Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Calvin let go of my hands and sat back, taking his seat belt and clicking it back together. I’d not taken mine off during the flight. This wasn’t the first time I’d flown on a private plane with him. He liked to take these over commercial, and seeing as his father still bankrolled his life, he could afford it.
Today, however, it had been necessary. I didn’t need to travel openly or where my flights could be tracked. The little that I’d comprehended after being told that my parents were both dead included the fact that their killers may very well know of my existence and want me dead too. No one could be sure if they’d hunt me down with my father dead and their retaliation made clear.
I stared out the window. Not sure what to feel. There was too much to process, and my emotions were drained. Perhaps the numbness would take over. I’d much prefer it.
I gripped the armrests as the wheels hit the ground, and we came to a stop. There was no snow outside, like there had been when we left Colorado. When we got off the plane, I wasn’t so sure that there would be officers waiting on me. Calvin had taken my cell phone and destroyed it. I’d had to leave all my things behind. The clothing I had on were things he’d bought for me at the resort’s boutique. It would be difficult for them to track me, but they had ways.
“They’ll find you and question you about my location,” I pointed out.
He nodded. “I know. I expect it. And I intend to tell them.”
When he didn’t say more, I realized he truly believed that even the DEA would be afraid to come get me from this Southern Mafia.
The flight attendant stood up, and I unbuckled to do the same. For the first time in my life, I was questioning my trust in Calvin. I didn’t think he would put me in danger knowingly, but I was afraid he’d made the wrong decision.
He stood up with me and gave me a reassuring smile, then took my hand in his. “It’ll be okay. I swear it.”
No, it wouldn’t be okay. Nothing in my life would ever be okay again.
Three
Forge
My laughter felt foreign to my own ears as I lay back in the passenger seat. Turning my head, I looked over at my younger brother, Kash. It was fucking good to have him back home. Even if the circumstances sucked.
“Drink the water,” he told me, not taking his eyes off the road. “I mean, I get it, but Oz will be pissed about it.”
The it he was referring to was my intoxication at three in the afternoon.
I’d left Oz’s office at Carver’s Bootleg Whiskey this morning and ended up at a bar none of us ever go to so I wouldn’t be interrupted. When I could barely stand up, I knew I couldn’t drive, so I called the one person who wouldn’t fucking bitch at me about it. He’d shown up, just like I had known he would, and then informed me we’d all been summoned to the house. The one I lived in.
Bane Cash owned it, but several of us lived there. Although not as many as it had been when I moved in.
They were all getting fucking matched up with pussy and getting their own places. I hated it. I wanted things to go back to the way they had been. Although I did like Bane’s kid, and his wife, Halo, had made him tolerable. Oz was better with Winslet too. So, maybe those two should keep their women, but the others had fucked shit up. Than and Ransom had been just fine before their females. I liked them better single.
Gathe had said I could move in with him and his brother, Locke, seeing as they were still single and the good parties now took place at their house. Before we’d found out Mom was sick, I’d been planning on making the move. But now I was staying over at my parents’ house more often, and moving seemed unimportant. It had fallen on my scale of priorities.
Kash picked up the bottle of water he’d brought with him and handed it to me. “Drink.”
I took it and laughed again. “I’m not scared of Oz,” I said before taking a long pull from the bottle.
“I know. But the less pissed he is, the less annoying it will be.”
Good point.
“Bane’s okay with this then? This chick staying at the house?” I’d have thought Bane wouldn’t want her there because of Halo and Hawkins.
“It’s the safest place other than Linc and Luther’s. There is plenty of room, and with him, Ransom, me, and—most of the time—you there, no one is getting in the gates. Oz is on the property too. None of Telos Kris’s men are that fucking stupid.”