Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
She looks away, and I reach up, grabbing her chin. “Eyes, Charlie.”
She hesitantly looks back.
“Not your fuckin’ fault. You went to the cops. You got your father locked up. You did the best you could in a situation where you were surrounded by big fuckin’ brick walls.”
“But, after he got locked up, I forgot about her, Koda. For a while, I forgot. What kind of monster does that make me? I’m not different to him. I should have kept looking ... I should have ...”
“Should haves ain’t goin’ to get you anywhere, Charlie. You and I both know it. I should have done a fuckin’ lot of things, too. But I didn’t, and life is the way it is now because of that. Don’t let guilt eat you alive. Trust me. Help Slater, get involved if you need, find Ellie. But do not fuckin’ live blamin’ yourself. You understand me?” She opens her mouth to argue, but I snap out, “Do you fuckin’ understand me?”
Her mouth snaps shut, and she nods.
“Good girl.”
She stares up at me. “Anyone ever told you that you’re a complete dick sometimes?”
I grin at her, and her face breaks out in one, too.
“All the fuckin’ time, babe.”
Her cheeks flush.
“I like it when you call me that.”
I grin at her. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Know what I like?”
She rolls her eyes. “If you say sex, I swear ...”
“Like the way your fuckin’ smile hits me right in the heart.”
Her smile is wiped clean from her face and replaced with a soft expression. “You do?”
I nod.
“Well, that’s good.” She smiles softly, the warmest I’ve seen from her. “Because I like the way your smile hits me right in the heart, too.”
And just like that.
We’re both fucked.
~*~*~*~
THEN – KODA
I spit blood on the floor and glare up at the man in front of me. Easily six feet tall, scowling expression, dark hair and blue eyes, big motherfucker. And he’s getting a fuck load of satisfaction kicking the shit out of me. Two days they’ve been kicking the shit out of me. Beating me. Torturing me. Fucking me over in any way they can. But I won’t break. Fuckers will have to kill me damned slowly before I ever tell them where Braxton is.
“Think you’re tough, little boy,” the man taunts. “You’re not tough. We’re only just getting warmed up here.”
I grin at him, teeth bloodied. “Can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store.”
Frustration bubbles in his chest and his boot connects with my jaw, sending me stumbling backward into the wall, smashing against the bricks. Pain radiates through my body, and I find it hard to breathe, fuck, I find it hard to do anything. But I don’t make a sound. Not a grunt. Nothing. My ribs are broken, my arm, and I have a fuck load of internal injuries inside me. I can feel them.
No doubt I’ll die here.
Fine by me.
So long as Braxton finds a way out.
Fuck, I hope he finds a way out.
The big man strides toward me just as the door opens and Shanks steps in. “Enough, Lorenzo. I have a surprise for our boy Dakoda here.”
I look over to the man I now despise and spit blood in his direction. He grins at me, raises a hand, and clicks his fingers. Two men appear, Braxton in between them. For a single fucking moment, my heart stops beating. I want to bellow and wake up from this fucking nightmare, but I can’t. I can’t fucking stop what’s happening right in front of me. My stomach twists with a sick feeling, and my fists clench, broken or not.
“Say hello to your brother, Dakoda. Turns out, he wasn’t that hard to find after all.”
No.
Fucking no.
“He was stupid enough to let himself out of the rehab center he was hiding out in when you hadn’t showed up with your little plan of running away. It didn’t take us long to find him. What a wonderful ending, don’t you think?”
“Go to fuckin’ hell,” I spit.
“Oh, I’m going. But not before I take him down for crossing me.”
They throw Braxton onto the ground and he rolls a few times. He’s beaten, battered, and bruised. I notice he’s missing two fingers on his left hand. They’ve had him, and they’ve tortured him. It must not have taken him long to come after me when he realized I didn’t show. Stupid fucking idiot. He should have stayed where he was safe.
“Why did you come out?” I hiss at him. “Fuckin’ why, Brax?”
He looks at me, with bloodshot eyes and a fucked-up face. “Because you’re my brother, Dakoda. I was never goin’ to fuckin’ let them have you. That’s what brothers do.”
“Aw.” Shanks laughs. “How sentimental. You know, I’ve thought long and hard about this. I’ve thought, maybe I’ll kill you both, but that just wouldn’t scratch my itch, you know what I’m saying?”