Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
By the time he had finished in the sitting room of his childhood residence and went outside to leave, Matthew’s cage was already gone and so was he. The man was smart to leave when he did, because Rev might have finished off the job if he’d gone out and saw him again.
What greeted him instead was Reilly leaning against his Bronco with her arms crossed over her chest and a very unhappy expression on her face.
Now sitting on their bed and watching him pace like a caged tiger, her mood hadn’t improved.
But then, neither had his.
“I don’t think you’re in any condition to drive.”
“Hate this fuckin’ place.” His feet stopped, he took another long swallow of the amber liquor and then returned to wearing a path in the carpet. “You drive, then. You drive stick, right?”
She grimaced. “No. I asked Rook to teach me.”
“Rook ain’t teachin’ you.”
“No shit since I don’t know how to drive stick,” she huffed.
He ignored her annoyed tone. “I’ll teach you. Shoulda asked me.”
“Really? I did. You blew me off.”
He stopped his pacing and spun toward her. “Think I needed that fuckin’ temptation so close to me when no one else is around? Both of us on some back fuckin’ road, alone in a cage together? Right.” He blew out a breath.
A smile grew across her face and she waved a hand down her body from her head to her toes. “You can’t resist all this, huh? Hot and tempting, like a donut fresh from the fryer.”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “What the fuck are you blatherin’ about?”
She rolled her eyes. “Never mind. You’re struggling to focus and I’m wasting my genius sense of humor on you right now.”
“Ya think?” He sucked down another mouthful of Jack. The smoke from his hand-rolled swirled in a white ribbon toward the ceiling.
She held out her hand from where she sat on their bed, propped against the headboard. “Give me some of that.”
“Not if you’re drivin’.” She probably just wanted to get the Jack away from him so he’d stop drinking.
“Listen, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind right now, but we just had this discussion, Rev. I can’t drive stick and unless you’re going to teach me in the next couple of hours, with how much you’ve already drank, we’re not going anywhere. We’re staying right here. And, honestly, I think it’s for the best. You need to process what the hell went on today and also what you learned. We both do. While this doesn’t have to be decided tonight, you also need to figure out what you’ll tell Saylor, if anything. If we head home tonight, we’ll end up going our separate ways and you won’t have anyone to talk to about this.”
That was a lot of fucking words jamming themselves in his already full head for her to simply say they should stay put for the night.
But, for fuck’s sake, she was right. He’d already downed a third of the Jack Daniels in the bottle he carried like a security blanket. He needed to smoke a bowl and, once his thoughts stopped ping-ponging around his brain, wrap his head around all the shit he learned barely over an hour ago.
Like the fact he had tainted blood. Both he and Saylor did. It might not be anything he could change but it was something he could forget.
He hoped to fuck he could. He didn’t want this haunting him for the rest of his life. He didn’t need the reminder that his twisted blood wasn’t any better than the Shirleys, those redneck motherfuckers who used to live up the mountain and probably would return as soon as the feds were done processing their compound.
Those goat fuckers weren’t his problem right now. He needed to figure out what to tell the most important person in his life. Saylor.
It might be best not to say anything at all. What would be the point other than to take a bad situation and make it a million times worse. He wanted to spare her any more pain. And finding out their uncle was also her father might send her spinning out of control like a hubcap falling off a vehicle while speeding down the highway.
Since arriving in Manning Grove and settling in with Judge and Cassie, she’d been doing really well. They were the best thing that ever happened to his sister and he’d hate to see that change. For once her life had been traveling a steady and smooth path instead of a crazy, bumpy roller coaster.
No, this was a secret he should take to his fucking grave. But he needed Reilly to keep it, too. She couldn’t say a fucking word to anyone.
“Ain’t gonna tell anyone about this, Reilly. Don’t even need to decide what to tell Saylor besides that our ‘father’ is now dead. It’s better she don’t know the truth. That means you can’t say a fuckin’ word.”