Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
He'd brought this here.
“You got something to say?” Alex stepped up.
If he let this continue, it would end in a fight he couldn’t win. It would ruin the whole day.
“I’m going to go. It’ll solve the problem,” he said, stepping away.
“Or we can escort that fucker out of here,” Alex promised.
And then the cops would come out. There would be explanations and reporters. They would want to talk to these very private people. “Please don’t make this worse than it has to be.”
“Jared, no one wants you to leave,” Alex said.
The others were coming up behind him. He had very few moments to save any of the afternoon. “I got this. I don’t want the cops and the press out here.”
“I assure you the cops won’t be here for you,” Alex replied.
He shook his head. “I want to go.”
He strode right past the asshole, knowing he would follow. He could lead the guy away from the happy family function.
“Where you going, Johns? You got another girl to kill?” The man did exactly what he thought he would. He followed Jared out to the parking lot and to the place where Kai had parked his Jeep.
He wasn’t even sure where he would go. He’d come with Kai. His brother had the keys to the car. He could probably outrun the fucker, but where would he go?
“Back the fuck off my brother or I swear I won’t care who the hell you are, I’ll bury you,” a deep voice said.
He turned and his brother was there.
The troll stopped, sneering Kai’s way. “Hell of a family you have.”
Kai’s face had gone cold. “You better believe it, and some of them are figuring out exactly who you are. You might expect a visit and very soon.”
“That sounds like a threat,” the troll replied.
“It’s a promise. I’ll know your name and where you live by the end of the day. Expect a restraining order and a visit from the police,” Kai said. “If you don’t leave my brother alone after that, you can expect a visit from me. Do I make myself clear?”
The man backed away. “Man’s got a right to his opinion.”
“And I’ve got a right to shove your opinion up your ass.” Kai unlocked the Jeep. “Get in the car, Jared. I need a beer.”
His brother. In that moment he was ten again and standing behind his big brother, thinking Kai was the whole world and as long as he had Kai, he would be okay. He was older now, knew that Kai couldn’t fix everything, but god, it felt good to not be alone.
Jared got in the car.
And wondered if he had any right to drag Sarah into his life.
Chapter Seven
In which masks are put on…
Hours later Jared wasn’t sure he should even be in the club.
“I heard Big Tag has to clean the restrooms at The Club for a week,” JT was saying. “I don’t know that I would trust him to do that. Have they seen some of the pranks he pulls?”
Sanctum had lost the game. It wasn’t such a surprise since The Club had a former pro leading its team. And Sanctum had…well, if there was a dart throwing contest it would have been Lodge cleaning up. Big Tag should think about that next time.
Or a contest for who could attract the most trolls. He would win that one, too.
“Hey, you okay? I heard you had some asshole bugging you at the game. I was working, but my assistant got gooey about some pictures on the Internet. I saw one of them and it was you. I didn’t realize you were some big star. I’ll admit, I don’t watch a bunch of TV.”
He'd seen the pictures. Someone had taken cell phone pics of him and uploaded them to the Internet. The tabloids, always looking for new content, had run the photos and given away his location.
“I’m not a big star.” He was well aware that his relevancy now had to do with scandal and crime, not his acting. “I used to be on a TV show and then a friend of mine turned out to be a psycho. The media loved the story. ‘Hollywood star involved in killing spree’ was a great headline.”
“I thought we talked about this.” Kai sat down on the bench beside him. His brother had basically made the afternoon one long therapy session. “You are not at fault. That man had no right to hurl those accusations your way.”
“I still have to deal with the fact that a lot of people are going to and I’m dragging you into it.” It was the argument he’d made all day. He looked at JT. “I should have explained my past to you. I shouldn’t have offered you friendship without letting you know what it would cost. There are people out there who think I’m a killer.”