Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
The alarm warning me someone or something was at the gate pulled me out of it. It could be an animal. They set it off sometimes, but the way the storm picked up inside me, the eye of the hurricane having passed, told me it was something else.
Maybe it was Billy, Chuck, and Hank. They’d never come up the mountain before, never braved my wrath where they didn’t have people around who would always see me as wrong and them as right, but I wanted it to be them. Wanted to be able to deal with them on my turf, to stalk them in these woods I knew so well, because that was how I felt every time I went to town. Stalked.
I pulled up the app on my phone and frowned at the battered car that looked nothing like the jacked-up truck Billy drove. My confusion grew when after a moment, it was the pretty man who got out, the one who wore his sadness like a second skin.
He ran a hand through his short, dark hair. It stuck up slightly in the front and sorta went to one side. The man had delicate bone structure but sharp cheekbones and an angular face. He walked over to the gate, fumbled with the latch, then seemed to realize he couldn’t open it. He looked around at the trees, the ground, the forest, as if trying to figure out another way.
I zoomed in closer. Saw him lick his pretty, plump lips, then rub the back of his neck in a move that said he didn’t know what to do. I’d never seen a mouth like his, bow-shaped and like it had been painted to be perfect. He was smaller than me, only a few inches shorter but much thinner and with less muscle. His cheeks had been pink in the store earlier, highlighting the freckles that danced across the bridge of his nose and along his cheekbones. His hand trembled, and I felt something inside me stir. I wanted him. Wanted to fuck him and possess him, which made me hate him—and hate myself even more.
He paced for a moment, then took a deep breath, went back to his car, and grabbed a backpack and a duffel bag.
Warning bells made my ears ring, my muscles tense, the threat of him in my home, on my grounds, making me edgy. In the beginning, people would try to come up my mountain, try to take photos or break in, wanting what was mine. They couldn’t have it, though. No one could. This was all I had.
I went straight for my gun cabinet, pressed in the code, then pulled out my favorite rifle. I hadn’t been able to protect my mother, but I damn sure would protect what was mine now.
CHAPTER FIVE
Cyrus
I had lost my mind. Traipsing around a fucking mountain with duffel bags of food and ice packs that had probably melted wasn’t the best idea I’d ever come up with. But then, I’d never really been known for my good ideas.
I just…hadn’t had it in me to turn around and go back. I wanted Crow to have his food, wanted him to know kindness, and strangely, I had to be the one to do it. Not that anyone else was jumping at the opportunity, but even if they had, I needed it to be me.
There had to be another way onto his property, right?
The land had been cleared on the other side of the fence, but where I was walking now the trees were dense, casting shadows all around me.
I told myself it would be okay as I watched my cell to make sure I continued to have a signal. I could always use find my car to get back. Plus, so far, I was just following the fence, wondering if it miraculously went on forever. As I kept going, I noticed the trees and brush on the other side of the fence begin to thicken, but the more I walked, the more determined I became. When it came to stupid shit, I never backed down. It was being smart and healthy that had always been more of a challenge for me.
Who would miss me if I was gone? Why did it matter if I took care of myself when there was nothing grounding me to this life?
I shook those thoughts from my head, if only because my mom would have hated them. She might have been the only person to ever love me, but I knew with every fiber of my being that she had, despite how much her demons had weighed on her. The only reason I wanted more was because she’d wanted more for me.
So I continued to pretend I knew what I was doing, that this wasn’t dangerous, that I actually had a chance of getting to Crow.