Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
My stomach was in knots as I listened to the two argue back and forth.
“But we don’t know anything. We only found his bike in fucking pieces. He’s nowhere to be found,” Sebastian said in exasperation.
But I heard the hint of fear in it.
And I knew fear when I heard it, believe me.
Sebastian was worried about something.
“Yeah, but if Silas’ bike was broken up like that, then most likely Silas is too. Even if he’s not actually at the scene of the crash,” Baylee whispered a little too loud once again.
This time I knew she was trying to wake me, so I sat up, only opening my eyes once my feet were on the floor next to the couch.
“Tell me,” I whispered.
Sebastian was across the room from me leaning against a wall in the kitchen.
Baylee was directly across from him standing beside the kitchen island staring at him like he was the school-yard bully.
Sighing, Sebastian leaned forward until both elbows rested on the countertop before saying, “Dad’s bike crashed in between Longview and Kilgore. He left on his own while we were all doing our own thing around five this evening, and we haven’t heard from him since.”
My heart froze as I looked at Sebastian, hoping beyond hope he would tell me he was joking or that they knew exactly where he was.
But he wasn’t and he didn’t.
“You didn’t have any GPS or anything on him?” I asked worriedly.
Sebastian shook his head. “No.”
“But…but…what are we going to do? Are you going to look for him?”
Sebastian nodded. “We’ve been looking for him since we realized he left. Kettle was the one to find his bike. I’ve got a few friends working magic on their end, but dad’s normally the one using his contacts to find people we need. We’re not sure where to go from here.”
My mind raced as I fought the bile rising up in my throat.
“You can’t find whomever he worked with and talk to them?” I asked worriedly.
Sebastian shook his head. “No. We’ve been looking. I’ve never known anything about my dad’s business. And not once, in all the years I’ve been alive, has he had a slip up.”
My head hung. “I…I need to go home. I need to think. Maybe I can come up with something. Maybe he left me a note.”
Sebastian looked at Baylee with pity, not holding back his worry about me.
Well, he could just take that pity and shove it.
I knew he wouldn’t just leave without letting me know.
I knew it.
Chapter 23
Dear NASA, your mom thought I was big enough!
- Pluto
Silas
“That rifle shot that took your daughter-in-law out was meant for you. I lucked out that you thought it was a rock that hit her. Could’ve had me then, but you fucked up. You’re getting soft in your old age,” Shovel said snidely. “You almost lost her, and it would’ve all been your fault. All these years of you protecting them, and it wouldn’t have mattered one single bit.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Not because of what he was saying, though that was significant.
But because I was fairly positive that the broken ribs I’d sustained after going down on my bike and having the shit beaten out of me were sinking through the tissue of my lungs.
I’d woken up like this nearly an hour before, and all Shovel had done since I’d woken was talk about the old days.
Him shooting Baylee was new, though.
We’d really thought the cut on her neck was due to a rock, or something that kicked up and taken out a chunk of her flesh while we were riding.
The bleeding had never made sense to me, though.
Now, knowing that Shovel had taken a fuckin’ sniper rifle to her, it made sense.
“So what are you going to do to me?” Shovel asked.
What was I going to do to him?
I was the one that was tied up to a fuckin’ chair.
Well, granted, I had wanted to be tied up.
I knew he’d take me if I gave him the chance.
Which was why I’d gone out on a ride alone.
I knew he couldn’t resist the temptation.
And he was only one person.
He had my arms stretched upwards, tied to a pipe above my head.
But he’d made a mistake by not tying my feet.
I wouldn’t escape…yet.
I’d wait until I had my chance.
Or possibly sooner if Sawyer found the note I left her.
“You know you ruined my life,” Shovel said conversationally, pulling out a pocketknife and picking dirt from underneath his fingernails with it.
I raised a brow. “I did, did I?”
He nodded. “Leslie was going to be mine. She was going to be my reward. But then you came in, claiming her and jumping through every hoop I threw at you and took her right out from under my nose. I’d had my eyes set on her since I was sixteen, and you fucking ruined it.”
That was new to me.
I’d just seen Leslie come in, and I hadn’t been able to do anything else but save her.
It’d been her eyes.
The innocence in them.
I was drawn to that.
It drew me in every, single time.
Which had been the reason I’d fallen for Sawyer, too.
Now, though, I knew she was nothing like Leslie.
She was stronger.
She was someone I’d never in my life cheat on. She knew all about me, and I knew there’d never be a time that I kept a goddamn thing from her.
Hell, now that I had Sawyer, I realized just how much I didn’t love Leslie.
Because what I felt for Sawyer, I knew, was real love.
It was unshakable.
This love…it would withstand the test of time.
She got me, and I got her.
Before her, every damn night, I’d dream of how my life could’ve been.
Now, with Sawyer in it, I dreamed of what our life will be like.
I didn’t think in the past tense anymore.
I was now a future kind of guy.
And I knew Shovel hadn’t picked up on that yet.
Because he wouldn’t be talking to me right now about Leslie. He’d be trying to rile me up by threatening Sawyer.
Because if he wanted to see me break, that would be just how to do it.