Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
“I love you, son. Always.”
She leaves, and it’s not until the front door closes that I realize I didn’t say it back. Have I ever? Have I ever told my mother that I love her? Because I do. I expect her to know. I’ve always expected her to know.
Before I realize it, my feet carry me to the front door. I swing it open, the prickling adrenaline of mania cursing through my veins. In five rounds, gunshots fire out around me. Less than a second later, my Glock is in my hand and I’m unloading my clip toward the driver’s window of the beaming headlights.
“Priest!” The scream that leaves Mom sends a shrill down my spine as tires squeal off in the distance, taking her cries with them.
Moose rushes through the front door, shoving me backward but it only gives me easy access to my keys. I shove him out of the way, the door to my Skyline isn’t even closed when I fire it up and floor it down my driveway. I don’t see anyone or anything. Not the spill of people that dive away for cover as I redline down the cobblestone path.
The twists and turns as I pass every tree only quicken my pulse. It’s not until I see those fucking headlights that everything else dissolves around me.
My phone blares in the background, but I can’t. I can’t see anything but my mom and the shots that were fired. Had one hit her?
I hit the bottom of my driveway and swing it around onto Elite Boulevard. The screaming roar of the RB engine flatlining when I hit every corner.
Nothing.
Not a single fucking thing.
My phone rings again, and this time I hit the answer button.
“Your house. Now.”
“Dad—”
“Priest.”
“Fuck!” I slam the palm of my hand against the button to hang up, swinging the ass end of my car around and flooring it back up the driveway. Everything plays on repeat.
My mother.
The fresh ink on my back.
The words I never said.
The words she said.
My chest weighs heavy the closer I get to my house. The further away I am from her. As soon as I pull back up to the front, I swing out of the car and climb the stairs. I don’t care about the people walking down the street. It’ll be another fucking gossip session for them to talk about at school come Monday.
“Priest, get inside.” Moose tugs on my arm, but I stop, looking down at my feet. A pool of blood glows back up at me like a taunting reminder of what I have possibly lost. I took her for granted. Every fucking time.
“She’s hurt…”
“Inside!”
“She’s hurt!” It’s a roar, my fist in his shirt. I can’t see straight. “This—this gavel, Moose—” My eyes shift around the room. I don’t give a fuck who hears. “It means nothing! Nothing if I can’t protect the people I fucking love!” I swallow but it feels like sandpaper, the vein in my head thudding.
Dad’s shadow appears in front of me. His eyes rimmed red, his hair matted with blood.
“What happened?” My brows weigh to the center. “You were here?”
Dad doesn’t say another word, his throat tightening.
“Dad.”
“Get inside.”
I take a step forward and wince when pain radiates from my stomach. My head spins as I cover the pain with my hand. Dad’s eyes drop to my movement.
His face pales even more than it already had. Fuck. “Now. Doc is here to fix you up.”
“Shit.” I stumble through the door, my pulse pumping weakened blood from the alcohol. Dad catches me in his arms. The room tilts upside down as my whole body vibrates. Sweat shivers down my spine, the rush of people moving around me.
“Mom’s hurt. We have to find—find her—” I look up at Dad, desperate for anything. I could count on one hand how many times in my life I’ve needed him.
Once.
Now.
He squeezes the back of my neck, pulling me to him. “She is, but you’re worse right now and we can’t have a dead King.”
Laughter bubbles up my throat at his ridiculousness. “Death was bound to happen. After all…I’ve fucked with the laws of nature for long enough.”
“Priest…” Dad growls above, but he’s getting smaller, darker, farther away.
“Priest, I swear to God if you die on me during our first!” Evie’s cries are distant now. Ice burning through my veins.
Cold.
Ice.
“Priest, I swear to God!” The loud crashes become a distant memory. “Vaden! We’re losing—shit. Oh no!” Evie’s cries do nothing to keep me grounded. Everything around me slows and dims, as if the world turns quiet. I don’t realize how heavy the weight I carry is until I feel the pull of sleep calling to me through a black hole.
Air fills my lungs for the last time.
An overwhelming flood of warmth spreads over my cheek before a drip lands against my mouth. Lips touch mine, and a flame begins to flicker to life in my chest.