Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 76881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I’m frozen, terrified of what will happen if these men take me, but also scared for the bikers if they try to stop it. One on one, I have no doubt they would win, but six against three? And I know both sides are armed. If innocent people get hurt because of what I did… I send up a wordless prayer, not sure anyone is listening anymore.
Cowen laughs. “Sure. Let's see you—”
Savage moves like lightning. One moment he's standing there, looking menacing but almost bored, the next moment I’m falling to the side because he’s dodged around the main group like a quarterback and tackled Cowen straight into the side of Ash’s truck, slamming him so hard I can hear the metal buckle. Time freezes as my brain struggles to catch up to what’s happening, and I don’t think I’m the only one. Savage shoves me to the side and is on the other guy who was holding me before Cowen even hits the ground.
This is insane. Poe is locked in a grapple with Eddy, and Crank roars as he charges right into the remaining three. He drives his fist into the middle one’s stomach.
“Watch out!” I yell, as one of the others jumps up on Crank's back, snaking an arm around his neck and punching his head. Crank growls, captures the guy's shirt collar and flings him off like an annoying pest. The guy sails over Crank’s head and slams into the bed of the truck. Crank headbutts the guy he punched, sending him stumbling away from the fight groaning with his head in his hands.
I’ve never liked fighting, not even wrestling or boxing where I know it’s all for sport. It feels stupid to settle differences with your fists when words are way more effective. Just because someone is stronger, faster or better armed doesn’t mean they’re right. But right now, it’s incredibly satisfying to watch the men who were planning to do who-knows-what to me get their asses handed to them. Brutally, too. Sensible, pacifist me can be horrified later, because bloodthirsty me lights up with glee when Savage nails one of them in the face so hard that blood spurts and a couple of teeth go bouncing.
Two of them team up on Crank, forcing him backwards while they jam their fists into his sides. My heart skips. Tough or not, Crank, Savage and Poe are still outnumbered, and strength doesn’t mean much if someone pulls a gun or a knife. Crank stumbles once, twice, and then gets his fists on the backs of their collars and with a furious roar, rips them away from him, only to slam them back together. I wince at the wet, hollow sound of their skulls cracking together like pool balls. They hit the ground and I look away, nauseous. Hopefully they're just knocked out, but that sounded bad.
Nobody is paying attention to me.
I should run, but my feet won’t move. I’m frozen, cowering in place, not sure I can take another hit and hoping the right guys will come out on top.
Poe whirls by, grappling with Eddy. There’s blood streaming down his cheek, and I see a glint of a blade in Eddy’s hand. Poe dances out of his way, batting the knife away and nailing Eddy in the nose with his elbow. A stream of foul language pours out of Eddy’s mouth as he flings away the blood pouring from his nose. Poe doesn’t give him time to recover. He grabs Eddy’s hair in both hands and drives his knee right into his face.
And then it's over as suddenly as it began. Savage catches one last fighter with an impressive hook, sending him spinning into Crank, who launches him into the air and grunts with satisfaction as he hits the ground with a crunch and lies still. No one's left standing, except for Poe, Crank and Savage, looming over the slaughter like they’re daring Eddy’s guys to make a move.
Poe wipes away blood from the side of his face with the back of his hand. “Fucking bottomfeeders. Numbers don’t mean shit if nobody knows what they’re doing. Bet they spend half their time chasing down parking violations.”
Crank laughs. He’s spattered with blood, but looks like he just got off a roller coaster and had the time of his life. “We can wait around and see if they wake back up.” He nudges one of the bodies with his toe.
“Stay focused.” Savage snaps, and he stalks right for me, crouching down and putting a hand on my shoulder. “You okay, Paige? I’m really fucking sorry we didn’t get here faster.”
I nod. My head still throbs from the punch earlier, and my lip will probably be swollen tomorrow. I bet I look like a total mess and Mike won’t want me scaring off the customers. I touch my lips and my fingers come back red. All I feel is shock. It happened so fast, and I’ve never actually been hit before, not on purpose. “Yeah, I think I’m all right. I’m just glad you guys got here at all. Wait, how do you know my name?”