Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
“I’m here to collect Jody Nunn’s stuff and last check.”
Rico laughs, and after a half a beat, so does his bodyguard. “Who are you to ask me for anything, punk? Get the hell out of my office.”
I sigh again, this time audibly, and unzip my windbreaker.
Rico’s eyebrows go up. “Oh, you want to strip for me? I’m not into that, but do your worst.”
“Let’s just get this over with.” I wrap my jacket around my arm and gesture for the guard.
“Now this is a show.” Rico leans back, shoving his hands into his belt.
I let the big guy get in a punch to test his power. He rocks me back on my heels. I shake my head to clear the fogginess and step back. This won’t be easy. I wait for him to attack again so I can see where his weaknesses are, but he seems to be judging me in return. Too late, I hear the door behind me open and realize my opponent maneuvered me into a bad place. I’ve fought too long with a partner watching my six. I curse under my breath and drop down onto one leg, sweeping my other one out to catch the bodyguard’s ankles. He sways, and I lunge forward, driving him into the wall behind him, but the other man catches me on the shoulder with something hard and metallic. I turn my head and see the fat end of a baseball bat swinging right toward my face. I throw up an arm and then—blackness.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
ANDY
“Andy,” Josie whispers my name loudly as she drops into the seat next to mine. I check the time because school is almost out.
“Hey,” I respond.
Josie and I have done all of high school together. We don’t talk a ton, but if we share a class, we’ll often sit by the other, and we always pick each other for any group projects. I know she’ll do her share. It can be hard to make and keep close friends when all you do is work and study. I keep my head down for the most part, trying to get out of here as soon as possible.
“Have you seen Cole?” Josie always has random-ass questions that never, to me, feel like they have rhyme or reason to them. She also does the school blog, which I’m not sure anyone really reads, but it allows her to express herself and do her reporter type thing. She is always writing stuff down in her notebook.
“Which one? Basketball team or glasses?”
“Basketball.”
"I don't recall, honestly." I'm not paying attention to who all is around. I’m here to learn, and I have enough going on in my own life. I'm guessing after graduation I won't see most of these people.
"What about Johnny?"
"Didn't he drop out?"
"He just, poof." Josie makes a dramatic explosion with her hand. "Gone."
"So a magician got him?"
Josie snorts a laugh. "Wait, that's not funny." She changes her expression over to serious, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Or he was killed." Josie whispers the last part.
"Dun, dun, duuun!" Josie slips, cracking a partial smile at my teasing sound effect.
"All right, let's be serious."
"If we're being serious, it's likely he joined a gang or got into drugs."
"See, that's what people just assume around here. No one really takes a closer gander."
"Gander?" I shake my head. Josie always has a strange way of wording things.
“You really haven’t noticed?”
“I’m sorry, I haven’t, but I do understand what you’re getting at.” If people are missing around here, no one gives a shit.
“You’ve been hanging out with one of the Riders, right?” Whoa, where did she get that information? I shouldn’t be surprised. She makes it her business to know things.
“What makes you say that?”
“I saw him outside the school one day waiting for you. Got the tattoos.” I hadn’t paid much attention to what the tattoos meant before Niki. I’d seen them around but ignored it, thinking if I left it alone, it would leave me alone. Which worked until I went and bought those drugs for my mom, which is turning out to not have been a bad thing.
“I’m with him, but I’m not talking about him with you.” Clearly, Josie pays attention to a lot more than I do, and I’m guessing a lot of it is in that notebook of hers.
“I have no problems with the Riders. In fact, they keep things cleaned up better than the police.”
“Then why are you asking about my man?”
“Your man?” Josie wiggles her brows.
“Josie, get to the point here; class is almost over, and I’ve got shit to do.”
“Could you ask him if people are coming up missing? If he’s noticed anything?”
“Can I think about it?”
“Yes! I’ll take that.” Josie nods vehemently.
I’m going to ask Niki, but I’m not sure I’ll tell Josie his response without clearing it with him. The thing is, the two people she mentioned are missing. I wouldn’t have guessed they would fall in with a gang or drugs, but I also never would have imagined I would buy drugs, so these things happen.