Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
That girl was young. She should be waiting at home for fucking Christmas, enjoying milk and cookies, and surrounded by parents. That is the fucking ideology. Not running on the streets, in the fucking cold, with a black eye, split lip, and clearly a few fucking horror stories.
Crow had a gun, but he didn’t want to use it. No, he wanted to use his fists and his two knives.
Both men looked at each other, and then rushed toward him. They clearly thought together they could take him. They didn’t see where he hid his knives, and he jabbed the two of them as they got close.
That didn’t stop them, and Crow relished it. They didn’t seem to understand the message that they were not going to win today, as they kept coming at him.
Crow didn’t know exactly how long the fight lasted, just that they were dead at the end of it. He was left a little unsatisfied. He would rather they fought a little harder. Then, he remembered the girl. Turning around, she looked at him, and he expected to see fear or something else. Instead, she looked thankful, and she rushed to him, throwing her arms around him. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Any other woman, he’d have pushed away; instead, he placed a hand at her back. “You’re safe now.”
She still shook a little.
“They were going to sell me,” she said. “I’m a virgin, and I’ve been trying to break out for over a week. Please don’t make me go back there.”
Crow cupped her face, looked her in the eye, and knew deep in his gut she wasn’t lying.
“I’m not taking you back there, but I’ve got to ... make you safe. Do you trust me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Damn it, he wanted to scream at her that she shouldn’t trust anyone, but it would seem she already knew that.
“Come on,” he said.
He had a plan, not a very good one, but it would keep her safe.
Chapter One
Five Years Later
Kelley was so excited. This had to be the one that worked.
Pulling the nine-by-thirteen-inch pan out of the oven, she wanted to let out a squeal. This was only batch number gazillion, but that didn’t matter. She was determined to make the perfect brownie.
It had all started a few years ago, when she tried a commercial one, and now she wanted the real deal. Putting the pan on a wire rack, she went back to the oven and turned it off. She had baked a lot.
She was always baking in December, and every year without fail, Crow arrived. He didn’t have to, as he stayed on the road a lot, but he always came by at Christmas, and also on her birthday, which he discovered the first year he got her into this place. It was a small house, not too far from Storm’s Bar. She knew his Prez was with the woman who owned the bar.
She lived in the small town, about a thirty-minute ride away. It was a cute town called Creek. That was it, nothing else, just Creek. When she first came here, she thought it would be filled with horror stories, creeps, and possibly even her death. Nope, it was the loveliest town around.
She didn’t know how Crow did it, but he made it possible for her to finish high school, live alone, and also get a job at the local supermarket, which she happened to love.
A nice, normal, calm life was so much nicer than the life her mother had to offer her, which was filled with drama, and being sold because she hadn’t fucked anyone. Yep, her virginity was very much intact.
She didn’t think about that night ... coming home, seeing her mother in a fur coat, and then introducing her to the men. Her mother had sold her. She knew that some of the girls she encountered during her brief time with the men had been taken straight off the streets. Their parents were worried sick. In fact, a few years ago, after Crow had put her in this place, she had seen one of the news bulletins about one of the girls. Kelley recognized her, so she did what she promised she wouldn’t do. She called it in. Told them exactly where they were keeping the girls. She didn’t run away without making sure she knew where the girl was.
It was an anonymous tip, and she even traveled two towns over to make the call, before coming back to Creek. She made the call and watched on the news as it came over the little ticket markers at the bottom of the page: Trafficking ring foiled. The girl was reunited with her family. Kelley knew she had done a very dangerous thing. A good thing, but dangerous. There was no coming back from it.