Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“She showed up today with her hair hacked off.”
“Hasn’t she always had weird haircuts?”
That was Reed.
Why was he even here? Wasn’t he supposed to be stationed in Germany?
At least, he was the last I heard.
I nodded, swallowing.
Then brought my hand up to the back of my head.
“If you don’t spit it out already, I’m going to beat it out of you.”
I looked at Parker, the one who’d spoken, and stared straight into his eyes for a few long seconds.
It’d be a fair fight. He was smaller than me, but not by much. His eyes though…yeah, they were practically dead.
I turned away and looked at Baylor.
“Last night her father came into her home, dragged her up by her hair, and sliced it off with a hunting knife because he knows that she sinned.”
“How did she sin?”
I gave my best friend an obvious ‘are you fucking stupid’ look.
Baylor started to laugh, then sobered when he saw I wasn’t joking.
He stood up.
“I’ll fucking kick his ass.”
“You’re telling me that he did this…Krisney said…oh, fucking God.”
That’s about where I was at, too.
“Every time she sins, he cuts her hair.”
“Going into someone’s house like that when they’re sleeping is illegal,” Parker said, zero emotion in his tone.
I laughed then.
“The cops in this town leave a lot to be desired,” I pointed out. “They got rid of some shitty ones, but…”
“But the whole fucking force was shit,” Evander added, filling in the words I’d left unsaid. “They fired a lot, but kept on others that were neutral because of their supposedly good work ethic. Only good one that I know I can count on is a woman, and we know how women in that profession are treated. She’s eaten alive up there, and sometimes I feel like the only reason she’s still there is because of her sister’s kids that she supports.”
I agreed with the other big man.
“I can remember at least ten times that her hair was hacked off like that,” I started pacing again. “And to top it off, she let it slip that it wasn’t the only thing that he used to do to her.”
Growls came from the table behind me.
When I turned, each man’s face was blank, even the new guys.
“I think maybe you should take the day off.” Travis stood and started collecting his papers. “We’ll finish this shit tomorrow. I have a brother-in-law that I guess I could speak to…but I’m not sure what I’d tell him at this point.”
Travis speaking to his brother-in-law was big. They hadn’t had a relationship in a very long time, but Travis’ woman, Hannah, had brought them together again. She’d helped them mend fences, but there was still tension there, and probably always would be.
Wolf was an agent of some kind, one I’d never cared to pay attention to, but I knew that he probably couldn’t do anything about this. Travis was right. Without proof that she was hurt, there was nothing on our end that we could do until he did.
We knew how the law worked, and sometimes it was a right bitch.
I’d never had a problem with the police, and never would.
However, I saw the gaps in the system, and I really didn’t want this to have to get worse before something else would be done.
Which meant I was talking to the town’s preacher. I was going to tell him what he was to do from now on, and I’d make sure he never touched his daughter again.
Not if he didn’t want his ass kicked afterwards, anyway. Fuck going back to jail. If that was what I had to do, then I’d do it.
It’d be worth it. That I knew for sure.
“Fine.” I walked toward the door. “But I’m going to have a few words with our preacher. Maybe one of you could accompany me?”
Rafe stood and walked toward me.
“I’ll go,” he said. “I’d had some stuff I needed to do at the church anyway.”
My brows lifted at that, but I wasn’t opposed to him coming.
If the man wanted to hear what was about to go down, who was I to say anything to the contrary?
Though, I had a feeling he was going there not as a favor to me, but as a favor to someone else.
Now only to find out who.
***
I arrived at the church in greasy pants, a dingy gray t-shirt that had some stains on it from hundreds of uses, and dirty boots that still had mud on them from the day before.
I didn’t stop to clean myself off, though. Knowing instinctively that it would antagonize the man that hated me with a passion.
My first stop was his office, which was empty but for a receptionist.
“Can I help you?” she asked, smiling brightly at not me, but at Rafe who’d tailed behind me.
I rolled my eyes.
Yes, Rafe was pretty. He looked like a woman’s wet dream if you asked me.