Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Riley holds my stare, her eyes filling with tears. “I was wondering when this was going to come up,” she says, her tears nothing more than fear for what she knows could come from this. “You really have to do this?”
I nod. “Yeah, Menace. I have to.”
She visibly swallows. “Okay,” she says, clearly not loving the idea, but she’s never been the type to keep me from anything she knows I truly need. She turns back, looking at the home we’ve started building for ourselves. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
My back stiffens. “Whoa, baby. No,” I say, shaking my head. “You’re not understanding. This is just me. I’m not taking you back into that city. I almost lost you there, and I’m not about to risk that again.”
“Right, and I almost lost you too,” she says, defiance thick in her tone, her mind already made up. “This is a two-way street, Stone. I got hurt too. I hung from those chains and was beaten just as you were. I was kidnapped off the street, not once, but twice. I was almost raped. I was left in a coma with burns covering my skin. I lost seven years of my life, and on top of that, I had to watch the man I love almost die in the street because of what they did to you. You’re not the only one who has lost something because of Lux Valen, and while I know you would give the world to protect me and keep me as far away from that man as humanly possible, you need to understand that I feel exactly the same way as you do.”
“Menace.”
“No, Stone,” she says, gripping my forearms and really looking into my eyes. “We’re a team now. Where you go, I go. You die, I die. And if you’re going back into the city to get revenge for the hell Lux Valen and the Bone Reapers have put us through, then I’m sure as hell coming with you. No ifs, whats, or buts.”
Shit.
Holding her stare a moment longer, I wait to see if she falters, if the idea of leaving this place for any period of time could potentially sway her decision, but the determination in that beautiful green stare tells me everything I need to know. She’s coming with me, and she’s not backing down.
“Okay,” I finally say, my hand dropping into hers as I already start looking forward to when we return here. “First thing in the morning, it’s go time.”
“Good,” she says with a nod. “Now, come and eat the roast I slaved over all day for you, and then after you’ve thoroughly rocked my world, we can work out exactly how we’re going to take Lux Valen down.”
31
RILEY
The drive back into the city feels so much longer than when we were escaping it, but to be fair, while I was racing down the highway, I wasn’t focusing on the time. I was hoping like fuck that the man I love wasn’t about to die in the passenger seat.
Every mile we drive closer toward the city sends me into a spiral. I don’t want to be here, but I need to be. And just like Stone, I need to see this through.
Leaving Cedar Falls, if only for a few days, is one hell of a risk. Stone is still at the top of the feds’ most-wanted list. There’s still a bounty on his head, and I have no doubt that every asshole with a gun is still searching high and low for him. That is, every asshole with a gun outside of Cedar Falls. But with four weeks between sightings, the feds have had no choice but to divert their attention to other pressing situations. Don’t get me wrong, I can guarantee there’s still a dedicated team spending every waking hour trying to find him, but as long as we’re careful, and immediately head straight back to Cedar Falls while keeping under the radar, we’ll be okay.
Having Ray and Barbara’s support has gone a long way in settling something deep within me. They’ve become my adoptive family, and from what I can tell, I believe they feel the same. Apart from Stone, I’ve never had anything even remotely close to that. Nobody has cared for me the way Barbara does. Nobody has taken the time to teach me how to cook, teach me how to sew a button, or just care enough to ask me how I’m doing, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
So it came as no surprise that Ray wasn’t completely onboard with us leaving today. We spoke to them at dinner last night, wanting to be as transparent as possible. They know exactly who Lux Valen is to us. They know what role he played in the scars left on my body—what role he had in corrupting Ash—and they know he ensured Stone received a life sentence rotting behind bars. But more than that, they know exactly what we’ve come to the city to do, and instead of putting up a fight and arguing what a horrible idea this was, they simply nodded, understanding why we need to do this. That doesn’t mean they agree.