Table of Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Epilogue

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Copyright © 2015 M. Robinson

All rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, dead or alive are a figment of my imagination and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s mind's eye and are not to be interpreted as real.

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“You look beautiful, Alex,” Lucas whispered from behind me, his voice broken and torn. The errors of his ways finally catching up with him, it was evident in his tone. It pained me to hear him sound like that, no longer the carefree boy I grew up with.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” I replied, trying to keep my own voice from breaking. The physical ache surrounding and consuming me in ways I never thought possible. The gravitational pull we had toward each other wreaking havoc on our souls.

This wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Today was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life. I should be celebrating, not wallowing in the memories that I hold so deeply in my heart and soul. I hadn’t seen him all night and then he just appeared out of nowhere.

I blinked and he was there.

I felt him from across the room before I even found his stare. I didn’t think he would show up, I should have known better. He always did what he wanted, since we were kids there was no telling him what to do. It’s one of the things I hated the most about him.

“I’m not,” he simply stated, the fervor of his voice radiating from behind me and burning a hole in my back.

“Are you happy?” he added.

I closed my eyes as a single tear fell down the side of my face. I had spent endless nights crying over him.

Over us.

“I just want you to be happy, Half-Pint.” He hadn’t called me that in years. Not since we were kids.

“Are you happy, Bo?” I countered, throwing his question and nickname back at him, knowing it would have the same effect as it had on me.

“Only you would be standing out on the sand in a dress like that,” he brushed me off, changing the subject.

“I was never afraid to get dirty,” I reminded him, digging my feet into the sand and dragging my dress along with it.

“Always trying to be like one of the boys. What are you doing out here on the beach? You looked so happy until you saw me. What took away your happiness?”

I scoffed. “Do you even have to ask me that? Does it make it easier for you? To be here? To see me like this? Is that why you’re here?”

“It’s never been easy,” he softly spoke.

“What did you expect from me? What did you want me to do, Lucas?”

“You know what I wanted. You’ve known since we were kids and I carried you around on the handlebars of my bike. It hasn’t changed, it never changes between us. You know that as much as I do.”

I wrapped my arms around my torso in a comforting gesture, it didn’t help. Nothing was more comforting than his arms around me.

“Why didn’t you use the abandoned house, Alex?” he quickly followed.

I hated that he knew so much about me, our childhood entwined together like the weaving of a tight rope. Our names being synonyms of each other, there was no Half-Pint without Bo. Except now we weren’t kids, we were just Alex and Lucas.