Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
My blood runs hot, sweat and dirt coating my face and my body, the cool rain soothing my burning skin.
He presses his forehead into the dirt, breathing hard and spent.
I drop my head onto his shoulder.
This is what I wanted when I came over here. To be exhausted and alive and far away from everything that makes me feel nothing.
This is what I wanted to do to him when he got in my face today at my house.
“Everyone out!” someone shouts from the house.
I lift my head, seeing the lights of his place through the trees. He stays on the ground, his chest rising and falling under me.
“They never come over here without a plan,” a voice I can only assume is Macon Jaeger bellows. “But you don’t listen! They had those cops waiting!”
I drop my eyes to Dallas, seeing he hasn’t moved.
“I’m dying for the day you all become a little less useless!”
Dallas lies there as his oldest brother rages thirty yards away, and I guess it’s not a party at home for him, either.
“I got one of those at my house, too,” I tell him, calming.
He turns his head, and I see his left eye. “Mine doesn’t leer at my sister,” he snaps. “He’s a hundred times the man your father is.”
I lean into his ear. “And yet,” I whisper, “mine pays yours.”
He turns over underneath me and rolls us over, his eyes on fire like he’s ready to hit me.
But he settles between my legs.
With his hands at each side of my head as he stares down at me, neither of us hurts each other or hurries away.
My lips burn, like fighting the tug of a hook. “What other services do you sell?” I whisper.
He opens his mouth, and I catch it as it comes for me, groaning as he presses his body to mine and kisses me.
“Fuck,” I grunt.
Goddammit.
He thrusts, and I tilt my head back as he bites and sucks on my neck.
My cock is as hard as a rock. “You fucking little prick,” he pants, unfastening my jeans.
And before I can even remember where we are or how I should stop this, I’m in his mouth and gripping his hair in my fist.
8
Dallas
“A midnight curfew,” Army says as if he still can’t believe it. “Every night.”
“A midnight curfew,” I add, “that I’m sure doesn’t really apply to anyone actually living in St. Carmen!”
It’s us. Callum and his cronies finally have the chance to fuck with us while the adults are away.
“Is this even legal?” Trace bursts out.
“What happens if we break it?” Iron chimes in over the conference call as we all huddle in our vehicles. “We’re not kids out causing trouble.”
I laugh, along with one of my other brothers, because yeah, we’re breaking the law here.
Rain pummels the windows, and I lie there, texting Aracely for her to warn people not to leave the Bay tonight. They got the text alerts, I’m sure, but she needs to handle things while we’re stuck here.
Iron sighs. “Army, how did you not know about this?”
“Because they didn’t tell me.”
“Why?” Trace asks.
“Because they didn’t want him telling us,” Macon finally speaks up. “This is a Sanoa Bay curfew.”
Exactly. They want our residents here for work and nothing else.
Did they account for the fact that some of our people work late, in restaurants and bars? There are a few who are nannies and might be babysitting late. Not to mention the hotel maids who need to be in at 5:00 a.m., the road crews an hour earlier than that, and the hospital staff who are on call.
And then it all hits me. The powers that be are aware of all of that.
They’re not trying to limit us. They’re trying to hurt us. If people can’t work, they’ll leave. I squeeze my fingers around my phone.
“All right.” Trace heaves a breath. “We can make it back across the canal. Army, you go first, let us know the coast is clear, and we’ll just park the liquor at the drive-in while we figure out what to do.”
I shake my head. “I say we go.”
“What?”
I sit up, pulling off the hat and raking my hand over my sweaty scalp. “If we get stopped, we’ll just tell them we’re dropping inventory at the bar and didn’t know about the curfew,” I tell my brothers, “but we’ll be sure to get back home right away.”
“And when they want to search the trucks and find enough liquor to supply a cruise ship on spring break?” Army retorts.
Followed by Trace: “And when they want to see a purchase order for all the bottles?”
…the bottles we bought illegally.
I start the engine. “Officer Jaeger will tell them he’s escorting us home himself,” I explain. “They gonna challenge another cop to his face? What the fuck do we have him for?”