Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“Not well enough. The dirt was soft, one of the bags had broken, and there was some white powder on the ground. It didn’t take Hawk and me long to dig it up and figure out what it was.”
Eagle leaps to his feet.. “Jesus, Falcon. This is great news! I need that stuff, man. I need to give it back or they’re going to fucking kill me.”
Jesus Christ. Hawk and I did what we thought was right. How were we to know our little brother was involved?
“Where’d you stash it? All I need is the stuff. Then they’ll get the hell off my back.”
“I don’t have it, E.”
His face goes pale, his jaw drops, and his eyes seem even more sunken than they did before.
“What the fuck?”
“All Hawk and I knew was there were illegal drugs on our property. So we did what anyone would’ve done. We destroyed it.”
Eagle paces around my bed, and this time his whole body trembles. “Christ, Falcon. They’re going to kill me.”
My brotherly protective instincts kick in big time.. “Slow down, slow down. I will never let anyone hurt you.”
“You don’t understand these people, man. They’re bad news.”
“Uh…yeah, they’re bad news. They’re fucking drug dealers, Eagle. Not Sunday school teachers.”
Eagle leans down and grabs me by my collar. “You just signed my death certificate, brother.”
I stand and break Eagle’s hold, grabbing his arms. Fuck it all. They’re skinny. I force him to sit down on the bed. “You shut the fuck up. And you listen to me and you listen good. No one is going to harm you. I will die before I let that happen. But damn you, Eagle. Damn you for putting me in this position. Damn you for putting Hawk in this position. What the hell did you think we would do? We found drugs on our property. If the cops had found it before we did, our whole family would be in trouble. Is that what you wanted?”
Eagle’s face falls into his hands. “No. I didn’t want any of this. I just…”
I yank him up by his hair, forcing him to look at me. “You just wanted to get fucking high. It’s a damned good thing Mom and Dad cut you off.”
Then I rethink those words that just came out of my mouth. If Mom and Dad hadn’t cut him off, he wouldn’t be in this dilemma.
But I can’t think that way.
We grew up on a ranch, working hard. Sure, Mom and Dad have a drink every now and then. So do I. But no one ever touches the hard stuff. That was drilled into our heads from day one.
Seems my youngest brother was the only one who didn’t get it.
Still… The thought of him being in danger gets my protective instincts boiling.
“I fucked up, Fal. I don’t know what else to say.”
I sit down next to him on my bed. “Settle down. How much were those drugs worth?”
“How the hell should I know?”
“Can you find out?”
“I don’t know. They’ve given me forty-eight hours to produce the product.”
For a moment, I think about bagging up some powdered sugar, but this isn’t a damned cartoon.
This is real life.
“Will they take cash instead?”
“I don’t know.”
“You need to find out. And you need to find out how much.”
“You’d give it to me?”
“Yeah, I’ll give it to you. I’ll charge you twenty-five percent interest, and the day you turn twenty-one, you’ll pay me back.”
His jaw drops. “Twenty-five percent? That’s extortion.”
“Talk to Robin and Raven then. Maybe one of them will give you a better deal. Hawk doesn’t have access to his yet.”
He closes his mouth.
“Yeah, I thought you wouldn’t have an argument. You expect to get out of this scot-free? Hell no. You did something really stupid, Eagle. It was bad enough to get involved with drugs. Then to start selling them?”
“That part wasn’t my fault, I—”
I let out a loud scoff. “You really want to go there? Not your fault? Do you hear yourself? Mom and Dad were right to cut you off.”
“No.” He shakes his head and stands.. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what the fuck do you mean?”
“It’s not my fault that Vega found out who I was, that I had land on the border.”
“Last I checked, this isn’t your land. It’s Mom and Dad’s.”
“For fuck’s sake, Falcon, you know what I mean.”
“You watch your tone.”
He trembles then, and his legs give out as he falls to the ground.
Man, he really is in a bad way.
I help him to his feet, a wave of brotherly love enveloping me. How could he be so stupid?
And how could I have not seen this coming?
I’ve been here every summer, working the ranch.
Except for last summer. Leif and I backpacked through Europe.
Hawk was here.
No…Hawk wasn’t here. He left for college early for his football scholarship.
But Robin and Raven…