Free Broken Dreams (Broken Series) by Dawn Pendleton Page A

than my own, more aged and wiser. They were in stark contrast to his jet-black hair that was long enough to remind me of Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo cartoon I’d watched as a kid.
    He smiled at me. “Come on in,” he said, pushing the screen door open with a loud creak.
    “Thanks,” I replied. I wandered into his house and noticed it was not well lived in. There were no pictures hanging on the walls, no frames adorning the bookshelves that lined the far wall. There were, however, plenty of books. Aside from the bookshelves, paperbacks lined the two end tables and even the small round kitchen table.
    “Sorry about the mess,” Wolfe mumbled as he cleared away some space at the table. I stifled a laugh as I watched him haphazardly carry an armload of books to the coffee table in front of the couch. “Please sit
.
”
H
e gestured to the wooden chairs at the table and dropped a few books onto the floor.
    “Do you want some help?” I moved toward him but his glare stopped me.
    “Stay right there!” he commanded. He tried to ease the remaining books onto the table but finally got fed up and just tossed them on the couch. “Fuck it,” I heard him mumble. He turned to me with a smile. “Want something to drink?”
    I couldn’t hold it in any longer and laughed out loud. “Sure,” I managed to get out in between laughs and gasps for air.
    Wolfe grinned and went to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water and a beer. He held both out for me to choose. I grabbed the water and he popped the tab on his brew and plopped down in the chair next to mine.
    “So what’s up, girl?” He took a long swig of his beer and then eyed me suspiciously.
    “I don’t know. I just needed to vent to someone, and not the usual someone,” I confessed.
    “Finally. Does this mean I get to know your secret?” he asked hopefully.
    “How do you know I have a secret?” I was incredulous. I thought I hid it well.
    “Oh, come on, Rain. You can’t be serious…”
H
e stared me down for a few moments, gauging my response. “Okay, first, you never drink, and when you do, it makes you sick. Second, you went to Boston for ‘work
.
’”
H
e used air quotes around the word work . “Plus, you don’t seem all that healthy.”
    I was ready to combat him verbally until he said that. “What? I’m at the lowest weight I’ve ever been,” I argued.
    “That’s what I mean. Gabby has photo albums of you guys as teenagers and you look vibrant and healthy. Now, you sort of look like Joe did. Sallow and sickly.”
    He spoke so matter-of-factly that I couldn’t reply right away. Obviously, I wasn’t hiding my illness as well as I thought.
    “You’re right. I have leukemia,” I told him.
    His brows rose. “I didn’t think it was that bad,” he whispered, pushing his beer away and grabbing my hand. “What are they doing for you?”
    “Everything they can. It was controlled very well for a while, but now it seems to be back, although I haven’t confirmed that with the doctors yet. I was tested the other day but haven’t heard back yet,” I explained.
    “Have you told Baker?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?” he questioned.
    “I’m not sure,” I answered. It was the most honest answer I had. I didn’t really know why I was so adamant that Baker not know exactly what was going on with me.
    “Well, you probably ought to tell him. Imagine if you died and he never knew the truth.”
    “Wolfe! That’s a little rude,” I reprimanded him. I pulled my hand away from his grasp.
    “Bullshit. That’s the real world. How would you feel if he had cancer and never told you and then he died one day without ever telling you the truth? You’d resent him,” he said.
    I looked away from his burning eyes, knowing he was right. I fidgeted with the paper label of my water bottle and bit my lip. He was right, of course. I didn’t want to admit it to him, but his words were plain as day.
    “I’m not trying to be an ass, Rainey
.
” Wolfe