Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Finn jerked his head to the mobile home. “Inside,” he said. “We’ll talk some more.”
He wasn’t asking me, he was telling me, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew if I walked into that mobile home, I would likely not walk out of it. Finn wanted my father’s money that would go to me now that he was dead, and I wasn’t going to give it to him by signing my life away through marriage.
“No.”
Finn didn’t hesitate when he lunged back at me. When he took me to the ground this time, my head hit the ground hard. His girlfriend’s scream was the last thing I heard before everything went black.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Dante
* * *
“Date?”
I turned my head, my eyes locked on JJ’s.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been speakin’ to ye, bud.”
I hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “I can’t focus. I’m too worried about what we’re gonna walk into.”
A hand from the back seat touched my shoulder. “She’ll be okay, son.”
My father and my three brothers were in my truck. JJ was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and the remaining three took up residence in the back seat. We’d only been driving ten minutes towards the location Lilly gave me for Ina, but it felt like hours. I needed to get to her now. I was terrified. I hadn’t felt this kind of bone-chilling fear in years. Not since the night we thought my sister would die when she was caught in a fire a few years ago. The sickening emotion filled me from head to toe.
“I’m scared,” I admitted. “I’m so fuckin’ scared. What if—”
“Don’t.” JJ cut in. “Don’t do that to yourself. We’ll be there in forty minutes, and ye’ll see for yourself that she’ll be fine.”
I didn’t believe that. Too many statistics were rolling around in my head to have hope.
“Ye know how this goes just like I do. We’ve all heard this story over and over and over again,” I rasped, my voice thick with emotion. “Abusive male partners kill their girlfriends, wives, or exes just so no one else can have them, just so they can’t live their life independently. It’s the ultimate control they wage.”
If Ina died, I would die too because without her, there was no point in living.
“I love her so much,” I choked out. “I can’t live without her. She’s become me whole life.”
“Date, we’ll get to her in time,” Harley said firmly. “I have hope, even if you don’t.”
I found myself nodding as I roughly wiped away the pointless tears that fell from my eyes. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried, but if there was ever a time for tears, this was it.
“I haven’t had sex with a woman in six months.”
I turned my head, along with my brothers and father, and stared at JJ after he made his pretty unbelievable declaration. The car was silent for what felt like eternity.
“Um…” Gavin cleared his throat. “I’m sure we can find ye a good doctor that helps with erectile disfunction—”
“Finish that sentence, boy,” JJ growled, “and I’ll shove me foot up your arse.”
A glance over my shoulder showed Gavin shrinking low in his seat. For the first time since my fight with Ina earlier in the day, I wanted to laugh.
“I don’t have a problem gettin’ it up,” JJ said, his eyes locked on the road as if that action would make this conversation easier for him to endure. “I just haven’t had sex with a woman in six months.”
I asked the obvious question. “Why not?”
JJ blew out a big breath. “Six months ago, I was in town with Harley. We went to a new pub that had just open across from a nightclub. There were barely legal teens walkin’ around makin’ me feel fuckin’ ancient. Every girl who tried to pull me looked like a baby, and it made me feel so fuckin’ old. They all called me ‘daddy’ and it creeped me out.”
“I remember that night,” Harley chimed in. “Ye went home early, and I had a threesome with those Asian women from China.”
Of course he did.
“Yeah.” JJ snorted. “I left early, just wantin’ to get home. When I was on the Luas, I sat a few seats away from this woman who was cryin’.”
We all remained quiet as he spoke.
“Her name was James, like me. I never got her surname,” he said and from his hands tightening on the steering wheel, I knew that was something he regretted. “I approached her cautiously and asked her if she was okay. Of course she told me that she was fine, but I told her I had a pretty shite night too, and if we kept each other company, we’d probably feel better.”
“And did it make ye both feel better?”
The question came from our father.
“Yeah.” JJ nodded. “We got to talkin’ and laughin’, and fuck, I really liked her by the time we got to her stop. She was maybe five ten, taller than average for a woman, but I liked that. She was a little overweight, but I was attracted to her, so it didn’t bother me. She had these huge green eyes and short hair that was so red it looked like an open flame. I’d never seen a woman as beautiful as her, so when she got off the Luas, so did I.”