Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 102136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
The bell rang, ending the session and my standoff with Mr. Benson. I grabbed my stuff and strode out of the door before he could even try to have a heart to heart with me. He’d tried and failed many times before. I didn’t care what anyone at this school had to say about me. I saw how they looked at us: the bikers. The guys all feared us. The bitches wanted to fuck us, but it was all from afar. No one came close. I was glad. I had a family at the club. Or at least I did, until I was thrown out for trying to get revenge for a brother who was slain in cold blood. The kills were fucking just.
I smashed out of the door and headed toward the bleachers. It was lunch and I needed a motherfucking smoke. Tobacco and whiskey were the only things keeping me from climbing the fucking walls on the daily. As the dry grass crunched under my feet, I thought back to AK slamming my door open this morning and dragging me from my bed. “You’re going to school. This shit stops now. You’ll graduate if I have to sit in the fucking classes with you myself.” I snapped my arm back from him, ready to fucking tell him where to go, when Maddie entered the doorway. Her green eyes were so fucking sad. Something was going on with her lately. She was acting weird and she looked sick all the damn time. Flame was fucking falling apart over it. My brother paced all the time, his black eyes were blown and totally fucking psychotic. I should’ve asked him what was up or asked Madds. But I didn’t want to know any of it, couldn’t handle any more bad news. So I stayed the fuck away as much as I could. Got fucked up when I had no choice but to be at home.
Drunk felt a whole lot better than sober. Sober brought memories of Slash taking a slug to his fucking head. Why the fuck would I want to relive that?
“Asher,” Maddie had said, her soft voice never raised, even when I was being a complete dick. Memories from last night flickered in my head like an old black and white movie. My feet were glued to the spot and I recalled her hand on my face… you are loved… you are so very, very loved…
Maddie had stood beside AK, whose arms were folded over his chest. My jaw fucking clenched at the way he was watching me—strict, unmoving, but laced with empathy. I didn’t want pity. I just wanted this damn darkness to go away. “Asher,” Maddie repeated. pulled my gaze away from AK. “Sapphira is starting school today. Your school.” On hearing those words, something fucking insane happened inside my mind, something that hadn’t happened in weeks and weeks. At the sound of her name, at the image that quickly popped into my head, my anger receded for a brief fucking moment. Blond hair and brown eyes flashed in front of my mind’s eye. Pink lips and dimpled cheeks, a barely there smile. I coughed when a fucking dull ache slammed into my chest.
Sapphira. Saffie. The fucking ghost who lived next door. A recluse occupying her house like a damn fairytale princess—though her life had been anything but a fairytale. Like me, she’d been dragged up in hell. No, her life had been a shit ton worse. The most beautiful bitch I’d ever seen was also the most broken.
Saffie hardly ever talked, yet she was starting school? What the fuck? Was she even fucking capable of leaving the damn house?
“You need to be there to watch out for her,” AK said. “You and Zane. I’ve already spoken to him. He knows how big this is for her.” AK was pissed at me. I could see it plain as day and hear it in how he talked. Well, fucking checkmate. I was fucking pissed at the world and every fucker in it.
AK dropped his arms and sighed. “Look, kid. I know you’re going through shit right now. I get it. I’ve gone through something similar. When anger and guilt eats at you like cancer. But Saff is fucking terrified of this school shit. I know she is. Shit, she’s fucking scared of this life shit. Phebe is terrified for her, thinks it’ll fucking break her brain more than it already is. But Saff wants to go. Says she needs to do this. Fuck knows why now, but she’s insisting. Says she needs to fucking face real life head on or some shit, face her biggest fears. No more hiding. Said she needs to just try.”
AK pointed at me. “I need you there to tell any fucker that goes near her to fuck off. You get me? No one even looks at her wrong without you getting in their face. She speaks different, that cult accent all the bitches have will draw attention to her. Kids will be shits about that.” He folded his arms. “But they won’t even blink in her direction if you and Zane make it clear whose family she belongs to. Whose protection she can call on. I’ve made it real fucking clear to the school that she’s watched and protected at all times. That they don’t force her into anything she doesn’t want to do. Speak if she doesn’t want to speak.”