My Reason to Live

Chapter 4

We're lying side by side after a very satisfying second round of sex with me riding Jade, which contributed to us both coming hard and fast.

"Tell me about the list."

I turn my head on the pillow to look at her. She turns her face toward me, meeting my eyes.

"What about it? You've already seen it."

"But why the list? What's the reason for writing it?"

She wants a reason. It's not like I can go with the whole truth, so I go with a half-truth.

I stare up at the ceiling. "When I was seventeen, I had a brain tumor. It was...aggressive. There was a point when I wasn't sure I was going to survive. So, I wrote the list with all the things I'd never done with the hope that I'd survive and be able to do them."

And, now, all I want is to die. Ironic, huh?

"And here you are." Her hand touches mine.

I move my eyes back to her. "Yeah," I exhale. But I shouldn't be here. I should have died then. If I had, then they would still be here, living and breathing.

One life for four. I would trade mine in a heartbeat.

"Why wait so long to do the things on the list?"

I look away again. "Some things...happened. There was just never a right time." I lift a shoulder to downplay my words.

But there's nothing to downplay the fact that my family died because of me.

She brushes my hair off my face with her hand, bringing my eyes back to hers. "Why is now the right time?"

Because the tumor is back, and I'm ready to die. I'm ready to join my family. I just want to do a few things before I go.

She's staring at me, curious and tender, and I really need her to stop.

My eyes go back to the ceiling. "Because...it's just time."

I know her eyes are still on me. I feel exposed. And I don't like it at all. Jade's a smart girl. She'll know there's more to it than what I'm saying. But, right now, I need her to be smart enough to realize that I don't want to talk about me.

So, I fake a smile on my face and go to change the subject, hoping she goes along with it. The art of deflection—I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. "So, Miss Mega-Rich Businesswoman, tell me how you became so successful." I slide a glance at her, that forced smile still on my face.

I know what's in the public domain about Jade. I knew a little about her already—she's a name people know—but I wanted to know more, so I Googled her earlier. Call me nosy, but I was curious about the girl who was about to come and stick her dick in me for the second time.

Jade Thirlwall made her money in airplanes after setting up a small private chartered airplane company that flew rich business people all over the world.

Soon after, she expanded, investing in larger airplanes, and moving into the travel industry—vacations, long-haul flights, that kind of thing. A couple years later, she bought out a failing hotel chain, rebranded it, and turned it around, making it a big success. Those hotels of her are all over the world.

Then, after buying the hotel chain, she went in a different direction and set up Thirlwall Finance—credit cards, loans, mortgages—and from there, she built a financial empire.

Jade has the Midas touch in business—not my words. It was a quote from an article I read about her.

I really don't know how the girl has time to sleep.