Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
I managed a nod as he left the room and ignored the voice in my head that was trying to force me to speak the words that would undoubtedly break my brother’s heart.
There was no trust and there never would be. Not for him or anyone else.
Not ever again.
CHAPTER 3
Cass
“Good call, Cass,” I muttered as I tightened my fingers around the steering wheel of my 1969 Mustang Boss 429. I’d bought the car for dirt cheap when I’d been in my mid-teens and had spent years and thousands of dollars lovingly restoring it. Sully and JJ had been at my side throughout it all. Even their father, Sean, had helped us figure out some of the snags we’d run into. I could still remember the day we’d gotten the engine running for the first time. Sully, JJ, and I had packed into the vehicle and taken it for a celebratory drive.
JJ had been around eight or so at the time. His enthusiasm had been infectious, but what I’d most admired about the little boy had been his unwavering belief that we’d get the car restored. There’d been times where it had felt like JJ’s sole purpose had been to make sure I got my dream of having something that was all mine. Something I’d earned through hard work. Not a single penny of Ashby money had been used to pay for the car’s restoration.
I found myself smiling as I remembered his reaction when the car had started for the first time. JJ had been the one who’d turned the key and then he’d been high-fiving the rest of us over the roar of the engine.
The amusing memory quickly morphed into the last one I’d had of JJ. Even now I could taste the terror as I’d watched and felt the blood—his blood—slide down my bare forearm and hand as I’d cradled him against my chest.
“Fuck,” I snapped as I forced my eyes open.
I needed to remember when I’d needed to see JJ one more time before I’d been locked up. The time when he hadn’t been there.
I welcomed the sudden return of hatred along with the bitter sting of betrayal. It was enough to get my thoughts back on track and off the man who’d turned his back on me. I glanced at the interior of the car. It gleamed just like it had the last day I’d been behind the wheel.
When I’d gone to prison, I’d assumed I’d never see the car again. I’d figured my father would have had it in the crush pit at a junkyard before the ink on the official verdict documents had even dried. Thankfully, Sully had gotten to the car first. It was among the personal possessions he’d used to bribe me for five minutes of my time. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Sully would save the car for me, let alone do what he’d done to get me out of prison. The whole thing was bittersweet because I couldn’t make sense of why he’d left me behind bars for so long if he’d believed all along that I hadn’t been the one who’d shot JJ.
During my original trial, on the few days Sully had been in court, he hadn’t been sitting on my side of the room. He’d never once looked at me, he hadn’t testified on my behalf, and he’d never spoken a single word to me from the moment I’d been arrested.
A little over a week ago, my future had been on hold as the attorney Sully had hired for my appeal had made his case to a judge. Now I was sitting in my beloved car doing the one thing my friend had asked in return for everything he’d done for me. The second Sully had said the job was to shadow his younger brother, my most secret hope that things would somehow go back to the way they’d been before that night had been obliterated. Sully hadn’t mentioned any particular threat against JJ, but he’d also been stingy with the details as to why he’d wanted someone keeping an eye on his younger brother. He’d been even more secretive about why it had to be me.
I reminded myself that none of it mattered because I was repaying a debt and nothing more. After I did this job for Sully, I was gone. Los Angeles would be in my rearview mirror, and I’d disappear. Cassius Ashby IV would be nothing but dust under my tires.
Problem with my new debt was that I’d simply traded one prison for another.
JJ.
“Fuck,” I snapped.
I’d been shadowing JJ for a week now and every second of it had been the cruelest form of torture. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the man who’d turned his back on me when I’d needed him most, but I also couldn’t take my eyes off of him.