though.
I only wanted to be where Justin was.
After walking for a few blocks, I came upon the familiar wrought iron gate that separated Dani’s stairs up to her apartment from those walking around on the street. I pulled the keys out and let myself in, double-checking the lock after I closed the gate to make sure no one could follow me in. And when I finally let myself into the studio apartment Dani let me inhabit with her until I could “find my own place,” tears rushed my eyes.
With every day that passed by, I felt a little more desperate. A little more hopeless. A little more lost.
I missed Justin, and I just wanted him back.
I dropped the keys into the key bowl by the door and stripped out of my clothes. I left a trail from the front door to the shower and settled on taking the hottest one I could stand. I wanted that shower to wash away my sins. My worries. My anxieties. My helplessness. I wanted that shower to fix my life, but every time I stepped out of the shower, my life was still in shambles.
Still, a girl could dream.
“What am I going to do?” I sighed.
As I turned on the water, I ran down all of the things I had yet to tell Justin. Like, what pushed me to find him in the first place. Or what kept me up at night. Or how I felt about him. That one hurt the most. More than anything, I regretted not taking the time to tell him how I felt about him—how I’d always felt about him—and instead found excuses to keep that shit to myself. It made me infuriated with myself. I mean what the hell did I have to lose? We’d always be family. That much I knew for certain. He’d always be there for me, no matter what. That was what made Justin my JayJay. That was his defining characteristic.
And one of the first things I truly fell in love with about him.
As I stepped into the shower, my eyes peered out this little frosted window that was right