Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
That was another thing he knew far too well.
It was also much more useful.
"Tough break, kid," he told her because the situation warranted it. He didn't have a lot of sympathy to spare, but he could offer her a small drop of it, he figured. "Go home to your biker daddy and your aunt. You got no business here."
"I need your help."
"I've never been accused of being altruistic, kid."
"I don't need, you know, money or anything."
"What do you think you need then?"
"I need you to train me to be like you."
"You can't," he declared, tone hollow.
"Well, I know I can't be as strong as you. But you can teach me to be as good. Even without your strength, with your training, I could still best most men."
"Your aunt can train you," he insisted.
"My aunt has trained me. And her men. And my father's men. And my other aunts. They've all trained me since I was little. And I barely held my own. Barely."
"You're out now," he said, shrugging. The chances of escaping traffickers then getting taken again were slim.
"That's not why I need you to train me. I need... I need to be able to hold my own against men like the ones that kept me in a basement."
"Why?"
Ferryn
"Because... because I have a mission," Ferryn insisted, finding the words clumsy on her tongue, silly to her ears. What person spoke like that? Military guys had missions, not girls like her.
"Mission?" Holden repeated, and much to her relief, he didn't seem amused or even dismissive. If anything, she was pretty sure he seemed almost a little... interested. For the first time since she opened her mouth.
"Yeah, a mission. To help girls. Girls who found themselves in basements like me. But couldn't get themselves away. I want to help them. And I want to make the men who did it to them pay."
"Pay," he repeated, seeming to chew on the word, like he found it thick, meaty, something that needed some gnashing before he could choke it down. "With their lives?" he asked.
"Yes," Ferryn agreed, feeling her chin lift a bit, daring him to tell her she couldn't.
"Takes something from you to take a life."
"I've taken a life," she volunteered, meeting his eyes, finding the courage to hold his gaze unflinchingly.
In doing so, she thought he maybe saw something there, something he saw in himself as well, something that started to sway him in her favor.
"You feel bad about it?"
"No."
"See it when you close your eyes?"
"Yeah. But it was the only way. It had to happen. The world is better off this way."
"Why not have your family train you?"
"Because they wouldn't let me do this. And they can't train me hard enough."
"You ran away?"
"Yes."
"So you're serious."
"I am very serious."
"This mission is important?"
"This mission is everything."
Holden sucked his cheek in between his teeth, biting down, trying to find some mental clarity through the pinch of pain.
There was passion in this girl.
Passion was something utterly devoid in his life. It was something meant for other people. He knew better than to desire it for himself.
Yet there was no denying that he was finding himself swayed by hers, intrigued by the possibility of being involved with passion in an indirect kind of way.
He was also all for those who made a life of striking down those who otherwise would get away with their crimes.
He had his doubts that someone like this tiny girl with the determined chin could pull it off.
There was no way to know for sure unless he tried her out.
That came with its own risks, though. Ones he would have to make her aware of.
"I would hurt you. A lot."
"I can take it."
"I'm dangerous," he told her, though he knew that it was much deeper than that.
"So am I."
"I will break you down."
"I will put myself back together."
She knew she had him right then.
The tiniest twitch pulled at the corner of his lips. Not a smile. Surely, he was not a man inclined to smiling. But a hint of amusement. It was the first he'd shown her even the slightest emotion.
So she knew she had him.
For better or worse.
"That all you own?" he asked a few moments later, leading Ferryn through the woods, away from the small main house, something that made her brows knit, but she was too far gone now to go back, to question him.
"Yes. I didn't... I couldn't go home after."
"Won't need much," he told her, shrugging it off.
It was hard to imagine she wouldn't need more than what she was carrying, she a girl who had a bursting closet and a giant book collection. That wasn't even mentioning her makeup and skincare products.
"No one to impress here."
Ferryn figured that was fair enough as a small, well, garage came into view. There wasn't much to mention save for the large metal door and the moss flecked white shake siding.