Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Driving?” King cuts in, shoving his face right in the frame to steal the spotlight which only manages to irritate me further. I mean, not even a little attempt at begging for forgiveness? He’s just going to jump right in with demanding answers. Fucking cocksucking swamp turd. “Why the fuck are you driving? You were to stay at the motel until the threat passed. We can’t risk anybody seeing you. You’re supposed to be dead. You’re a ghost.”
“I’ll be a fucking ghost to you if you don’t stop demanding answers out of me,” I snap back at him. “You have to back off. All of you. It’s not your place to be assholes to me right now.”
Carver sighs beside me and I roll my eyes as he cuts in, giving them the answers that I wasn’t prepared to give. Well at least the answers that we already pre-planned to give, seeing as though telling them that we’re on our way back to Ravenwood Heights was a no-go. “Chill out, bro. We’re hungry. The food at the motel is fucking shit. It’s practically shit on toast with a side of diarrhea. We’ll just pick something up and then head back.”
“Good,” Grayson says, stepping in on Cruz’s other side, the three of them all squishing together like a muscle orgy. “I don’t need to remind you what’s at stake here.”
Carver screeches to a stop, the tires skidding off the side of the road as he tears the phone out of my hands. “Where the fuck do you get off with that bullshit? These are my little fucking sisters too. Don’t fucking question me. I will always do what’s fucking right for them, no matter what.”
Cruz steps away from King and Grayson and stares down Carver through the phone. “Look, we’re all feeling it, alright? We just want them back safe.”
“Don’t fucking let me down, Cruz. They’re the only family I’ve got left.”
“I’ve got you, bro,” Cruz murmurs, lowering his tone to keep the conversation somewhat private despite the fact that we can all still hear exactly what’s being said, though I’m sure Carver appreciates the gesture. “We might be onto something,” Cruz adds. “We’re closing in, just waiting for a few things to come through.”
Carver nods and hands me the phone before pulling back out onto the highway, Cruz’s words giving Carver the slight bit of hope he needs to get our asses back home as soon as possible.
Cruz’s heavy stare comes back to mine and the tension sits between us like a knife slicing straight through to my heart. “Winter,” he says, his voice soft and low, warning me that whatever is about to come out of his mouth is something I’m not yet ready to hear. A beep sounds through the phone and I watch as Cruz cuts himself off with a sigh. “Shit, sorry babe, it’s my mom. I have to take this. She’s been inconsolable since learning that not only were her babies taken, but that I had a hand in ending both yours and Carver’s lives. You know how fond she is of you, and she thinks of Carver as an adopted son. She’s been trying to put the funerals together as well, seeing as though there’s nobody else, but … it’s a lot for her. I’d do anything to be able to tell her that it’s not true, but we have to have Dynasty believing you’re gone otherwise Paris won’t buy it.”
Shit. I’m going to have to really make it up to her, but how? I have no fucking idea.
I nod and before I get another word out, Cruz gives me a sad smile. “Love you,” he mutters awkwardly before quickly ending the call and leaving me feeling so much heavier than before.
I flop back into my seat and glance across at Carver as he speeds down the road, knowing that the boys’ idea of ‘closing in’ means that they could have information on his sisters’ whereabouts any minute and he wants to be there when they do. “That sucked,” I murmur, once again finding myself wishing that things could be different.
“You were going to have the awkward first conversation at some point, just be thankful that you got to do it over the phone where he couldn’t see the way your hands were balling into fists.”
I roll my eyes. “Good point.”
“Plus,” he continues, “had you been at home, you would have inevitably tried to storm away and they all would have followed you until you lost control and nut-punched them … or gave in.”
I prop my feet up on the dash, scooching down in my seat and getting comfortable. “No way in hell I would have given in that easily. They’re going to have to fight for my attention, especially Cruz.”
“Why especially Cruz?”
“Because he’s the kind one. The rest of you assholes are more than capable of doing shit like this. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t already tried it just for shits and giggles. But Cruz is different. Out of all of you, he actually has a conscience. He’s nurturing and always walks on the bright side, unlike the rest of you who were practically born in hell. He does things with his heart, not out of obligation. I just … I don’t know.”