Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“What’s that smile about?”
“You.” She crawled in next to me as she said, “You make me happy.”
“You make me happy, too.” I leaned down and kissed her on her forehead. “I love you, Londyn.”
“I love you more.”
She closed her eyes, and in a matter of minutes, she’d drifted off to sleep. Having her snuggled up next to me felt so fucking good, and hearing the soothing sounds of her breathing made it impossible to stay awake. The next morning, I woke early and decided to go to the local diner to grab us all some breakfast. It was just a small Mom and Pop place, but it had the best breakfast burritos in a hundred-mile radius. When I got there, Maverick and Dad were sitting in the back having coffee with Bones and Wrath.
I wasn’t exactly surprised. The diner was just around the corner from my folks’ place, and he ate there all the time. I walked over and said, “Morning.”
“Morning.” Cotton smirked as he teased, “Mighty early for you to be up and at ‘em.”
“Just grabbing some breakfast and then heading back home. Gonna be another busy day of unpacking.” I pulled a chair over and sat down at the end of the table. “What about you guys? What do you have going on?”
“We’re about to head over to your sister’s place. We’re gonna help paint her new apartment.”
“That sounds like loads of fun.”
“Yeah, it should be loads. You should...”
Before he could finish his thought, the front door flew open, and Mr. Graves stepped inside. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days, which wasn’t exactly surprising. The man had just lost his wife, but what was surprising was the fact that he was carrying his old shotgun.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Graves shouted, “Where is he?”
The diner fell eerily silent.
“Where is he?” Graves repeated.
He started scanning the room, and his eyes widened with rage when he looked over at the group in the corner. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized that Bruton was there. He was sitting with the mayor and a local lawyer, and he looked like a deer in headlights when Graves lifted his shotgun and aimed it at his chest. “It was you! You’re the reason she’s gone!”
“Easy there, Bill. It was an accident.”
“An accident that never would’ve happened if you hadn’t petitioned for that goddamn light!”
“It was for the safety of the town.”
“The safety of the town!” Graves took a charging step towards Bruton as he roared, “You killed my wife.”
Customers started to get skittish and eased away from Graves, slowly inching for the door. Dad, being Dad, stood and started making his way over to Graves. Wrath and I tried our best not to spook him as we followed slowly behind. Dad kept his voice calm and steady as he said, “Bill, you don’t want to do this. There are kids in here. You’re scaring ‘em.”
“I’m sorry about that, Cotton, but I can’t let this go.” Graves kept the gun trained on Bruton. “He stole my Bec from me.”
“Now, you know that’s not how it happened.” Bruton stood and held his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry about your wife, but you gotta know that killing me isn’t going to change anything.”
“He’s right. Put the gun down, Bill.”
“I can’t go on without her. I just can’t.”
“Bill, this is crazy. Just put the...”
Bruton didn’t get to finish that sentence. Graves pulled the trigger and sent him flailing back before words ever had a chance to leave his mouth. We charged forward. Dad and Wrath tackled Graves to the ground and rid him of his shotgun while Bones and I went to see about Bruton.
It was bad. He got hit right in the chest, and he was bleeding out fast. One of the waitresses came over with some towels and said, “I’ve called for an ambulance.”
I nodded, then took the towels and pressed them against his chest, hoping to suppress the bleeding. Bruton’s eyes were fluttering, and he was struggling to hold on. I couldn’t believe it. The man had worked with some of the most dangerous men in the world, and now, he was going to be taken out because of a fucking traffic light.
I tried to encourage him by saying, “Hold on. Help is coming.”
Bruton reached for Bones, grabbing the collar of his T-shirt and pulling him close as he muttered, “Sawyer 247.”
“What?”
“Sawyer.... 2... 4... 7.”
“Is that supposed to mean something?”
“2... 4....”
And that was it.
Those were the last words he spoke.
Bruton was gone, and we were left to pick up the pieces.
There was just one problem—we had no clue just how many pieces there were, but we would soon find out and it would change Fury forever.
Epilogue
Three weeks later....
“I always thought you were a few fries short of a Happy Meal.”