Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
The cigarette drops from the guy’s hand, and he puts his hands up.
It’s him. It’s fucking him. There’s no doubt in my mind, and I wonder how I didn’t see it before, how I didn’t recognize his voice or how he moves. He had to have been getting a good laugh out of that, hadn’t he? Seeing me, talking to me, and me not knowing who he is. My skin feels like it burns off my bones.
Just as Shai is grabbing the guy’s wallet, the bar door opens and another guy comes out. Shai’s head shoots up. His mark takes advantage, throwing his elbow back and hitting Shai in the face. His head snaps back. The new guy clocks them just as the mark grabs Shai’s arm, hitting it against the brick building, the gun falling to the ground. “This fucker tried to rob me!” he says, and the other guy’s eyes look aglow. Oh yeah, these two are out for blood, want to be the fucking heroes and give Shai what he deserves. It’s always like this, especially at this kind of bar, people itching for a fight, and now Shai will be on the receiving end.
Serves him right. Every nerve ending in my body wants to stand here and watch, to see him suffer, but then…if they hurt him, I can’t.
The two of them are on Shai, who looks scrappy as fuck, much like me as he tries to take them both on. They’re bigger than him, and he gets a few good hits in but takes more than he dishes out.
I can’t risk someone else coming out. The last thing we need is someone calling the cops.
“Fuck,” I grit out, running over.
The second guy sees me, but it’s too late. I grab him by the jacket and spin him around, my fist connecting with his face. He stumbles backward, the first guy taken by surprise, which gives Shai the advantage he needs. He shoves the guy against the wall and punches him in the gut. I grab the hair of the man I’m fighting, pull his head down and knee him in the face, blood rushing out everywhere. He cries out, grabs his nose, and falls to the ground just before my foot connects with his stomach. Shai is kicking and punching, both guys moaning on the ground. I pick up the gun before anyone else can, and all it takes is one look to know it’s mine.
“I’ll fucking kill you,” I seethe. “Slowly.”
“Kill me later. We need to get the hell out of here!”
I hate that he’s right. I don’t even know if there are any cameras here. If so, my face is all over the fucking place. I deliver another swift kick before the two of us run away.
I shove him against his car, my forearm pressing on his throat, gun held under his chin. “Go to your house. Don’t do anything to piss me off, or Kat dies.” His pupils flare. “That’s right. I know who she is, the sexy little blond. Not much older than you. Your trailer is really easy to get into as well. I’ve watched her sleep.” The latter is a lie, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“Fuck you! Don’t you fucking touch her! I’ll—”
“Do nothing is what you’ll do. Get in the fucking car and go home.”
I let go of him, run to my vehicle and take off, hating that the excited buzz beneath my skin is strong enough to rival the anger.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Shai
I drive too fast back toward Ashford and my house, fingers aching from how tightly I’m holding the steering wheel. My tires slide around the road more than once, and I almost end up in a ditch, but I keep going.
Rory, the guy I robbed, just helped me when I was trying to rob someone else. It doesn’t make any sense, and neither does the fact that he’s been following me. He’s been to my house, in my house. He threatened my mom.
My heart punches against my chest, which gets tighter by the second. It feels like it’s a hundred degrees in my car, like I’m pressing my foot on the gas but not going anywhere. I’ll fucking kill him if he touches her. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, killing not being one of them, but I will fucking kill him for touching my mom.
Half the time, I don’t understand my devotion to her, why I put myself on the line for her over and over, when I know she wouldn’t do the same for me. But then, she kept me, she raised me, she did her best by me. She was a kid on the streets who got pregnant by a grown-ass man who then pimped her out. Regardless of the shit she’s done, she’s my mom, and if it comes down to killing him to save her, I’ll gladly do it.