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)
“What about Dex?” I scream back.
But I’m out the door, being pushed down the steps even as I dig in my heels.
He’ll stop them. He’ll call them off in a second. He’s never kicked me out of the house before.
“Stop, please,” she says to the police. Then she calls back to Macon, “Are you serious?”
But he says nothing.
He doesn’t stop them. I lock my molars together. “Son of a bitch …” I bite out.
Trace comes running to my side. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Take care of Dex!” is all I shout.
Dallas appears. “Army?”
Macon will tell them to stop. He wouldn’t do this.
But Chavez shoves my head down. “Get in the car or I’ll keep you for longer for fighting me.”
Trace runs for the house. “Macon!”
I land on the seat, still gripping the door. I look at Dallas. “Take care of the kids.”
“Don’t worry,” he says.
He pinches his brows together. I’ve never seen Dallas worried. He looks six years old.
Marquis shoves Krisjen, but she shoots out her hands, stopping and flipping around. “I’m not going anywhere!”
“Now!” he shouts.
“Screw you.”
In half a second, she’s twisted back around, her wrists are being cuffed, and she’s stuffed into the car, locked to the handle above the door.
“What?” She yanks at the cuffs over her head. “No!”
“Feel free to tell your grandpa.” He pushes her legs inside. “He’ll thank us.”
He slams the door, both cops climb in the car, and I run my hand through my hair as I stare at the road ahead.
I won’t give Macon the satisfaction of seeing me waiting for him to save me. Fuck him to hell and back.
They drive off, taking us away on absolutely no charge or authority other than my brother, who I never thought would use his power against me.
“What just happened?” Krisjen lets out a sob.
I sniff, smelling the blood in my nostrils. “Oh, didn’t you know, Krisjen? Swamp has cops on the payroll, too.”
And I kick Chavez’s seat as he drives.
He eyes me through the rearview mirror. “You shut up. We’re doing you a favor, man. We’re not getting you away for his sake but for your own. Let him cool off.”
Except he wasn’t going to kill me.
’Course, I didn’t think he’d have me thrown in jail, either. Seems I don’t know my brother as well as I thought.
Chavez was born in St. Carmen, and every time I see him over here, he has a phone in his fist. Full of all the information he’s gathered for my brother.
The younger one in the passenger seat, Johnston Marquis, grew up in the Bay. He looks over his shoulder at me. “Your kid will be fine.”
Krisjen moves forward, pleading through the plastic partition. “I have to get my brother and sister.”
“Just leave ’em, Krisjen,” I blurt out. “They’ll be fine till morning.”
“What do you know?” she fires back. “You’ve always had backup.”
I laugh, sniffling again as I swipe my hand under my nose and pull away blood. “Oh, is that what you call that …”
She’s the fucking oldest. Like Macon.
They have a burden I’ll never know, but they are also a burden they will never understand. Something goes wrong with kids who are forced to parent their siblings. In ten years, she could be blaming Mars and Paisleigh for her shitty life, because … well, everything would’ve been fine if they didn’t exist.
Right?
I mean, we’re the sole reason Macon is a monster, right?
“You do look at him,” I say, my voice soft. “I wasn’t making that up.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I turn my gaze on her. “Was he next?”
She glares ahead, refusing to look at me.
I grab her leg under the knee and pull her toward me. She gasps as I fit my knees between her legs.
She yanks against the cuffs, her fists balled above her. I lean my hand on the door behind her head, hovering over her body. “I don’t see Dex’s mother when I look at you.” I gaze at her, her shirt riding up and her stomach showing. “But when I fuck you, Krisjen, it will be for revenge.”
“Army, man …” I hear Marquis warn.
But he’ll have to pull the car over to stop me.
“She’s a Saint,” I tell Krisjen. “Dex’s mother.”
Her eyes falter just slightly.
“She gave me my son, and then acted like we didn’t exist, because I tainted her clean white sheets and our son was a dirty secret.”
She doesn’t say a word.
“She destroyed me, Krisjen,” I whisper, choking down the shit rising up my throat. “What am I supposed to tell him when he runs into her someday?”
I know the cops are keeping an eye on us, but I don’t think they can hear.
“She didn’t want me. No one fucking wants me. Why?” I blink a few times to get rid of the burn behind my eyes. “She didn’t see me as a man. As strong. Trace and Dallas and Iron don’t fear me, and Macon doesn’t see me at all. Liv doesn’t respect me.”