Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Oh, and get this.” Scottie leaned forward like she was letting me in on a secret. “You’ll never guess, but my school bully is the sister of the same man that didn’t want to tip today.”
A lightbulb went off in my head.
Tony Durant had been married to his wife, Telly. They’d had a son, Taryn Durant, before they’d divorced. Telly was a heartless human being and raised her children to be heartless just like her. And as if the universe wasn’t worse with those two human beings, Telly had married Bob Flores, and they’d produced another asshole, Melody Flores.
I knew their entire life story because I’d asked Apollo, the Truth Tellers MC computer genius, to look into them for me.
He’d researched them and come up with a complete bio on them, right down to the illegal organizations that they dabbled with.
Instead of ruining them like I wanted to, I’d waited for the school year to end to see if things calmed down.
However, hearing that Melody was now going to A&M, and making Scottie reconsider going there, I might have to wade in.
“I’ll handle it,” I responded.
That girl would not be going to the same place my sister was going.
I refused to allow it to happen.
Scottie deserved the world after the life she’d lived.
I would make sure that she was happy, even if I had to bankrupt the asshole and her family to do it.
Seven
May the only tears you shed in 2025 come from gagging on cock.
—Inspirational words of encouragement
SEARCY
The sound of boots on the cracking linoleum outside my door had my heart pounding.
I’d just sat up, and was slinging my legs across the mattress to put them on the floor, when my door burst open and Koda came barreling in.
“Hey,” he spoke tentatively. “I’m about to head out.”
I frowned. “It’s a little late, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “Not really, no.”
I felt my heart squeeze inside my chest. “I’m going to miss you.”
He hit the bed beside me and said, “Still no Mom?”
I rolled my eyes. “She does this a lot.”
“I know,” he sighed. “I wish that it would get better for you, C.”
I wished the same.
But, until all of my siblings were grown, that wouldn’t be in the cards for me.
I patted him on his thigh and said, “Get out of here. Let me know when you get there safely.”
He wrapped one arm around my neck and pulled me in, rubbing his scruffy jaw against the side of my face, knowing damn well and good that all beards made me itch.
“I love you, C.” He stood up and grabbed his massive army green bag off the floor. “I already said bye to the others.”
“How are you getting there?” I asked.
“Called for a ride,” he answered. “Take care of yourself. Don’t let Mom take advantage of you.”
Yeah, right.
We’d been letting Mom take advantage of us since before we could walk.
I watched him go and felt my heart pang for a solid ten minutes before I got back to reality.
Work didn’t wait for anyone.
Not even me and my emotions.
Hopping onto the call with the client, I immersed myself in work.
“What kind of look are you going for with this book cover?” I asked. “I can also reach out to some photographers and get a custom photo, that way you don’t get stuck with a stock photo that anyone can use on the covers of their books.”
The author, a USA Today Bestseller at that, laughed a bit. “I actually was going to ask you about that. The last stock photo I used was awesome…at least I thought. And apparently, another author that writes monster romances thought the same. The only issue was that the author wasn’t very happy that I had the same cover photo on my book and took me to court over it. Funny thing was, the judge dismissed the case before it could even be heard. But she set her monster mobster fans on me, and now every book I release has one-star reviews before the book even comes out.”
“She sounds like a fantastic human being,” I drawled.
“She gets better,” she said. “Last year, she tried to copyright the word ‘alpha’ for her books. She went to the copyright office and applied for the application. Then she goes and starts reporting every book that has the word ‘alpha’ in the title to our biggest retailer. And that retailer starts pulling books down left and right with no warning or even looking into the lady’s copyright ‘infringement.’ So then dozens of authors miss out on nearly two weeks of sales because of this chick. One author in particular had just released her book and missed out on her entire first week of sales. They canceled all of her pre-orders and everything. It was insane. And then the Writer’s League gets involved with their clients and threatens to sue that retailer. The retailer finally puts the books back up. Then the Writer’s League sues that author and she’s forced to cease and desist.”