Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 26232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
“It’s Jezzie,” he says, correctly recognizing my annoyance that he’s on his phone. He knows I’d never hassle him for talking to his little sister.
“What’s she up to?” The girl’s been through a lot, and I like hearing that she’s doing well.
He turns the screen my way. “Halloween costumes. She’s embracing her demonic, witchy side,” he says with all the pride of a papa bear serial killer.
Under the heavy skeleton-witch makeup, the woman on the screen bears a vague resemblance to the girl I remember.
“She do that herself?” I ask.
Jiggy nods and takes his phone back, tapping out a reply. “She’s so good with all that shit.”
“Am I the only one who doesn’t give a crap about Halloween?”
“No. Rock, Wrath, Teller, Grinder, and the other members of Dad alley were equally unenthused.”
“That’s not true. Grinder seemed interested…well, as interested as he gets in anything besides Serena.”
Jiggy chuckles. “Those two warm my cold, black heart.” He slides his hand in front of his face. “On the surface, they don’t seem like they belong together but they’re perfect for each other.”
“You feeling okay?” I make a show of pressing the back of my hand to his forehead.
“What?” He shrugs and slaps my hand away. “They’ve both had it rough, so what if I want to see them happy?”
Now I feel like a jackass. “Nah, you’re right.”
“Well, fuck me sideways.” He shoves his hands in his pockets and pulls out an imaginary notepad and pen. “Hang on, let me jot this down. ‘Dear diary, today Rooster admitted I’m right about something.’”
“Hilarious.” I stare at him. “You planning to finish this project or fuck around all day?”
He taps his chin like a jackass contemplating the meaning of life. “Are you sure you’re about to turn thirty and not fifty?”
“Keep digging that grave, brother.” I toss a bundle of outdoor extension cords at his midsection. “I’m gonna shove you in it.”
“Yeah, yeah.” His gaze slides toward the house. “Tell me the truth, did Shelby like it?”
“Once she got over the shock.” I glance at the centerpiece of this Halloween wonderland—the ten-foot skeleton riding the flamingo. “It’s pretty cool, brother. Thanks for thinking of it.” It sure as fuck would never have occurred to me to do this to my lawn.
“Oh! She’s going to love these.” He yanks out a string of lights with little dancing skeletons dangling from them. “They’re for inside, though.”
“You’re welcome to hang them in your place.”
He pulls out his phone again, checks the message, then stares into space for a second.
“You all right?” I ask.
“Yeah. Jezzie says she wants to maybe move to New York and finish school up here.”
“That’d be good. Easier to keep an eye on her. Fuck knows there are plenty of colleges in and around Empire.”
“I’d like having her closer,” he mutters. “I think.”
He finishes another text and puts his phone away. “I’ll just need to keep the single brothers and the support club away from her, that’s all.”
I choke on a laugh. “Cool story. Good luck with that.”
CHAPTER THREE
Zero
Halloween Morning…
Lilly’s brother Alex has to be one of my least favorite people. I can endure anything for a couple of minutes, though. Worst-case scenario—we’re at his house for a couple of hours. No, worst-case would be I punch him in the mouth in front of Lilly and Chance. My love for my family pulses around me like a living, breathing shadow of hostility, always prepared to protect them at any cost.
Focus on the positive. Alex is good to my son. Chance loves his Uncle Alex. According to Lilly, Alex has stopped pestering her about being married to a thug—me. His opinion doesn’t bother me one bit. I am a thug. One who will murder to protect his family. Alex can’t be bothered to open his mouth to stick up for his sister around their parents. My interest in his opinion rests somewhere around zero percent.
I swallow all those thoughts down for Chance’s sake. He’s too little for ugly family history lessons. Today’s supposed to be about fun.
“He knows we’re on the way, right?” I ask, glancing over at Lilly.
She tucks her phone in her purse. “He said any time after ten but I just sent him a text to let him know we’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Good.” Last thing I want to do is wake the grouchy asshole up.
“Thank you for this.” Lilly rests her hand on my thigh. “I know it’s the last thing you feel like doing.”
I can think of a few other activities that rate lower than this—digging a grave, cleaning dog vomit out of the carpet, and dissolving a body in acid all come to mind. That probably won’t give Lilly the warm fuzzies, though. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, I rest the other over hers. “Too bad we didn’t bring Grace, so Alex could get the full effect of their costumes.”