Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“So when I started seeing Franky—well, I got an idea.”
That admission made my head spin, as if a bucket of ice had been dropped from above me. “You and Franky were together?”
That explained how he got Franky’s car, how he was able to shift some of the suspicion in the opposite direction.
“Oh yeah. I caught him one day after he was leaving your place. Even when you two were secretly together, he was fucking around with other men. So much for being in a closet—Franky’s hiding out in a warehouse. And he’s still angry about it. He’s still very resentful, more so now that he’s with his wife. And he’d also always talk about you, to the point that it made me jealous. But not because he still wanted you, but because I wasn’t the only one who fell for your spell.”
I swallowed, my mind racing to process this information while trying to come up with a way out of this. How the hell were Jake and I going to make it through tonight in one piece? I had little to no fighting skills, and neither of us was armed.
But maybe I could talk my way out of this…
And if that didn’t work, maybe me secretly working at undoing Jake’s knot would help.
“So you made up that fake threat with the chicken head. You thought you’d pin it on Franky and I’d come running into your arms for support that night. But you weren’t counting on Jake being over.”
“No, I wasn’t counting on Jake at all. When he entered the picture, I thought I could cut him out of it. Leave you mourning after your boyfriend overdosed on a bad batch of fentanyl-laced coke. Injected into the system, it would show up the same as if he snorted it. I thought that would do the trick.”
I avoided the urge to look down as my fingers dug into the thick rope, trying to find the areas with the most amount of slack, tugging and tugging without moving a single muscle in my arm, only my hand.
“That was the night you tried breaking into my house?” Jake asked.
“And still, that didn’t work. Nothing worked. Nothing is going to work. But I can’t keep going, Noah. Not without you. I can’t explain it. You treated me right—you treated me like a human. You were like my father, the only other man in my life who ever loved me. I only had him for nine years before he died of a heart attack. A monster took his place. My stepdad messed me up, Noah. He would lock me in the bathroom for days, telling me to drink from the toilet like a dog until I decided to come out acting like a man.
“He hated me for being gay, for being flamboyant. And I hated him. And I hated myself. And now I hate you both. I hate all of this.” His hands were shaking, but mine were now steady. Adrenaline sharpened my focus, turning it into a diamond’s edge, sharp and lethal. I just had to untie Jake, and then maybe the two of us could overtake him. As heartbreaking as Robby’s story was, I knew I couldn’t let it affect me. The innocent Robby was gone, transformed by the hatred he’d been fed as a kid.
“What are you doing back there?” Robby asked, eyes dropping to Jake as if he could see right through him. “Step the fuck back.”
“Robby, listen to me,” I said, my voice proving to be not nearly as steady as my hands. “You can still walk away from this. We all can. Just put the gun down and let us go. Please, Robby. What your stepdad did to you was wrong, but it—”
He aimed the gun at the ceiling and let out a shot, the explosive sound making my entire body vibrate. My ears rang. He trained the gun back onto the two of us. He was about five feet away from us, way too far for me to try and make a grab for the gun.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Don’t talk about him. Just step away from Jake. Step away, there. Stop.”
I had to listen to him. But with each step I took, I could feel the hope I had for getting out of this alive slipping further and further out of my grasp.
“Please, Robby, please.” I entered into the begging phase. Would dropping to my knees make a difference?
I looked to Jake, and I realized one thing: if I couldn’t make it out of this, I needed to make sure he did. “At least let Jake go. Please. You want me, don’t you? Then take me, but let Jake go.”
“No, no,” Jake said, looking at me now. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. Where you go, I go. It’s a done deal. I love you, baby. I won’t leave you here. Never.”