Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Whack!
This time, the slam of metal against the back of my skull has everything turning black almost immediately.
The hits keep coming.
Over and over and over and over—
I wake with a jolt, my head throbbing dully from the memory of the pain. My cheeks are wet, and my throat is raw. Swiping away the tears with the heels of my hands, I attempt to shake away the lingering fear that clings tight to my nerves.
I hate this.
I hate that the man who did this to me is sitting in an actual prison, but I’m still trapped behind the mental bars he created.
To think, I actually thought Hank Townsend was attractive. Sure, it was a joke, but I thought he was hot. I wanted him. Leave it to me to fuck with a straight, homophobic teacher.
I probably deserved that ass whipping.
Liar.
No one deserves what he did to you.
And it was so much more than an ass whipping.
Psychological torture. Threats. Hatred with every whispered word, every secret stare, and every message he sent me. The physical attacks were the worst, though. So much pain.
“I brought reinforcements,” Zak says from my doorway.
Irritation chases away the terror, and I swivel around to glare. Behind Zak is Cormac. Fucking Zak. Leave it to him to know my weak spot. Cormac is so…broken. I always want to fix him. Even now, when I can’t fix myself. Cormac’s cheeks are hollow, his face gaunt. Despite the many meals my sister’s boyfriend, Hans, hooks him up with whenever they’re out working together, he always seems a little…unsatisfied.
“What’s up?” I greet, nodding my chin up.
Cormac offers me a small smile. “We’re going out.”
I cringe. The last thing I want is to go out.
“Yeah?” I ask, irritated that I’m biting.
“Blur.” Zak grins at me and plants his ass on my bed. “Trolling for hookups.”
I’m flooded with a mixture of annoyance and relief. Does this mean Zak’s finally getting the message? The way he says “trolling for hookups” is such a douchebag thing to say, though.
“Cormac? You actually agreed to this?” I lift an eyebrow at him.
He shrugs. Zak and I aren’t a hundred percent about what his sexuality is, but no matter how much prying we do, he never gives it up. I’d like to think with two best friends being gay, it’d be easier for him to admit if he was too.
“Just us three?”
“Cameron, too.”
At this, I laugh. Cameron is Zak’s other best friend. A total jock and completely straight, but cool as hell.
“What does Sierra think about her boyfriend going to a gay dance club?”
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Zak says, his brown eyes glittering evilly.
“Fine.” I rise from my chair. “Give me twenty to do something about this face.”
Blur is just that. A blur. Of dancing, glittery bodies. Flashing colored lights. Alcohol-laden air that’s every bit as potent as the cologne on some of the bearded studs grinding on their twinky dance partners.
We’ve been here for hours.
Zak and I almost seem cool. Like the old days. It’s good hearing him laugh when we trap Cameron in a three-way dance that has our straight friend’s face turning blood red.
Red.
It reminds me of someone else…
When the song ends, Cameron drags us off to a table that’s recently been vacated. There are only three chairs. Zak and Cameron opt for standing while Cormac and I steal a stool each. We’re not old enough to drink, and since this is small-town-fucking-nowhere, we can’t get away with fake IDs or someone buying us liquor. That’ll get back to Dante and Jax faster than my dick gets hard from looking at Atlas’s lips.
“I heard the mayor got arrested,” Cameron yells above the music. “Last night for drinking and driving.”
This has the rest of us gaping at him.
“Wait,” Zak questions. “My dad was arrested?”
Cameron cracks up laughing. “Dude, yes. Dad was on speakerphone earlier with him. Your dad was bitching like crazy. Jesus, he was so pissed. Claimed the new cop is a piece of shit he ran off years ago but the guy had the balls to come back. Isn’t the new cop Brie’s brother?”
Hibiscus. Vermillion. Barn red.
“Atlas,” I say because I like the way his name feels on my tongue.
Zak grimaces at the name but doesn’t get all pissy like last week when we met him at the diner. I guess whatever issues he had with the guy resolved themselves.
“Why didn’t Jax tell me?” Zak demands. “I would have high-fived my brother or some shit.”
“Apparently,” Cameron reveals, leaning in like the gossip girl he is, “Dean’s going to try and get him fired.”
“Jax won’t fire him without just cause.” Zak shakes his head. “I still can’t believe he didn’t tell me.”
I’m amused at the thought of the haughty mayor getting manhandled into cuffs by Atlas. With his big damn muscles and arrogance, I bet Atlas barely had to put forth any effort. His stare alone could probably get shit done.