Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Not this time. Not this time.
He drove under the cover of night, having no fucking clue where they were going, but knowing there was no chance in hell he’d ever return his sister to that hellhole.
A whimper rolled out of her, and he reached out to set his hand on her knee. She flinched, and he had to fight with everything he had against the urge to turn the car around and go back and end the motherfucker once and for all.
The thirst for it crawled through him, so compelling he didn’t know how he resisted it, other than knowing he had to get his sister to safety.
Permanently.
“Where are we going?” she finally whispered into the flickering dimness.
He glanced at her as they passed beneath the lights that lined the city street. “Someplace safe,” he promised her.
Somewhere he could protect her.
Somewhere that piece of shit could never get to her again.
Only he had nothing. Nothing but his hands and his determination to survive. His determination to see his sister thrive.
He rented them a room at a crappy motel in Hollywood, more than an hour away from their house in the suburbs, and when he went to look for a job the next day and came up short, he snagged a loaf of bread and two apples from the store on the corner.
He felt like shit about it, but he didn’t have much choice. There was nowhere to turn. No one he could trust.
He knew if he went to the cops, his sister would likely end up right back at that motherfucker’s house.
He skidded to a stop when he came out of the store and rounded the corner, catching the eye of a guy who was leaned up against the wall of the alley. He was likely close to River in age, dirty and definitely on the rough side.
He pulled in a long drag of his cigarette as he lifted his chin at River. “You want to steal somethin’, you shouldn’t walk in looking like you’re already guilty of it.”
River grunted and started to move around him.
The guy pushed from the wall, his attention dropping to the bulge in River’s shirt where he’d stuffed the food.
“You hungry?” the guy asked, eyeing River in speculation.
“It’s for my sister.”
The guy nodded like he got it, and he angled his head. “Name’s Theo. You should probably come with me.”
TWELVE
RIVER
“Whose fuckin’ terrible idea was this, anyway?” I grumbled from where I sat at the back of Kane’s booth at the festival, nursing a lukewarm beer from a disposable cup.
He’d rented one of those large canopy tents like you’d see at a wedding since there’d been no question that his was going to be the most sought-after attraction. The sides had been left open, and long tables lined the front where five of his staff filled beers from the rows of kegs as fast as they could.
No one was surprised the lines were unending.
We sat tucked back from the mayhem, a ring of low-slung fabric folding chairs set up in a circle.
Raven’s booth was right next door. Hers was maybe a tenth of the size of Kane’s, though the girl was probably bringing in double of anyone else since she just had a way of charming the pants off anyone who came by.
Kane clapped me on the shoulder as he plopped into a chair, scratching his fingers through his perfectly trimmed brown beard. “What are you complaining about, brother? You’ve got a beer in your hand and this gorgeous scenery all around. What could be so bad?”
He waved a tatted hand around the park where the festival had been set up in the fields. A slew of evergreens grew high, surrounding the park, steepled tips stabbing into the blazing blue sky.
A band played on a stage across the field, and a makeshift dance floor with lights strung between the trees had been set up below it. It was basically empty at this time of day except for a group of what looked to be eight-year-old girls doing cartwheels on it, but it was likely to be packed once the sun went down.
Behind us, the park rolled right up to the edge of the lake, and a ton of kids and families were playing on the beach.
The water glinted and sparkled with the rays of sunlight that slanted down, the rambling expanse dotted with ski boats that left white waves in their wake.
Beyond it the mountain range rose high.
It was gorgeous, but it was also hot as fuck, and it didn’t help things that I was still sweating from the unfortunate encounter that I’d stumbled into yesterday afternoon.
Skin sticky and slick at the memories of the way Charleigh had felt when I’d been pressed up against her in the breakroom.
At the way she’d smelled. At the way I’d almost been able to taste her.