Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“Yes, sir.”
We filed out of the house and into Aubin’s truck. We hightailed it the twenty miles to the rodeo. By the time we got there it was late afternoon. As soon as I saw the stadium come into view, my stomach turned.
“You’ll be good,” Aubin reassured me, reading my mind. He put his hand on my leg. “Calm down.” He’d become good at that. Knowing when I was starting to stress out. Stress and anger were the two biggest triggers for my seizures.
I took in a deep breath and then let it out. Twenty minutes later we’d parked up and were heading inside. My heart pounded in my chest as we walked through the crowd. I was waiting for the shit I’d get from these people, but it never came. We got a soda and a hot dog and watched the saddle broncs.
“There’s Lucious,” Aubin said. He pointed to a guy who was up next to ride. “Trained with him. We’ll go say hi to him in the stalls afterward.” Lucious got a good enough time to go through to day two, but he wasn’t at the top of the leaderboard.
I followed Aubin around the back of the stalls. It was quiet back here; most people were watching the main show. We’d barely made it into the empty stalls when we heard, “You have to be shitting me.”
I snapped my head to my right, and dread immediately filled my every bone when I saw Jase and all the rest of Aubin’s old friends walking toward us. Aubin pushed past me, keeping me behind him.
“Get the fuck on, Jase,” Aubin warned. I pushed Aubin’s arm away and stood right beside him. If trouble went down, I’d be right by his side.
Jase laughed. “You a coon-lover now, Aubin? I heard the rumors. Fuck, you fell off the rodeo scene in a flash. But I never expected the rumors to be true.” Jase pointed down to Aubin’s tattoo. “Mongrels weren’t your bag a few months ago.”
“Yeah, well, things change.”
Jase pointed right at my face. “You almost got us into deep shit.” He gestured to the others standing around him. “Tried to sell us out to the cops.” He shook his head. “Bad move, half-breed.”
I began to shake, the anger taking hold. Jase stepped forward, his three cronies following behind, and I ran at the asshole. I threw my fist into his face. Aubin was by my side, fighting too. But four on two was never a good match-up. It wasn’t long before we were on the ground. I glanced at Aub; he was pushing them off his healing face, once again getting battered and bruised.
“Hey!” a voice called out from the back of the stalls. Jase and the others took off at a run.
I stared at the ceiling, the rafters starting to tilt. “Aub,” I croaked, holding out my hand for him. I rolled my tongue in my mouth. “I taste metal.”
“Aubin Breaux? Is that you?”
I blinked, coming around. I was on some kind of seat. I looked around me but didn’t recognize my surroundings. I could hear low voices. I tried to move my arm, but I ached.
I managed to roll my head to look to the side. I saw stars and the moon. Night surrounded us. I blinked and blinked again, until I saw Aubin. A guy was next to him . . . a brown-haired guy.
Lucious? The one we watched on the bronc.
Aubin’s face filled my view. “Hey, Val. You feeling better?”
My mouth was dry. Aub helped me sit up and handed me a bottle of water. I downed it in one, then gasped for breath. I felt weak. One look at Aubin’s face made me remember the fight.
I ran a hand down my face. “What time is it?”
“Eight p.m.,” he replied. “You came around a little afterward, but then fell back to sleep. Lucious helped me get you back here to rest.”
I looked around. I was in an RV. “I gotta get home.” I tried to get off the couch. Aubin helped me up, and we walked to his truck. “My cell?” I asked.
“Smashed in the fight.”
“Shit. My folks will be worried.”
“They’ll understand.” And I knew they would. Nobody understood better than them the shit that had been poured our way since we came to that little fucking town where I’d been a target ever since I showed my “half-breed” face.
We were silent as we rode home. What the fuck was there to say? I couldn’t wait to leave this place. When we were only a mile or so away from my house, Aubin narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s that?”
I dragged my tired eyes to look out the windshield. An orange glow shone from behind some high trees. The trees that surrounded my home. My stomach plummeted, taking my heart with it and shattering it on the ground when I saw thick smoke rising above the treetops.