Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“Mind your business, Francis,” Lily calls back, rolling her eyes.
“Lily,” I scold.
“What? She’s a nosy old hag.” She jerks her shoulder up nonchalantly. “I’m going to stay here with Idiot and lock the place up,” Lily tells Jameson. He chuckles and shakes his head. At least she didn’t call him Stephen this time.
“I don’t think so. You were supposed to be at the club. How the hell did you even sneak away?”
“I’m eighteen, and you’re not my guardian,” she reminds him. His slight flinch makes me hurt for him. Without him, god knows where we’d be. He’s a good brother, a good man.
“Idiot!” Jameson barks. “Take my bike. Gimme the keys for your truck.” Idiot chucks his keys to Jameson.
“Get in,” Jameson orders, ignoring Lily’s rant.
“You’re with me,” Rage informs Ezekiel, nodding to his truck parked at the back of the bikes. Did it really take fifteen brothers to come for me?
Ez hasn’t moved from my side, his eyes boring into mine. “It’s fine. Go,” I assure him. “I’ll find you.” I smile, giving his words back to him.
“You should have told me,” he says, flitting his gaze to Jameson. My stomach knots, coiling my insides.
“I know. I’m sorry.” Tugging my hand from his, I throw my arms over his shoulders, clinging around his neck, not wanting to let go. The action has me on my tiptoes. His arms wrap around me, squeezing as he breathes me in. This feels like the end. Waking from a long dream and mourning the world you created.
“Come on,” Jameson orders. “You too, Lily.”
“I told you I’m going to stay back and—”
“And nothing. Get in the fucking truck.”
Even though I feel like I’m going to burst at the overwhelming amount of sorrow suddenly gripping my chest, I sniffle a laugh.
“You’re so annoying,” she bitches, climbing into the truck.
“I’m annoying? You girls are fucking killing me,” he grumbles.
Pulling away from Ezekiel, he swipes an errant tear that escapes from my eye. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
A lump in my throat constricts my voice.
“Ruby,” he says, demanding my attention. “Say it.”
Swallowing past the lump, I say, “I’ll see you soon.”
“Good girl. Now, go with your brother.”
I close my eyes so I don’t have to watch Rage march him off to another truck.
“Are you coming or going to stand there like a lost puppy?” Lily gripes from inside the truck.
Climbing in with her, I avoid Jameson’s glare in the review mirror and huddle up to the window in the back seat. He starts the engine, and we pull away from the house that was a little haven. As we pass the old lady, Lily offers her a middle finger.
“What is your problem?” I snap.
“You want a list?” Her lips thin as she crosses her arms under her chest. Not wanting to get into this shit with her, I exhale a tired breath and turn back to my window, watching the bikes surround us as we drive to the club.
“How the hell do you know Carnage?” Jameson asks after a few silent minutes, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel.
“I met him at a bar,” I say, aloof.
“Really? You expect me to believe that?” I imagine his glare in my head without having to confirm it.
“It’s the truth. Sort of.” I train my gaze on the wheel of one of the bikes driving beside us.
“Ruby, I swear to Christ…” The tension in the truck thickens, squeezing out the air.
“I got into trouble.” I exhale, my thoughts digging through the rubble of the last few days.
Jameson shifts in his seat. “And he helped you?”
“Yes. Sort of.” I can sense the frustration in his features without seeing them.
“My mother has a drug habit,” I blurt. I can’t keep lying for her. “She owed money to one of the brothers from Lilith’s army.”
He shifts in his seat, trying to seek me out in the mirror. “What the hell, Ruby?”
“His name is Fisher. I’ve known him a long time. I’ve bailed her out a lot throughout my life.”
“You should have told me.” He heaves in a breath, now clenched fists squeezing the steering wheel to death.
“What would you have done?” I ask, hating that my mother is such a freaking let down.
“Moved you in with me permanently, for one,” he grinds out, cursing under his breath.
“I don’t live with her now, James, yet I’m still bailing her ass out. It wouldn’t matter if I lived with you or not.”
“I would have gotten her clean!” he bellows.
“She’s never going to get clean because she doesn’t want to be clean,” I shout back, the tears burning my eyes again.
“Kill her,” Lily states, no emotion, no signs of joking. “Why let her ruin your life? She’s horrible.”
“You can’t just kill people because they’re shit human beings, Lily.” I sigh. Does everyone think killing people is the answer to their problems?