Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 173392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 867(@200wpm)___ 694(@250wpm)___ 578(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 173392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 867(@200wpm)___ 694(@250wpm)___ 578(@300wpm)
He’s gone, and I pause. That might be the last time the kids ever see him.
Did he say goodbye?
Knowing him, probably not. He assumes he’ll be back once she straightens her shit out. He’s been with Paisleigh since she was two.
“Krisjen!” Paisleigh exclaims, and I turn to see my sister dragging a plastic dinosaur on a leash. “Can we watch a movie?”
Mars is behind her, strolling from the kitchen to the stairs.
“Pack an overnight bag,” I call out, loud enough for them both to hear.
Mars pulls off his headphones. “Huh?”
I take Paisleigh’s hand. “Pack a bag.”
“Why?”
“We’re going for a sleepover with the Jaegers,” I sing, looking down at my sister.
She gasps, beaming.
My brother twists up his lips, because he wants to go, but he persists in acting like everything about me is annoying.
“Let’s go!” I start running up the stairs with the kids. “Leaving in ten minutes!”
They start tossing everything they could possibly ever need into a bag as I dial Army.
He answers on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Can you come and get me?”
He pauses only a moment. “Where are you?”
“I’m home. I’ll explain later.”
“Are you okay?”
“No, I’m waiting,” I retort. “Hurry.”
I hang up, grab a few things myself, and hear a honk outside in less than ten minutes. They must’ve been working this side of the tracks.
“Let’s go!” I yell to the kids.
Mars and Paisleigh spill down the stairs with their gear, and I swing a duffel over my shoulder and pull out a baseball bat from the foyer closet as they pile outside.
I throw my bag and theirs into the back of the truck and open the back door, pushing them in next to Trace.
“What’s the bat for?” Army looks over the front seat to me.
“It’s a surprise.”
I open the front passenger-side front door and haul myself up, forcing Dallas over.
“Gimme a break,” he growls.
“Take Lamplight Glen,” I tell Army.
I see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye, but I crank up the radio as a song I like comes on.
Shifting into gear, he hits the gas, and I fist the bat as he speeds out of my driveway, takes a right, and jumps onto Lamplight Glen. My palms sweat, but I turn up the music more, and even Dallas just stares at me like he’s not sure I won’t kill him if he touches the dial.
“Take another right,” I order.
Army cuts a sharp turn, and I hear the tires skid as he charges onto Barony Lane.
“Stop,” I tell him.
“Wha—”
“Stop right here!” I yell.
He hits the brakes next to a silver Bentley Continental parked in front of a quaint, Spanish-style brick cottage, a beautiful little piece of heaven made for two.
I hop out.
“What are you doing?” Army shouts.
The music pumps, the night air blows through the palms overhead, and I swing the bat back, bringing it down hard onto the driver’s side window. It smashes through, the glass shattering, and I hear a bunch of swearing go off inside the truck.
“Oh, son of a bitch,” says one.
“We’re going to jail.”
“Krisjen!”
I grind my fists into the handle of the bat and throw my arms behind my head one more time before swinging hard, crashing the end through the windshield.
Whipping around, I climb back into the truck, everyone staring at me.
Trace speaks first. “Was that …?”
“Mm-hm,” I reply.
“Why did you do that?” Paisleigh asks.
I flip the visor down, forcing my breathing to even out as I check the lipstick I don’t actually have on. “A friend locked their keys inside. I was helping them get in.”
And I flip the visor back up.
“That was Dad’s car,” Mars says.
“Looked just like it, didn’t it?”
Army snorts, drives off, and I see Dallas shake his head. Trace starts laughing, and I lean my head out the window, closing my eyes and letting the wind blow through my hair.
“Who wants ice cream?” Trace calls out.
“Me!” Paisleigh cries.
I’m not taking them to my relatives tomorrow. My father can send a cop if he wants to deal with me about his windshield, and my mother can send one, too, if she wants the kids back.
The next morning, I open my eyes, feeling a body next to me. Fog clouds my brain, and I roll over the other way to get room, so I can go back to sleep. It’s too damn hot in here.
But as soon as I move away, I land on another body.
“What the hell?” I breathe out.
Blinking my eyes open, I lift up off the bed and look down, seeing Clay half-underneath me.
She bats her eyelashes. “You were so good.”
The person on my other side laughs, and I turn my head over my shoulder, seeing Liv, smiling wide.
“Y’all …” I climb off Clay, and they both crack up.
I crashed in Liv’s room with Paisleigh, but I don’t see her. I grab my phone, checking the time. It’s only seven. I wipe my eyes. “Shit.”