Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
My retort shot at his closed door. “You finally admit it was a date!”
“I guess knocking us down isn’t going as easily as you thought.”
I faced the handsome figure hanging out of his doorway.
“I never thought it would be easy, Cairo. But it is worth it.”
“Is it? Then why have you given up on me?” Nastiness curled his lips. “You haven’t batted your eyes in my direction for weeks.”
“Because I’m giving you space,” I said, hips rolling as I closed the distance. “Your dad is in trouble. Wouldn’t be right to make it all about us right now.”
“Oh, how thoughtful,” he mocked.
“Was that the wrong thing to do?” I placed my hand on his chest, my heart picking up speed as his thumped slow and steady beneath my palm. “You know how badly I want to make things right between us. Tell me how to do that.”
“You can’t, de Souza. It’s never going to happen between us.” He brushed my hand off. “Besides, I’ve already moved on.”
“What do you—?”
Cairo pushed open the door. Peering over his shoulder, I landed on the slim, pretty, young blonde... stretched out on his bed. Red bled into my vision.
“You fucking bastard.”
“Now that’s not very nice.”
“You shit-covered piece of garbage!” I shoved him. “What do you think you’re doing?!”
“Whoa, man,” the girl said. “I don’t want any trouble.”
“Get out!” My bellow popped her eyes out of her head. “Get out right now.”
She scrambled off the bed.
“No, you stay,” Cairo barked at her. “And you.”
The world spun. In a blink, I was hanging off his shoulder—pounding his back in the midst of being carried off.
“Put me down, you cheating piece of shit. If you touch her, they’ll never find your corpses! Put me down,” I shrieked.
Cairo hauled me into Roan’s room and over to his bed. I had no idea why until I heard a faint click. A cool metal bite encircled my ankle.
“Cairo!”
The guy flipped me on my back, plopping me on the bed I was now handcuffed too. With that, he strolled right out.
“Come back here! Cairo, I swear, if you sleep with her, you’ll regret it for the rest of a very short life.”
I shouted and raged at the shared wall all through the night. None of the other guys came in to free me. Legend was likely getting a kick out of the karma, while the others were thinking I’d carry out my many violent, graphic threats.
All night I screamed and threw everything in reach at the wall. It was the only thing I could do. I was afraid if I stopped, the tears beating behind my eyes would drag me deeper than the river under Chaney Bridge ever could.
JACQUES
I sipped my smoothie in silence, eyes fixed on the same sight everyone else at the dining table was looking at.
Ivy slammed around the kitchen, white-knuckling a large knife she needed to open the package of bacon, but certainly did not need now that she was making eggs.
Cairo kicked back next to me, looking entirely too cool for someone unlikely to see tomorrow.
“One of us should probably take that away from her,” Legend mused.
Bang!
Ivy flung the pan in the direction of the sink. It bounced out and clattered on the floor. She paid it no mind in favor of banging the drawers open and shut.
“You first,” Roan said.
“Why did you free her in the first place?” Cairo breezed.
His guest left two hours before. I watched her go from the living room. I had woken up early and gone downstairs, away from Ivy’s shouting, to mentally sort through the information I collected on the seven out of nine on my list. It was Thursday. Our last day to finalize a plan to either rescue Sheriff Jack, or kidnap the members of one of Hunter’s Crest’s richest families.
Roan shrugged. “I wanted to see what she’d do to you.”
It wasn’t hard to answer why people were tempted to beat Roan unconscious.
Ivy stepped out of the kitchen, snapping five heads up. She carried a plate of bacon and eggs... and that knife.
Spines stiff, we didn’t say a word as she went back and forth to set a plate down in front of Roan, Legend, and then Arsenio, accompanying each one with a kiss on the cheek. “Here you are, baby.”
She returned for the last plate, and narrowed on Cairo. She approached fast, raising him half out of his seat. “Here.” The plate went flying, crashing on the table and tipping half the contents on his lap. “Choke on it.”
He chuckled with a bit of egg decorating his nose. “Thanks ever so, sweetie.”
A fierce growl was her reply. Ivy went into the kitchen and finally dumped the knife in the sink. We didn’t resume conversation until she stomped up the stairs.
“We’ve lapsed on our pet’s training,” Cairo said, brushing off his pants. He wisely pushed his plate aside. “Jacques, we’ve got one day left. You said you’d have something by now. Who’s in the Black Letter Crew?”