Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
He was right about one thing. I did not want to go back to bed. I would never want to go back to bed, not with him, not ever again.
I would never be the same.
“You killed my brother.”
He didn’t answer, but that was fine. I heard it all, knew enough.
“How could you do that? How could you go to him and ask him to do this for you? Find another person, another way!”
He didn’t answer. He just sat there, looking down until he said, “I didn’t.”
“Bullshit! Bullshit!”
“Kali.” His voice was soft, but lined with regret. “I never went to your brother with this proposal.”
“What?” Again, he wasn’t making sense. None of this made sense. All this death. All of it was pointless. Except, God. It wasn’t. It wasn’t at all, and I hated that the most.
“He came to me with this.”
“No.”
“He knew what was going on. You know in prison. You hear the worst of the worst in there, and he was hearing how Estrada was controlling us. He did this. He set it up, all of it up. He knew what was something in common those four men had. He knew. They all liked dogs. He asked for the animal training to come into their prison. He researched it and he rallied the inmates to want it too. Kali, he was the instructor. He was the only inmate that was allowed to be in the same room as all four of them. The only one. Ever. He did this, and he asked us to finish it, and then he asked us to take care of his family. That’s what we’re doing. We were trying to do this for him!”
I snapped, unleashing, “IT MAKES NO SENSE! Why would he suddenly decide to create this whole program?! And what inmate is allowed to instruct a class on their own?!”
“He was!” Shane roared back. “He was because he’s fucking perfect. Because he doesn’t deserve to be in that place, but he’s in there and you know how he is. He’s a good person.”
Tears were rolling down my face, but I wasn’t feeling them. “He’s getting out. He went in for burglary–”
“He burglarized a judge’s house. He killed the judge’s kid. He’s never getting out. That was just one charge they brought against him.”
“No.” I was adamant. Just, “No.”
“Yes.”
“NO! It was an accident. He didn’t mean to hurt that kid. He thought he was taking a toy gun with him.”
“They don’t care. They didn’t then, and they won’t now.”
“But–” Why did the world have to feel so heavy all the time? “Why? Connor’s not a mastermind manipulator. He’s dumb in some ways. Why’d he decide to do all this? That takes thought and planning and reason. He had no reason to…” I trailed off because it was in his face.
Guilt.
“What’d you do?” I asked.
“He did it for me. Because of me.”
“Why Shane? Why specifically because of you?”
“Because he heard about someone that died, and he knew who really killed the person. She was an innocent. She didn’t even know about this life, but your brother’s cell is next to one of Marco’s second-in-command. He’s privy to information that most don’t know, and he knew that I was the one to kill the person. I found out afterwards that she was an innocent, but yeah. It’s me, Kali. He did this for me. He knew I would never have killed the woman if… He did this all for you, for me, for your family, for the rest of my club. He had time and he planned it all, knowing that it’ll cost his life, but he doesn’t care. Trust me. I have tried to talk him out of this so many times. He’s doing it. And he said that it’s on me to make it mean something. So that’s what I’m trying to do, and Marco Estrada is as vulnerable as he’s ever going to be today. We have a chance right now to do this. RIGHT. NOW. There’s no going back.” He stood and picked up his cut, pulling it on. “The club is ready. We’re riding out so you have a choice. You can stay, I’ll make sure someone stays back with you and gets you to wherever you want to go. Or you can come with us. The choice is yours.”
He left after that.
50
SHANE
She came out a minute later, an attitude cold enough to give a guy pneumonia and eyes that were lit with hate.
I didn’t care because she was here. She was coming with us. She stopped, perused over everyone and I shook my head when she finally looked at me. She wasn’t riding behind anyone except me. Her eyes went flat, her lips thinned, but she came and swung up behind me.
She snuggled in, dressed for the cold in a jacket, but I could still feel her breasts pushing up against my back. I liked that. I liked feeling all of her against me.