Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
The quicker the two of them got their shit off their chests, the quicker I could be left alone to try to get the fuck out of here. But judging by the brand-new bars I saw installed over the windows, I knew I had zero chance of that happening.
I was trapped here, and it made my breathing quicken.
I was panicking.
I bit down on my tongue so hard I felt blood well in my mouth, but the pain distracted me, and that was what I needed.
“Why did you leave?” John snapped at me. I barely resisted flinching. I could handle anyone being angry with me but my brother.
I jerked my head up, defiance glittering in my gaze. I felt like a storm was raging inside of me. “You think I want to be in a room where I feel like I’m a fucking prisoner?” I bit back at him. I rubbed at my arms, that crawling feeling coming back. “I can’t—” I choked back tears. “John,” I pleaded, “I can’t be in here.”
His eyes softened. My heart yearned for the tender brother he used to be. “It was for the best, little sis. I’m trying to help you.”
My eyes moved to those bars again. My breathing quickened. I clenched the sheets in my fists, my heart thundering in my chest. “Hey, look at me,” Jonah soothed. He was suddenly in front of me, blocking my view of the bars on the windows. My lips trembled. “You’re not trapped. You’re okay.”
“The bars . . .” My voice shook.
“What the fuck did she do to you?” John demanded to know.
I shook my head. It wasn’t anything Mom had done. It was what people I’d gotten fucked around by had done. Getting trapped in a cellar until I’d learned a lesson had made me fear tiny spaces and rooms and areas with no escape.
“I need out,” I whispered. Tears flooded my eyes. “Jonah, please get me out of here,” I begged.
He looked over his shoulder at John. John clenched his jaw. His eyes met mine over Jonah’s shoulder. “I can’t help you if you won’t help yourself.” He dragged a hand down his face before looking at me with softer eyes. “I love you, Montana. You’re the only family I’ve got, and I know I let you down these past few months.” He stepped aside, opening the doorway. My breathing slowed at the sight of the exit. “But I can’t help you if you don’t want to be helped.” His eyes fastened on my stomach. “Just be aware of the fact that you and Jonah made a dumb as fuck decision last night. There may be consequences.” He looked at Jonah. “Let her go.”
Jonah stood up to his full height, and I lurched from the bed. I was almost out of the room before I swung back around and hugged John tightly. His arms folded around me, and he buried his face in my hair.
“I’m sorry I’m such a fuck up,” I whispered.
Then, I was gone.
* * *
Jonah
I stared at John incredulously. “You just fucking let her go?” I demanded. “Bro, she could be fucking pregnant.”
John snorted. “You ever dealt with an addict, Jonah?” I just stayed silent because he knew I hadn’t. But I knew his mother was one; she had been his entire life. “There’s no helping an addict when she doesn’t want to be helped.”
I clenched my jaw and shook my head. “John, she needs help. She’s trying to escape shit.”
He heaved a heavy sigh and turned to face me. I could see the pain in his eyes for his little sister. I knew he loved her more than anything else in this world. And I could also see it was killing him to see her spiraling like this.
“You really want to help her, Jonah?”
I nodded once. He blew out a soft breath. “This is a battle you’re probably not going to win.”
I just shrugged. I was still willing to fight it. Montana needed to know that people cared about her.
“Pretty sure she’ll head for the fight tonight,” he finally told me. “We’ll intercept her there.”
“And if she ODs before then?” I demanded to know.
He shook his head. “She’s been around drugs all her life. She knows when enough is enough.”
And how fucked up was it that I found relief in that statement? She shouldn’t have grown up around anything like that, but I was fucking thankful at that moment she had.
Montana had wormed her way under my skin, and now that I’d gone bare inside her sweet cunt, I needed to at least stick around long enough to find out if she was knocked up or not.
And if she was . . . well, I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
8
Montana
“What the fuck do you mean I still can’t fight?” I snarled at CJ.