Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Hawk didn’t like this.
“Watch her,” Hawk said.
“Fucking hurry, Hawk. Sandy left right before I was marched down here, and she said that you said she needed to see Nikki.”
“I haven’t spoken to Sandy.”
“Then you better hope I am wrong, otherwise, Nikki’s about to be as dead as Diana.”
****
“Mom, is everything okay?” Nikki asked. “Your text was a little vague.”
She closed the front door and flicked the lock into place. It was a habit she had gotten into back at the trailer. She didn’t know if there was anyone she could trust. Also, years of having strange men just wander into the house made her a little nervous about leaving any doors unlocked.
“Mom?” Nikki asked.
In the few weeks she’d been living with her mom, Ethel always answered to her call. Nikki put her bag and keys in the designated spot in the hallway, and made her way through to the kitchen. Most of the time, her mother was at the stove, cooking or baking something, but there was no sign of her.
“Mom?”
This was starting to concern her. Her mother had never been like this. She felt a little sick to her stomach. Fear began to lick all the way down her spine. Perhaps her mom had gone out? Maybe the emergency had just mended itself?
Nikki made her way back into the dining room, and then she saw the bouquet of flowers that had been spilled on the floor. The water drenched the carpet, and the vase had been smashed. Ethel no longer liked mess. Whenever she spilled anything, it had to be cleaned up. She was a stickler for it. The kitchen was always spotless, and yes, her mother refused to let her clean it herself. According to her mother, these were all coping mechanisms to help her recover. She kept a strict regime, and it allowed her to flourish on the straight and narrow.
Something wasn’t right. That sense she relied on as a kid was back. It was the same one she had just the other night in the parking lot. Someone else was in this house and she had no gun, no way to protect herself.
“Mom?” she asked. “Are you playing hide-and-seek again?”
Ethel had never played hide-and-seek. Her mother was a lot of things, but playing as a kid was not one of them. Nikki didn’t know what to do but she had a feeling someone else was in this house, and she needed to throw them off.
Was this about herself?
Was this an enemy from her mother’s past?
She didn’t know. Didn’t have the answers.
She felt so sick, but she kept moving. It was all she could do.
Stepping into the main corridor of the house, she suddenly realized that even though it was a small house, it had quite a bit of space to maneuver, which didn’t make her feel any better.
I can do this.
Whoever this is, better not hurt my mom.
She never thought she would ever be protective of her mother, but the moment she stepped into the sitting room, she felt terrified.
Her mother was on the sofa, eyes closed, blood at her temples, and there in the corner was Sandy, pointing a gun at her.
“Hello, Nikki.”
“Sandy, what the hell are you doing?”
“Shut the fuck up, and if you move another step, this is going to be over very quickly. It’s all planned.” Sandy smiled, but it wasn’t a nice one.
This was a side of Sandy Nikki had ever seen. Not that she’d seen a lot of Sandy. The other woman visited the salon sparingly.
Nikki held her hands up, and then looked at Sandy. “What is this about?”
“Did I tell you to talk? No, I told you to shut the fuck up and take a nice, long look at your mommy.”
“What did you do to her?”
Nikki screamed as the gun went off. There was no pain, but that was because Sandy had fired off a warning shot and didn’t hit her.
“I suggest you start learning to follow orders, Nikki, otherwise, the next one is going to be in your leg, and you’re going to bleed out, and when you die, I want it to be the way I planned.”
She pressed her lips together and tried to remain calm. Her mother wasn’t moving, and she wasn’t sure if she was even breathing. What the hell was Sandy doing?
“You know, I never believed in miracles. I never believed in some stupid fucking higher power intervening and giving me what I want. The only shit you get in this world is if you take it.”
Nikki watched as she suddenly realized Sandy had been playing with some form of drugs. She was pretty sure she saw cocaine and heroin on the table. Her mother wouldn’t do that.
“Your mom, however, I guess she is proof that miracles can exist. I mean, take you, for example. I heard she treated you like shit. She was a total whore who didn’t give a fucking shit about her daughter. She took and took and took. Yet, after one magical near-death experience, poof, she changed. That was all it took. A motherfucking miracle.” She shook her head. “No, there are no miracles in this life. Just … consequences for actions.”