Page 27 of Infinite as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #3)

Sawyer

I had finally found it. Days had turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month, but now, there it was, right in front of me. The house. The one I had been desperately searching for, the one that I hoped looked exactly as it did in Holly’s head.

I was in a place called Coupland, almost an hour away from Round Rock.

The main town was only a half hour drive away, and the main road down the front didn’t seem to get too busy, and the best part was the tree in the back.

A lemon tree that was apparently a good forty-years-old sat in the backyard, ripe with fresh fruit, the scent of citrus being carried in the breeze as I gave the trunk a slap.

This was it. I had found it. This was fucking it .

I could get Holly out of those crummy motels that she loved for whatever reason, move her in, and then it’d be ours forever.

I made my way back around the front, the sun hot on my skin as I pressed just one foot to the long porch, and that got the attention of Mandy who spun around with a big grin.

The house was decent sized. Smaller than what Holly was used to but a hell of a lot bigger than what I grew up with. One story, three bedrooms, grass that went on forever, and that tree in the backyard was the cherry on top.

“So, what are we thinking?” Mandy asked. She held her clipboard tight to her chest, her eyes locked on to mine. “How does this one feel?”

“This one’s perfect,” I said, clapping my hands together. “This one’s it. This is the one. I can feel it. This… This is gonna be our home.”

She squealed. “How exciting! I’ll get all the paperwork ready for you.

If you’d like, this afternoon we can make it official?

Just come down to the office and the keys will be yours!

I must warn you: there’s another couple who have been quite keen on this house.

I’ve been on the phone to them this morning, but they’ve been a little on the fence about it all.

If you think this is the place for you, I don’t want you to miss out. Early bird catches the worm!”

“No, I definitely want it. We’ll do that. I’ll meet you down at the office and we can sign those papers and…”

It didn’t seem real. Like it was too good to be true, but nothing was gonna stop me from handing over every dollar I had saved over the years.

Holly had always been the goal. Every long shift, every ache in my body, every early morning.

That had all been for her and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“And the house will be yours!” She clapped. “So exciting.”

I held my hand out for Mandy who gave mine a firm shake. “Great, sounds perfect,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”

She squealed again and hopped into her car and I moved over to the truck, looking over my shoulder to take one more glance at the house.

In a few hours, this place would be ours.

The key would be ours. The lemon tree would be ours.

The home would be ours. I wondered how Holly would want to decorate it.

I didn’t mind having all her fancy stuff around.

Candles, books, perfume, makeup. All that pink stuff.

God, we could paint the whole damn house pink and I’d still love it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, thinking it was Mandy. “Hey, I’m just about to leave now,” I said when I answered.

“Sawyer? Oh, thank goodness you picked up.” It wasn’t Mandy. It was my mom. And she sounded terrified. Her voice was shaky, her breathing a little heavy.

“Hey,” I said, leaning away from the truck. My heart was already starting to race just from that panic alone in her voice. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Spencer. ”

“Spencer? What do you mean? What happened?”

“He’s hurt.”

* * *

Ridgewood Elementary was a big school and parking was a pain in the ass, but I finally found a spot and rushed to the front office. It was my fault. All of it. I had fucked up and I deserved every scolding I was about to get from my mom and Kurt.

Spencer. Hurt. My brother. Hurt. My brain wouldn’t let me forget it.

He got into a fight, my mom had said, and all I could think about was how he probably tried to do something he wasn’t all that ready to do.

Teaching him how to fight had been a dumb move on my part.

I should have just told his mom. My mom.

Our mom. There was some emergency at her work.

Something about a broken jaw and missing teeth and an asthma attack. She had to stay back.

Pushing open the door of the front office, I was met with a grey-haired, big-eyed woman. She was writing something in a notebook when she looked up at me, her brown eyes meeting mine.

“Hi,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“Uh… I’m Spencer’s brother,” I said, and I realized then how strange that felt to say out loud.

“Ah, yes.” She clasped her hands together. “His mother told me you were picking him up. Sawyer, right?”

I nodded, one hand pushing through my hair. “Yeah. That’s me. What happened? Is he okay?”

“He’s—”

“Sawyer, you’re here.” I heard a soft voice say to my side.

