Unlike Any Other (Unexpected #1) Read Online Free Page B

after me.”
    He makes it sound as if he put his life on hold for us and now that we’re older, it’s time to get it back in gear.
    Protect… because putting his family in the middle of nowhere Washington is as powerful as a special shield? A dome?
    As the internet widened and social media progressed, we had more access to those sites that like to dig the dirt out of celebrities. Sites that revealed to my brothers and me that my parents pretended to live a different life in order to keep us ‘safe’. Perhaps while we grew up it made sense, but now… now I don’t get it.
    “So that’s it; bye, bye to the old, hello Twinkie wife?”
    His gaze drops and I take it as a yes.
    “Where is the big love, the one that happens once in a lifetime? What happened to it? If you lost it like that, then there’s no hope for the rest of us, Dad.”
    No wonder my relationship fell apart like it did. The dreamer in me thought back to my sixteen-year-old self when I thought I had found the great love that could withstand everything. I claimed to have what my parents had… almost three years later reality slapped me, no, reality crushed me.
    Gabriel doesn’t speak. He has no comeback or comment to what I say. He makes a one-eighty degree turn and stares out at the blue sea.
    I don’t count how long he’s immobilized in front of the window, nor do I move. However, after what feels like hours, he extends his hand and curls his fingers toward me. The moment I’m next to him, he puts his arm around my shoulder and hugs me tight, kissing the top of my head.
    I hug my dad for the first time in years and my back relaxes.
    I’m home.
    “You can stay together in the name of love just for so long, AJ,” his voice has lost all the strength, the shield is down.
    My body and soul identify with his, we’re defeated, sad and with only so much energy left to continue.
    This is one of the traits we share, putting on a brave front while withering inside.
    “Lately, I wonder if what we had justified being together for so long.” I hate those words as he lets them out. “Was it real or a fantasy we built and once reality hit we couldn’t keep it together. It hurts, being apart is painful—I won’t lie.”
    Really, it hurts? Because there’s a woman outside—pregnant. I want to yell at him, my teeth grind, but I don’t let my anger get the best of me.
    Not yet.
    “It was mutual, we came to the conclusion that we wanted different things, our lives were going in different directions, and now I’m trying to build something—a new life?”
    The uncertainty in his voice is a gift, a speckle of light that gives me hope. The words… well, they sound like a speech they—my parents agreed on giving us. That’s the way they were while growing up, one parental front. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but my money is on him. Gabriel called it off.
    This is unfair. My parents drove me insane with their rules. Their crazy ideas and lies to the outside world. However, they are a match made in heaven. They are like milk and cookies, one can’t go without the other.
    “This is wrong.” I shake my head. “You can’t finish a once in a lifetime love story like that,” I weakly claim. “Each time you told the story, it didn’t sound as if you made some sacrifices for us. It sounded as if you did it out of love. Am I wrong? Would you like to revise your story?”
    He shakes his head.
    “You should. Let’s do a play-by-play,” I suggest. “Maybe you can come clean and clear up all the lies you added to it when you told it as we grew up.”
    “They weren’t lies,” he defends himself. “Maybe we skipped a few details… not many. We couldn’t disclose everything to our small children.”
    “Once upon a time I thought I found what you did, Dad,” my bottom lip quivers, but I continue, “but everything crumbled, and… now I’m a cynic who doesn’t want to feel or believe. You’re proving me right, love is a shitty thing.”
    “It