Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Understood.”
We all knew Elsie had done nothing wrong. She’d just gone out on a date with the wrong fucking guy. But there were questions that had to be asked. Thankfully, I trusted my brothers to ask them in a way that wouldn’t scare Elsie or make her feel like she had wronged us in some way.
We hadn’t been waiting long when Torch opened the door and guided Elsie inside. She’d changed into a pair of sweats with the t-shirt I’d given her, and it got me right in the gut. Her eyes were wide with worry as she looked around the room and listened anxiously as Torch asked, “Need anything else?”
“No, we’re good.”
Torch nodded, then made his way out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Elsie turned to me and said, “Hey, guys. What’s going on?”
“We need to talk to you about something.”
“Okay. What about?”
Stitch kept his voice low and steady as he told her, “The guy you went out with... The one who came here to pick you up.”
“Ben? Why do you need to know about him?”
“It’s important, Else.” I stepped over to her. “We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. Um... His name is Ben Bruton.”
“Bruton?”
“Yeah, I believe David Bruton is his grandfather.” Cotton turned to Stitch and cocked his brow. When Elsie saw his reaction, she added, “But I might be wrong about that. He never really mentioned him.”
“How’d the two of you meet?”
“At school.” Her eyes remained locked on mine as she said, “We have a few classes together. He seemed like a nice guy, so when he asked me out, I said yes.”
“You don’t know where he’s from or anything about his family?”
“I assumed he lives close, and he never really said much about his family, just that he had a sister. It sounded like they were pretty close.” Her face was marked with worry as she said, “We only went out twice, so there’s not much more to tell.”
“Did he ever ask about us?”
“Hmm, he was pretty curious about how I ended up living here. He also asked what you were into.” She glanced over at Stitch. “He wanted to know if you were running guns or selling drugs. That’s when I decided to end the date.”
I didn’t like this.
It was too much.
Every muscle in my body had grown tense, and my head had started to pound. I was quickly approaching my brink, so I clenched my fists at my sides and dug my nails into my palms. I took several deep breaths and tried to focus on the sound of the ceiling fan above me, hoping it would be enough to settle me.
It didn’t.
Hell, I was so worked up that I almost didn’t hear my phone when it chimed with a new text message. At first, I ignored it and kept my focus on Elsie, but when it chimed a second time, I grabbed it from my pocket and muted the ringer. I was about to put it back in my pocket when I happened to notice that I’d received another message. My blood ran cold when I read:
Unknown Caller:
CHECK YOUR EMAIL
CHAPTER 13
Elsie
I had no idea why Cotton and the others were so interested in Ben, but it clearly wasn’t good. I could literally feel the rage radiating off of them, and I couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t interested in him, but he seemed like a decent enough guy. He certainly didn’t seem like the type to get on the Satan’s Fury radar. I was tempted to ask why they were so interested in him, but I knew better. They were already on edge, and I had no interest in rousing them any further.
“What did you tell him?”
“I said rumors were just rumors, and this was one that didn’t deem repeating. After that, I got up and left.”
“Have you seen or talked to him since?”
“Actually, I saw him today.” My eyes skirted over to Wyatt as I added, “I was about to go into class when he came over to me and apologized for the things he’d said.”
“And that was it?”
“Pretty much.” I shrugged. “He reminded me about a Spanish test we were having today and offered to meet up with me at the coffee shop to study.”
“Did you go?”
“Yes, but I didn’t stay.” I glanced over at Wyatt, checking to see if he looked upset, but he was looking at his phone and didn’t even seem to be listening to me. “I just went there to tell him that I had some things I had to take care of and would just study on my own.”
“Did he seem bothered that you weren’t staying?”
“I don’t think he was all that happy about it, but I didn’t really give him a chance to say anything. When Cass called to tell me about the lockdown, I walked out.”