Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
“He your dad?” The guy didn’t acknowledge me. Just talked to the boys.
When I put my arm around Sebastian’s shoulder, he shrugged me off and stepped closer to his brother. Not as if for protection, but like his brother was the better fighter and he had Theo’s back. It was ridiculous, really. The kids were eight! “Mark? No way! He’s an asshole.”
I gasped. “Sebastian!”
Bastian looked over his shoulder at me. “Well, he is.” Then he turned back to the biker. “He hits Mommy. Tried to hit Theo too, but I hit him with a baseball bat.”
Now the biker focused on me, looking me up and down. He paused on the bruise across my cheek, but continued to take in everything. I had bruises on my legs that I knew were visible where my shorts stopped mid-thigh and a few on my arms where my T-shirt didn’t cover them. This guy seemed to take in every single one of them. As he did, his frown deepened until he looked positively livid. The boys saw it too. Instead of being afraid, however, Theo nodded at the guy.
“Yeah,” Sebastian said, as if the guy had actually voiced his anger. “We got mad too. Mark’s out in the car if you want to go hit him back. I ain’t strong enough. I hit him with the bat, but it didn’t hurt him.”
Again, the biker looked at me. His green eyes were so intense I shivered. “You want out?”
I glanced at the boys. “I’m afraid…” I swallowed. “The boys…”
He nodded. “Come with me. Tool and I will escort you to the truck.”
“Tool?” Sebastian said, looking incredulous. “Ain’t bikers supposed to have cool names? What kinda name is Tool?”
Another large man approached them. He glanced around the store as if looking for threats. When he got closer, he glanced at the other guy, then smiled at the boys. “You guys need a lift?”
“Why you called Tool?” Sebastian asked instead of answering the question.
Tool shrugged. “’Cause I’m good with all kinds of tools.” He grinned. “I fix stuff.”
“Oh. Well, I guess it’s OK. Still kinda dumb, though.”
“Sebastian, please,” I all but pleaded. “If these men can help us, you don’t need to insult them.”
“So, if they don’t wanna help I can insult them, then?”
“No. Boys, please. Just… get back here and let me handle this.” I knew I was doing a piss-poor job of things so far, but I was so scared I was quaking in my shoes. The boys didn’t seem to have any fear. I supposed after living with Mark for the past few months they weren’t afraid of anything. That was on me.
“Take the kids to the truck. I’ll have a talk with their mother.”
“No!” OK, things were starting to get real. All the ways this could go badly were starting to make themselves known. “They don’t leave me.” I grabbed the backs of the boys’ shirts and pulled them to me. Thankfully, they didn’t resist, but they didn’t seem scared either.
“Take it easy, girl. We ain’t gonna hurt your kids. I need some answers, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to talk about this in front of your boys.”
“Can’t it wait until after we get out of here?”
He seemed to think about that for a moment, then spoke to Tool. “Put the boys in the truck. I’ll bring their mama and drive.” He glanced around. “Change of plan. I’m driving the cage. Tool’s road captain.”
Tool looked at him and nodded. “Come on, boys. Sounds like the guy in the car might be wakin’ up.”
Before I could stop them, the boys snagged their backpacks and headed through the store with Tool.
“Oh no,” I whispered. My gaze clung to the big biker’s. “He’ll never let us go willingly.” I turned to the big one. “Look. The boys. They’re my sister’s kids. She died from cervical cancer right after they were born. I adopted them. They call me Mama, but I’m not really. Mark knows that. He also claims to know their father, and he threatened to take them away if we left.”
“Why does he want you with him so bad?” The guy was gruff, and there was a temper on this one, but he seemed to have an iron control over it.
“Because of my sister’s insurance money. But, honestly, he went through the last of it a few weeks ago. He just doesn’t believe me.”
“What was it finally made you take the risk?”
I shivered. “When Sebastian hit him with the bat. Theo actually brought out a gun, going to kill him. Theo said the only reason he didn’t shoot was because he was afraid he’d accidentally hit me.” I shook my head. “I don’t want them to have to kill to protect me. I should have left before it got that bad, but I have no idea if Mark was telling the truth about knowing Chase. And that was the first time he’d ever gotten physical with the boys. Before, it was only me.”