Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
“Am I? You honestly think he doesn’t lie to you all the fuckin’ time? Why would he let me take you so far away from him if he cared what I did to you? No. He’s just been waitin’ to take his revenge on you for bein’ born a girl. And your sisters? Yeah. They’ll be next. Assumin’ I don’t just take them myself. Might give them the same as I’m gonna give you. And Claw won’t give a good Goddamn.” He held his hands out to his sides before dropping them. “Here I am. Claw’s revenge. Prepare yourself, you little puke. Tonight, you’re gettin’ what you’ve deserved a long fuckin’ time. Take it like a good girl, and I’ll spare your sisters. Maybe.”
Despite his words, Hammer didn’t give me more than the two seconds it took him to cross the room to me. Then he gave me the beating of my life.
After he left me broken and bleeding in my room, I lay there for a long time. The sun was still up but setting fast. Shadows started lengthening against the walls and the light outside dimmed.
I couldn’t call my dad. It was too late to be sensible and go to Lemon. I had no phone anyway. No car. No way to escape. After tonight, I had no doubt I’d never leave this house again. Not alive at any rate. There was nowhere to go.
No way out.
Except there was. I’d prepared weeks ago. I just needed to get outside to the backyard without Hammer seeing me. I remember hearing his bike bellowing as he sped off after he’d finished beating me. Though I’d passed out, I didn’t think he’d come back yet. It was still partially daylight, and he usually wouldn’t come home until the wee hours of the morning. Then he’d be so drunk he’d be lucky to make it home at all.
It took a while, but I managed to crawl to the bedroom door. I rested before carefully opening it to peek out. The house was dark. Still. Lifeless.
A sob broke free. Instead of fear, though, all I felt was peace. This was happening. When I was done, Hammer wouldn’t be able to hurt me anymore. The thought was enough to give me the courage to open the door farther and crawl out into the living room. Sure enough, Hammer was nowhere to be found. Thank God.
With a muffled groan, I managed to make it to my feet. Bracing myself against the wall, I took one careful, tentative step. Pain shot through my left hip where he’d kicked me several times. I thought it was just bruised, but there was a good possibility he’d dislocated or broken my hip. It held my weight but hurt like a mother. Still, I managed to make it to the kitchen and the back door.
Almost there. Just a little farther.
I wasn’t sure what I should be feeling, but my mind was at peace. Nothing beyond putting one foot in front of the next passed through my brain. Blessed emptiness. Calm.
My sisters’ faces came to me then. They were only ten but already giving everyone hell. Lemon reminded me a lot of Sunshine and Rainbow. They both thought they could fix the world. Because our father had told us we could. Grim Road could. That’s what Grim did. They took care of the bad guys. Except it seemed like there were bad guys in their ranks they were unaware of.
Well. I couldn’t get that information to my dad. Hammer had taken me away from home and confiscated any means I had of contacting anyone who might be willing to help in Grim. Even if he hadn’t, I wasn’t sure there was anyone there whom I could trust other than my sisters. If I told the wrong person I was in trouble, Sunshine and Rainbow might pay the price.
No. It was better like this.
With hands more steady than I’d have thought, I pulled a chair with me to a tree in the backyard. I positioned it at just the right angle before climbing up onto it and reaching above me to the limb almost out of reach. I checked to make sure everything was secure…
Then did the only thing I knew might set me free. I only hoped my sisters would forgive me. Just before blackness dotted the edges of my vision, I heard the roar of a motorcycle. I hoped this would be over before Hammer found me. God help me if it wasn’t.
Chapter Four
Mars
“I’m telling you we need to go now!” Lemon was nothing if not persistent when she wanted something, but this was a record even for her. She was all up in Wylde’s business, raging and more insistent than I’d ever seen her, and that was saying something.
“Honey, we don’t have any reason to go barging into that house.” Danica looked sympathetic but also helpless. I got the feeling she believed her younger sister when she came running full speed into the clubhouse to Wylde’s office, but wasn’t sure how to go about fixing the problem.