My head turned fast to see Spencer, a bruise the size of a fist right there on his left eye. I hissed and sank to my knees, my hand on his chin as I turned him this way and that way to get a proper look.

“Christ, what’d they do to you?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

I was expecting tears. A frown. Soft, shaken words and his palms pressed to his eyes as he tried to force away the pain. Instead, Spencer shot me a grin so big he could give Holly with her perfect cheerleader smile a run for her money.

“I’m fine!” he said. “I did what you said!”

My heart sunk. “You did?”

“Uh-huh. I got two punches in. Two!”

He sounded so damn excited, that smile still there on his face before he threw his arms around me. I patted his back, confusion taking over as I held him.

“You seem happy about this…” I said.

“I am!” He pulled away from me. “That was the first ever time I fought back. It felt good. I didn’t know it could feel so good.”

“Huh…” was all I could manage to say, but then I frowned. He didn’t have his glasses on. “Your glasses. Where are they?”

“Uh…” That big smile dropped in a second flat. “They broke.”

“Fuck,” I seethed. My fault. All my fault. I stood up slowly, eye to eye with the woman behind the desk. “His glasses broke?”

She turned around and sorted through a little box before facing me again. The glasses were in her hand, one of the lenses smashed and a temple snapped in half.

“Here they are,” she said, sliding them across the desk.

I stared at them for a good minute. He probably could barely see right now, and it was all because of me and my shitty advice.

This was my brother. My little brother. My little brother who was shy and sensitive and liked to garden and knew about butterflies and what colors they liked instead of causing all kinds of trouble like I did when I was his age.

I should have known better. I was supposed to be the fucking adult in this situation.

Turning back to Spencer, I took in the hesitant look on his face.

His little pout and big eyes, his fingers tugging at his T-shirt. That painful looking bruise.

“I didn’t mean to break them,” he said. “It’s just, one of the guys punched me, and I punched back, and then…”

“Right.” I nodded. “It’s not your fault. ”

“I hope Mom won’t be angry.”

“Yeah, same,” I muttered before looking back at the woman at the desk. “Thanks for these,” I said, grabbing the glasses, my other hand on Spencer’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go.”

We left the front office behind and made our way to the parking lot. Just like that, Spencer’s excitement came back as he slid into the truck. He yanked at his seat belt, sitting up straight, that smile reappearing: all crooked and big but so sure.

“You look real happy despite what happened,” I said, laughing lowly.

“It felt good to stick up for myself,” he said. “I’ve never done that before.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “I wanna do it again.”

“You wanna stick up for yourself or you wanna get into another fight?”

“Uh…” He looked up for a second, his grin widening. “Both.”

“Christ, I’m a bad influence,” I grumbled, giving my head a shake.

“I liked how I felt after it. And maybe those guys will leave me alone. I hope so.”

“Yeah, I hope so too,” I said, staring down at his broken glasses. They sat so limply in my hand, like they were on the brink of cracking into a million pieces. I had to fix this. That smile on Spencer’s face went straight to my heart, but so did his damaged glasses there in my hand.

My phone was buzzing in my pocket. It was probably Mandy, her wondering where the hell I was. I should have been at her office signing those damn papers, but all I could think about was getting Spencer home—to a place where he was safe and tucked away and no asshole kids could hurt him.

The drive back to his place felt all slow and sluggish. We pulled into the driveway at the same time his mom—our mom—was, her eyes wide as she practically flew out of the car door and made her way to the truck.

“Spencer, what happened?” She gasped, sliding her hands through the open window. She was cupping his face, tilting his head back and forth, tsking as she took in the image of her bruised son. Bruised because of me. “Was it those boys again? ”

“Yeah, but it’s okay,” Spencer said, his head turning to face me. “I fought back this time.”

She frowned. “What do you mean you fought back?”

Spencer shot me a big smile. “Sawyer taught me how to.”

“Tattle tale,” I muttered playfully, his happy sounding laugh filling up the truck.

“Okay, Spencer, you hop out,” she said, pulling open his door. “I’ll meet you in the bathroom to clean you up.” Then her eyes landed on me. “Sawyer, I’m so sorry. We had a last-minute patient come in and it was just disaster after disaster.”

I shrugged. “It’s fine. You don’t have to apologize.”

“Can we talk? Do you want to come inside?”