Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
I’d been the fool to go and let hope spark like sunshine in my mind.
Warmth to my life.
I tapped my brakes.
Fucker drifted into the other lane, and he gunned it, coming up to my side before he slammed back on his brakes and whipped back behind me.
“Shit.” My heart sped.
Violence whispered in my ear. I tried to stuff it down.
Focus.
Whoever this piece of shit was, he was here for me.
No question about it.
It wasn’t too hard to guess who wasn’t my biggest fan right about then.
Had known when I’d knocked the bastard out there’d likely be retribution to pay, but I’d gladly pay it a thousand times if it got Tessa safely out of that house.
If it showed her that she had someone there fighting for her, too.
Wanted her to know she wasn’t alone, and she didn’t have to stay there and take his bullshit anymore.
I just didn’t know how far he would push it or the lengths he would go.
No question that the dickhead was slime. Hell, he was the sludge at the bottom of the barrel.
All shiny and pretty on the outside, completely foul on the inside.
I increased my speed, taking the next curve fast, my old truck roaring in the night. The dashed line in the middle of the road blurred into one stripe as the forest swished by on either side.
He accelerated. The glare of his headlights became blinding.
My entire body jolted forward when he knocked into my fender, hard enough for the impact to rattle through the truck, but not enough to send me into a tailspin.
Violence throbbed and pulsed, boiling up from the chasm where I tried to keep it contained. Where it seethed and swelled and festered and became something every bit as disgusting as the dickhead eating up my tail.
My heart thundered as I struggled to keep my mind clear.
He rammed me again. Harder this time. Enough that the back of my truck swerved with the impact.
And there was nothing I could do.
Aggression broke free of the barriers, jumping into my veins like a mask. A cloak of violence that couldn’t be contained.
Slamming on my brakes, I skidded off to the side of the road, though there wasn’t enough room to get my truck completely off. I braced myself because he was so close I knew there was no chance that he could stop himself.
He crashed into me hard.
Metal screeched and tore, and my truck was forced forward, both of our tires squealing as we came to a shuddering stop.
I didn’t hesitate.
Didn’t think.
I was out of my truck and striding toward the blacked-out SUV that had careened to a stop sideways about ten feet behind me.
I only paused long enough to dip my hand into the bed of my truck so I could grab the bat I kept bungeed to the side.
I stormed that way, lifting it and smashing it into his windshield.
Asshole was going to learn fast he’d fucked with the wrong person. He didn’t have the first clue who he was dealing with.
Because I felt myself slip over the edge.
Control gone.
Tripping me back to the place where there was only violence and brutality.
Where vengeance meant survival.
Where savagery meant you had another day.
Darkness enclosed like a heavy blanket. The glare of the vehicles’ headlights that speared at odd directions was the only glow that broke the night, so there was no making anything out, thanks to the broken windshield and the tinted glass.
“Come on, motherfucker.” I drew the bat down on his hood. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Both front doors plus the back driver’s side opened, and three men climbed out.
Masked and wielding pipes.
Menace in their stance and bloodlust in their bones.
“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath.
Wasn’t like I had never been outnumbered before. On the receiving end of a match that hadn’t been stacked in my favor.
Maybe I was the fool who’d thought this prick would come alone, that he’d stand up and fight his own battles.
Clearly not the case. Should’ve anticipated he was a straight-up pussy.
I went for the driver, swinging my bat wide the second he cleared the door. He dodged it, but he went to my right just like I knew he would. I threw a punch that direction, clocking him in the jaw.
He stumbled left and slammed into the opened door of the SUV.
The fucker behind him came at me. He swung his rod.
I jumped back as the metal whizzed through the air, the end of it missing me by an inch.
He kept swinging, forcing me back, while the third came around the front of the SUV to box me in.
Before I could get around to head him off, the guy behind me swung.
His rod cracked across the middle of my back.
Pain splintered down my spine, fracturing out like a web of agony.
A guttural roar ripped up my mouth.