Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Carol?” I open the door to Roux’s social worker. “What are you…” I trail off when I see two cops with her. “What’s this?”
She gives me a gentle smile. “We’ve come to take Roux home.”
I’m already shaking my head. “W-What? No. She lives here.”
“Her mother—”
“Fuck Mom!” I bellow. “She’s an addict who has an abusive boyfriend who wants to kill me!” Are these people fucking insane?
“Son, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down,” the cop with blond hair instructs, his hand awfully close to his gun.
“Calm down? You’re about to take my sister from her happy home and toss her back to the wolves!”
“You don’t have custody,” Carol tries to explain. “This living arrangement was temporary.”
“She can’t go back there,” I cry out. “They’ll hurt her!”
“We’ve inspected Mrs. Hirsch’s apartment and find it suitable—”
“This is wrong,” I roar. “No!”
“What’s going on?” Mike’s voice carries up the stairs outside.
“Oh, good. You’re here,” Carol says. “We’re taking Roux back home.”
“Fuck,” Mike curses.
“You know the rules,” Carol states. “My hands are tied.”
“What’s going on?” Roux asks from behind me.
“Go to your room,” I plead to my sister, like that might somehow keep her safe. “Please.”
“Sweetheart,” Carol says in her nicest social worker voice. “I’m here to take you back to your mom.”
“No!” Roux yells. “I don’t want to go back!”
I try to slam the door in their faces, but the blond cop pushes inside. Before I can swing at him, Mike is on me. I struggle against him. “Let me fucking go!”
“No,” he snarls. “You let them do their job. This isn’t the way to stop it. We’ll find a way, but this will only get you in trouble.”
My eyes blur with tears as the cops have to physically restrain my sister, who tries to run. I’m no match for Mike’s brute strength, though I fucking try. Our screams are like wild animals being captured and beaten.
“Roux!” I bellow. “Roux!”
“Roan! Help!”
I’m in a rage and I’m lost. I can’t save her. I can’t fix this. I don’t know what to do. They haul her out of the living room, just past me. My fingers brush along hers as she’s dragged away. We’re both fucking crying.
How do I fix this?
How do I save her?
“Please,” I beg anyone who’ll listen. “Please. They’ll hurt her. Please don’t let them hurt my baby sister.”
Mike hugs me to him tight. Like he can hold all the breaking pieces of me together. He can’t, though. There’s too many. If I don’t have Roux, I have nothing. Alejandro will hurt her. He’ll hurt her just to fuck with me. They send her back and it’s inevitable.
I cry and plead and struggle to no avail. Carol packs up Roux’s stuff and then they’re gone. I’ve given up my fight when it’s just Mike and me.
“Roan, I’m so sorry,” he mutters, his voice cracking.
I break away from him and run into her bedroom like she might still be there. It smells like her perfume she wears now. Sweet and innocent. They’ll break her. Fuck, they’ll break my sister. I fall face first onto her bed and scream into the mattress. The tears don’t stop as I try to figure out how I’m going to fix this.
I have to fix this.
I’m not sure how long I’ve lain here losing my fucking mind, but it’s long enough that Hollis has arrived and I never even knew when he showed up. He’s just here. Holding me. Kissing me. Whispering assurances that make my heart squeeze. I hug him to me, inhaling his scent and hoping this is all a bad dream. His phone keeps buzzing in his pocket, but he ignores it to look after me.
“I’m here,” he murmurs, his fingers stroking through my hair, soothing me. “I’m here.”
I manage to crack my eyes open so I can look at him. He’s not my pale porcelain boy today. No, he’s gray. Why the fuck is my boyfriend gray?
“Is this a nightmare?” I croak.
“Yeah. Feels like one.”
It’s not a nightmare, though.
Roux has been taken from me and my boyfriend looks like death.
“I’m going to steal her back,” I tell him, violence thrumming in my voice. “Then I’m taking you to the motherfucking hospital.”
His lips that once were pink but are nearly as gray as his skin press together. “You can’t steal her, Roan. You have to be smart.” I don’t miss that he ignores my comment about the hospital.
“I’m tired of being smart,” I growl. “It has gotten me absolutely fucking nowhere.”
Hollis whines and I think he’s going to argue with me, but he’s hurting. Like really fucking hurting. He rolls away from me, curling into a fetal position, his arms clutching his stomach.
“Hollis,” I bark out, sitting up. “What’s wrong?”
He shudders. “I’m going to be sick.”
I jolt into action, helping him to his feet and taking him to the bathroom. He’s barely on his knees before he starts puking.