Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“I have ways to clean up the mess,” I told him bluntly. “I could’ve made Cole disappear yesterday with nary a trace. Yet, I allowed you to know. If you fight me on this, I won’t make that decision twice. I will not put Sabrina’s safety at risk. Now, it’s time to make your decision and stick with it. Because I can promise you now, we’ll know if you don’t.”
I could tell he wanted to argue.
Yet, he surprised me by walking away and not looking back.
My brothers parted, giving them room.
But not enough to show subservience.
“Take care,” Shine said quietly.
I visibly saw Cole’s father stiffen.
“Don’t follow through with that threat in your eyes,” Bram warned. “Face it, we have resources you don’t. Not to mention, none of us give a fuck about a little blood on our hands.”
When the dad went to turn, to say something in response, the brothers grabbed their father’s arms, one on each side of him, and practically hauled him to their vehicle.
When they drove away, it was Haggard who said, “Let’s give them a little taste. Maybe a warning to let them know what’ll happen if they decide to change their minds.”
“On it,” Jeremiah, my uncle, said. “I’ll follow them home. Give them the warning again. Reiterate why it would be a bad idea. Then I’ll tap their phones and house while I’m at it just to be sure.”
Then he left with a smile on his face.
The rest of my club turned to look at me expectantly. “What are y’all doing here?”
“Came to see if you wanted a ride to work,” Haggard said as he paused. “And to catch some breakfast before we go.”
I looked at my brothers, then glanced down, noticing I was still very much in my underwear.
“I need to change…” I started to say, but a keening whimper had me whipping around and hurrying toward the sound without a second thought.
I heard the pound of my brothers’ feet as they followed me.
I shouldered past the partially open door to find Sabrina on the ground with her knees folded under her, her head resting on the bed next to her grandfather’s hand.
She was holding his hand, and it was then that I saw the unhealthy blue of his weathered fingers.
“Oh, Sabrina,” I found myself saying before I could think better of it.
Sabrina glanced up, wiping the tears off of her face with her free hand, and said, “The man ate the rest of my cookies.”
I looked at the bag of empty ginger snaps, the half cup of coffee, and the way that her bottom lip was quivering.
I shook my head and said, “Daniel, what do you want me to do?”
Daniel ran his hand down his face. “I need to call the JP—justice of the peace—and get him out here. He’s gonna think we have something bad going on, bad juju or something, having two deaths at the same address two days in a row.”
I snorted and turned to my closest brother—which happened to be Tide—and said, “Can you call the JP?”
Tide nodded. “I can.”
“And can one of you get a hold of the funeral home? Let him know that they’re coming?” I asked.
“I’ll do that,” Bram offered.
“I’ll go get some breakfast,” Haggard offered. “I was going to do that anyway.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m gonna go put on some pants.”
Sabrina snickered, despite her tears, and it was the most beautiful thing I’d heard in days.
But, before I made it all the way out of the room, I glanced at the old man that meant so much to my girl.
DS was dead.
He’d passed away in his sleep in the middle of the night, with a smile on his face, and an empty cookie bag in his lap.
“I don’t think he could’ve picked a better way to go,” I found myself saying.
Sabrina snorted. “See if someone can get me some cookies, too. I’m gonna need them.”
CHAPTER 25
Your genitals are voice activated if they’re amused by dirty talk.
-Text from Price to Sabrina
SABRINA
The next few months went a little crazy.
After the death of my grandfather, life felt like a whirlwind.
One week, we were celebrating my grandfather’s life, and the next, we were starting chemo with my dad.
My dad, my big, strong, tree of a dad that didn’t let anything bring him down, was brought down hard.
And fast.
He’d had to take a leave of absence that he did not like having to take—because it kept him busy and not thinking about the things he couldn’t control, like his cancer.
Then, during that time, a hurricane had hit the lower Southern states, Louisiana and Texas in particular, and Price had gone from barely having free time, to hardly having enough time to take a pee on the side of the road on the way to another call.
School also started, which meant lots and lots of work for me, and less and less time to focus on the things that I wanted to focus on—like my dad and Price.