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)
“Trev,” he said, shaking his hand. “Good to meet you.” His eyes narrowed. “You should put on a shirt. You always find a way to take your shirt off. You need a shirt here. And keep those pants on, too. My wife’s a big fan. Not that she likes any other TV shows.”
He strode off.
Big Tag put a hand on his shoulder as the other guys started putting on their properly spelled shirts. “Excellent. His wife thinks you’re hot. He probably wants to kill you. That should throw off his accuracy. This can still work. You don’t have any darts on you, do you? Because if you wanted to throw a few Julian’s way, go for it.”
He strode off to get his team ready.
Jared was left with Bud and a shirt that didn’t quite fit.
The day was not looking up.
Thirty minutes later, Jared grinned as he neatly evaded one of the Dawson twins and landed firmly in the end zone.
The crowd around him cheered and he glanced over to see Sarah on her feet. She was the only woman in the crowd wearing heels and she somehow managed to walk across the thick grass without sinking into it. She stood out to him, so much more beautiful than the rest.
He was more certain than ever that she was the woman for him. He winked her way and was more than satisfied with the blush that came across her cheeks.
They’d gathered a crowd that went far beyond the members of each club. Apparently word had gotten out that former pro quarterback Trev McNamara was playing football in the park and the crowd had doubled.
“Doing good, Johns,” Alex McKay said, taking the football from him and passing it over to the other side. “We only need to score three more times and we might be able to claim moral victory. I told Ian we needed to appeal to more kinky pro athletes. Damn McNamara hasn’t lost a step.”
He hadn’t. Jared had found himself staring at how the man dropped out of the pocket, his arm moving back as though the football was a mere reflection of his will. That football went where McNamara wanted it to go.
“I think we’ll have to be happy just to have played today, man,” he admitted. But it was a beautiful day. The sky above him was a stunning blue and the weather was warm with a hint of crisp wind to cool things off.
This could be his life. His life with Sarah. Their kids could be the ones running around with a big dog at their sides, playing like they didn’t have a care in the world. It would be safe to have a family here because his children would never be alone. Even if something happened to him and Sarah, his brother and Kori would make sure they had good lives, people who loved and supported them.
He could have this.
“You kill any women lately, Johns?”
He stopped at the shouted question. The words were ugly, insidious, and they stripped away the brilliant light of the day and sent him looking for the shadows.
Big Tag was yelling something, but he couldn’t make the words out.
“You’re the one who should be in jail!”
He turned and caught sight of a man. He barely registered what the man looked like. It didn’t matter. He was one of the people who seemed to follow him around. He wasn’t sure how he’d found him here. Probably someone had recognized him and posted his location online. It had been months since one of them challenged him in person. They usually preferred to make their accusations online, but every now and then one would come out of the shadows and confront him, and it got nasty.
His first instinct was to get in the man’s face. He didn’t have the right to come here. This was his private life. The need to show the fucker just how he killed a person was right there bubbling under the surface. It was different when he was confronted by someone who’d known one of the women who died. He would take that. He would try to talk to those people, to let them know he heard their pain.
This was a troll, someone who’d decided he was the enemy, and trolls needed enemies. Trolls needed something to torment, to punch and kick and take out their anger on.
“Hey, you okay?” Alex asked.
“Do you know you’re playing with a killer? He raped and tortured women,” the man yelled.
He looked around and his friends were starting to realize something was wrong. Sarah had her hands over her eyes, trying to get a look at what was going on. The kids. God, the kids would hear this crap and be afraid. Afraid of him. Afraid of words they shouldn’t have to know yet.