Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
He pulled me along with him, yanking my arm so hard that I thought for sure it’d fall off on his next yank, and I had to stifle a cry.
The next yank came when I protested going into the hallway that was dark and looked like it was filled with even more smoke than where we’d just come out of.
The moment the door was closed behind us, I broke free of him by stabbing my three-inch heels into his foot and started running.
With the darkness of the hallway, and the smoke that was rising up from somewhere beyond the darkness, I completely missed the step that led up, and immediately face-planted.
What kept me going, though, was the pounding of boots at my back and the hoarse curses of Troy as he easily caught up with me.
The light above me turned on, and I cringed when I was no longer cloaked in the darkness.
I started crawling across the floor toward a classroom door, and realized that I couldn’t breathe. My breaths were burning in my chest.
The strange thing, though?
I could fucking see. The smoke, although thick, wasn’t enough to hinder my vision. Only enough to make it hard to breathe.
My elbows and hands burned like a mother fucker from my fall, and it took everything I had in me not to start bawling as I continued to move.
This was not how I had envisioned my graduation day going.
The sound of pounding boots got closer.
“No, I do not think so,” Troy laughed evilly from behind me and caught my foot before I could make it any further. “I never said you could go.”
I whimpered and rolled over onto my back, tears of frustration filling my eyes as I thought about everything I would lose if Troy won.
Which led to him dragging me again.
He pulled me into the room I’d tried to escape from earlier, sat me down in a chair and tied me up. Once assured that I was in place and couldn’t leave it, he immediately picked up a red plastic gas can and started to spread gasoline around me and my chair in a wide arc.
A loud boom shook the building, and this time I managed to stay awake and aware. This boom wasn’t like the other boom.
My questions must’ve shown on my face, because Troy gladly explained.
“Did you know you can look up how to make a bomb on the Internet?” he asked as he placed the gas can down next to my feet.
That was a fucking bomb?
The smell of the gasoline fumes filled the air, and I had to bite back my nausea in order not to puke on myself.
It wasn’t likely that there was anything left in my belly, but it would be my luck that I did and it’d land all over me.
“You can also buy everything you need to make it around town,” he grinned. “The feed store has a really nice fertilizer that worked great for my purposes.”
I remained silent; my brain, however, was working double time.
Could I get out of here without hurting myself too badly?
One tug on my hands at my back, though, had me realizing that wasn’t going to happen.
He’d tied them so tightly that I could barely move them.
“If I knew I could get money out of being with you, I would’ve kept you instead of chasing after and marrying the bitch,” Troy hissed.
“What money are you talking about?” I asked in confusion. “I don’t have any money.”
“Your dad won the lottery, you dipshit.” Troy looked at me like I was more stupid than he thought. “He bought you a house. Only after he found out I got you pregnant and dropped you, though. Stupid. So stupid.”
He wasn’t making any sense.
None.
“Troy,” I tried again. “Maybe we can take this outside where the building isn’t burning down around us.”
It was burning down, too.
There was smoke. More and more of it every minute that we sat here and spoke about stupid things.
He tossed me an evil look, then disappeared out into the hallway, coming back moments later with a barely conscious Jade in his arms.
He propped her up beside me, and then smiled at the two of us.
“I always wanted sisters,” he grinned manically.
I refused to respond to that.
We weren’t sisters.
We were as far away from sisters as we could be.
“So … what now?” I asked, a cough starting up in my throat.
“Now we wait.”
“Wait for what?” I asked in confusion.
He smiled but didn’t respond.
And I had my answer minutes later.
Chapter 24
If violence isn’t solving the problem, you’re not using it right.
-Fact of Life
Bowe
“Here,” I helped Ariel up into my seat in the fire truck. “Stay here with Elise. Don’t leave. I’ll find your mom and sister. Okay?”
Ariel followed my instructions and reached for Elise.
I handed her over, reluctantly, grabbed my gear off the floor by her feet, and closed the door.