Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
The big man laughs gruffly. “Stop flattering me, doll.”
Jane giggles manically. She sounds unhinged as she lays her hand on his shoulder. I can feel Cillian junkie-shaking from the hammer point driving over and over against the back of my neck.
“But it’s good luck,” Jane goes on. “We all have beef with the same man. This toad. Mr. High and Mighty. On his golden pedestal in his ivory tower.”
“Is that why you got an abortion?” Ellie spits, looking brave and capable despite the vomit clinging to her chin. “To spite him?”
“Oh, Jesus Christ, Ellie, you’re soft, and I don’t just mean physically.” She cackles at her own cruel joke. “I’ve done a lot…”
Ellie pushes on when she stops. Apparently, even her drug-addled mind doesn’t want to incriminate itself. “I’m not scared of you, Aunt Jane.”
“Do you think I need you to be?”
“I’ve seen you crying like a baby,” Ellie says, her voice taking on a vicious, Jane-like tone. I know she’s doing it intentionally. I just don’t know why. “I’ve seen you at your lowest, covered in snot, as you wailed for your fiancé.”
“My fiancé,” Jane giggles. “You really are a stupid fucking piggy, aren’t you?”
I roar, my instincts trying to send me to my feet, but then Cillian pushes with even more pressure against my neck. “Stop making so much noise.”
He’s got it buried in there. I feel blood dripping over my shoulders. If I turn, it will mean twisting myself up. “Stop moving and shut up.”
“Ooh, you’re so scary,” Ellie says, laughing. “You’re a joke, Aunt Jane.”
“This joke ruined your life,” Jane snaps, waving her hand in her niece’s face, but Ellie doesn’t flinch. “This joke turned your little prank into a phenomenon. An event.”
“Jane,” Cillian mutters.
“What? It’s the truth. You put the nose on her. You made the oink noises, but I saw the potential, just like I saw the potential in you, jock boy. I’m in charge, nobody else. I’m the one who calls the goddamn shots. I can make all the teenagers in an entire county turn on one person. I can hang with men, men in the streets. I’m aces, me, better than you’ll ever be, kiddo. Remember that.”
Ellie blinks. Tears are in her eyes, but I can tell she’s trying not to let them dominate her. She sits up. “Is that true? Were you really behind it?”
“I’m behind everything. Nothing happens to me without me deciding it. That’s better than being in control. It’s called being God. Cillian… He’s my puppet.”
“What about you, big man?” I stare up at the bald, gold-toothed man. “Are you her puppet too?”
“I’m nobody’s puppet,” he grunts.
I need to get him away from the women. If I suddenly lie flat, it will relieve the pressure from the hammer, but then I’ll be lying on my front. So I’ll have to attack like a dog, spring up, and do the most vicious and violent thing possible to end the fight.
My heart is pounding so hard, but not as hard as it did the first time I told my woman I loved her. Not as hard as it does when I think about the future, our children.
“So I guess you did give yourself that bruise,” Ellie says.
Jane laughs madly. “Oh, Christ. You’re still talking about that? I already said whatever happens to me, I choose. I could’ve killed Max if I wanted to. You should’ve seen him cry when I told him about his precious baby.”
“So you did it,” Ellie screams.
Jane yells, spins, and glares. “I did all of it, you little bitch. I’m the female Pablo Escobar. I could have you killed. Do you think it was a coincidence that Cillian turned up where you work? Are you that dense? I’m a mastermind.”
“Easy, honey,” the big man says. “You’re useful, but you talk too much.”
“We’re here for you,” Jane snaps. “There he is. Go on. Do what you need to do.”
When she gestures at me, the big man nods. He meets my eye with a new intensity. “You remember what you did, Professor?”
I bare my teeth at him. Let him see the fight in me, just like those dogs. Just like Petey and Kelly, too, fighting her addiction, doing better this time. I’m showing him I’m not scared. “I remember you dropping like a sack of shit.”
He laughs, nodding. “I can tell by looking at you that you’re not a man afraid of a physical altercation.”
“You’re goddamn right.”
“So, what about this?” When he turns toward Ellie, my vision wavers and turns red like blood sliding down my eyes. I’m raging inside. That’s my woman, mine. “Come here, sweetie. I won’t hurt you.”
Whatever he has planned, it has to stop. I don’t have time to see if he will taunt me with a threat or seriously hurt my woman. All I can think about is the well-being of my partner. This is savage survival now. This is out-in-the-wild stuff. Ten thousand years ago, I would’ve had to respond the same around the campfire to keep my woman safe.