Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“Too bad. Looks like I already am.” She grinned and buckled her seat belt.
When Nora got her mind set on something, there was no changing it. I would have had to physically carry her out of that car in order to make her stay home. And even then, she would have woken up the whole damn neighborhood, including Thea, if I tried to force the issue.
“Suit yourself,” I said, snatching the car into reverse once it had finally rumbled to life.
We hadn’t made it more than a few miles when I realized I had no fucking idea where I was going. Caskey lived in the mayor mansion downtown, surrounded by a tall iron fence. I could have been fucking Spiderman and I would not have been able to get to him.
But it was a Saturday night; there was no way that asshole was at home already.
Nora was only a freshman, but the school was small and she knew enough of my friends to stay in the know.
“Where are the parties at tonight?” I growled.
“Uh,” she drawled. “Since when are you up for partying? Oh my God, did Thea break up with you?”
“No.” Though, after the shit that had gone down, she should have. I white-knuckled the steering wheel. “Just tell me where the hell everyone is hanging out tonight.”
She motioned a hand over her basketball shorts and oversized T-shirt. “I’m hardly dressed for a party.”
“Nora!” I boomed, my voice echoing around the car. “Tell me where.”
“Jesus, cranky much?” she mumbled. “Fine. Avery Johnson invited all the seniors over for a field party, but I heard a lot of the juniors were planning to crash.”
I slowed at the stop sign and hung a hard right onto the long dirt road that led to the Johnsons’ farm.
“You gonna tell me what’s going on now or should I start guessing?”
I shook my head. No fucking way was I telling her what Josh had done to my Sparrow. Thea didn’t want to call the cops or tell her dad. She and Nora were close, but I was reasonably sure she did not want my blabbermouth sister to know about it, either.
Dirt flew up as I sped down the road, my car making a hell of a racket each time I hit one of the bumps in the uneven road.
She braced one hand on the dash and the other on the handle above her hand. “Right. Yeah. This totally seems like nothing. We’re just out for a late-night drive, huh?”
“Shut up,” I rumbled.
We were still at least a mile away from the Johnsons’ driveway, but cars lined both sides of the road. Squinting and searching for Josh’s black pickup, I flipped on my brights, but they were useless against the dry cloud of dust.
And then, out of nowhere, God delivered me both a miracle and a tragedy.
“Watch out!” Nora screamed as a shadowy figure staggered down the center of the road.
I stomped on the brakes, skidding to a stop inches away from him.
Josh.
Drunk as a fucking skunk.
Alone on a dark road.
After he’d put his hands on my Sparrow.
I smiled from ear to ear. Come on. If there was ever a sign that this asshole needed to pay, that was it.
“Stay in the car,” I ordered.
“Oh, God, why? What are you doing?” Nora asked, panic clear in her voice as she suddenly read my intentions.
I got out without replying.
“Ramsey,” she hissed, rolling the window down.
Ignoring her, I rounded the front of the car.
Using his hand to block the headlights, Josh swayed on his feet and slurred, “What the hell, dude? You almost hit me.”
There was no almost about it. I gave him no warning as I wrapped my hand in the front of his shirt and then buried my fist in his face. Blood exploded from his mouth. But all I saw was Thea, naked and cowering in a tent.
“You motherfucker!” I roared, hitting him again. “You think it’s okay to fucking touch a girl.” My fist landed in his eye and he stumbled back, but I yanked him toward me again, my face vibrating as I roared in his face, “My girl!”
He shoved at my shoulders. “Get the fuck off me. I didn’t do shit to Thea that she didn’t want.”
He could have dumped a gallon of gas on me and flicked a match at my feet and it still would have enraged me less. My vision flashed red and rational thought left me.
I hit him. And hit him. And when my hand was aching to the point I was positive it was broken, I hit him even harder. I held him by his throat, only his tiptoes scraping the dirt road as I walked him backward, unable to punch him hard enough to give myself any kind of satisfaction.
Finally, when I couldn’t hit him anymore, I threw him to the ground and kicked him in the stomach. “Stay the fuck away from her.”