Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
“I told you!” he snapped, his eyes looking wild. “They let us out!”
Stephanie tittered again. “Oh, yeah, they let us out.”
Everything about her lame sarcasm said otherwise. I didn’t know how they’d managed to get out, but there they were, and there I was, feeling more and more trapped, without a phone and without any help.
We stood there for a second or two, my eyes darting between them and them glancing at each other in that sketchy junky way.
“Why don’t we go for a drive, huh?”
I shook my head. “No thanks.”
“What, you don’t want to hang out with your dad?”
“No,” I spat. “I don’t.”
My dad’s eyes narrowed. “Get in the car, Mackenzie.”
“No,” I hissed, backing into the iron bars of the gate. My hand crept up next to me, blindly looking for the code box and wondering if I could punch it in without looking.
“I said get in the car!”
“No!”
“Listen to your father, you little bitch!” Stephanie screeched, looking more manic than I’d ever seen her.
“I have to go, okay? They’ll be looking for me?”
My dad scowled. “They?”
I pursed my lips, but Stephanie hooted.
“Jesus, does he have his little boyfriend Lincoln living here too?”
My dad swore. “You’re living here with two men, huh? That who’s buying you all this fancy shit?” His face grew red. “And just what fuck are you doing for all these fancy toys, huh? You some kinda whore now?!”
He lunged for me, but I screamed and kicked out.
“Get the fuck away from me!”
“Get in the car!”
I screamed as he grabbed me, stronger than he looked as he dragged me away from the gate.
“Let go of me! Are you insane!?”
“Quit being a bitch and listen to your father!” Stephanie spat, yanking the rusty back door of the car open as my dad dragged me towards it. I screamed again, kicking and lashing out, my heels digging into the dirt. But Stephanie jumped in too, grabbing me and helping my dad yank me towards the car.
“You can’t just take me like this!”
“I’m your father! You’re goddamn right I can!”
I roared, lashing out and catching him in the shin with my heel. He bellowed, swearing up a storm before suddenly, his hand came smacking across my mouth. I gaped, blinded by shock and pain as the stars danced through my vision.
“Stupid little girl,” Stephanie hissed, helping my dad shove me, stunned, into the backseat. They slammed the door and then jumped in front, the rickety engine choking to life.
I started to lunge for the door, but suddenly, Stephanie whirled, brandishing a shiny, gleaming, wicked looking blade.
“Sit your ass down, and be quiet!” she snapped. “You think you’re the only one who’s gonna get some free shit from that brother of mine?” She smirked, waving the blade at me. “Well, you ain’t.”
The car sputtered to life, peeling out of the driveway outside of the gate and racing away from the only good I’d ever known.
17
Wilder
I glared at the phone in my hand, feeling my pulse quicken as the call disconnected.
“Right to voicemail, again,” I muttered.
Lincoln’s eyes narrowed, his hand clenching the kitchen counter tight.
“Fuck.”
Fuck was right. It’d been six fucking hours since Kenzie had left for one of her walks in the woods. I knew she’d brought the phone I’d bought her, but the damn thing was going right to her voicemail on every call. It was starting to get dark outside too, and my nerves were starting to fry.
It wasn’t that I didn’t think Kenzie was capable of taking care of herself. And it wasn’t like I thought she’d gotten lost on the clearly marked trails that she’d walked on a bunch of times before. And it also wasn’t like we lived anywhere dangerous. This country town was safe as could be.
…None of that stopped my heart from racing or my mind from playing out every single worst-case scenario. I mean how could I not? This was Kenzie we were talking about. This was the girl I loved, who captivated me in so many ways. I’d sworn to her and to myself to protect her, and now here we were with darkness approaching, her cell not answering, and a million questions blazing through my head.
I glanced up at my friend, seeing the exact same fear and tenseness on his face.
“I’m going out looking,” he growled, whirling and storming for the door.
“Lincoln.”
He paused, shoulders heaving as he glanced back at me.
“This property is thirty fucking acres, and that’s before the trails cross into the public lands and your damn property.”
His jaw clenched, and I could relate that shitty feeling of helplessness I knew he was feeling too.
“Let’s get smart about this.”
I jerked my head for him to follow, storming out of the kitchen towards my office. There, I woke up my computer, my jaw tight and my eyes focused as I called up the security cams for the house. Lincoln paced behind me as I scrolled back to a shot from the back deck from six hours before.