Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Gone was the flirtatious smile. The hard line on her lips now reassured me this wasn’t her first time pulling a gun on someone.
“Fuck me,” Thatcher said with a touch of awe in his tone.
King’s gun was out of his holster and pointed at her as he took another step in her direction. “Put the gun away,” he told her.
“Thank you for the suggestion, but if you don’t mind, I think I’ll keep it out,” she replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Disarming you would take seconds. Don’t test me. Just take me to the fucker, and you can leave. Free. You aren’t who I want,” King said.
She smirked. “You made that clear, but seeing as how y’all aren’t known for your goodwill and all, I think I’ll take my chances.”
Wait … what?
“You know who we are?” I asked her, not sure I understood that right.
A real smile briefly tugged at the corners of her lips as she kept her eyes on King. “I’ve not made it this long, living on my own, without knowing who to stay clear of.”
Thatcher chuckled. “You’re just full of surprises.”
“Then, you know this isn’t a casual threat,” King sneered, clearly not amused by this.
She held her shoulders straight as she looked him in the eyes, not backing down an inch. “I’m well aware. But I can’t give you want you’re asking of me.”
King took another step in her direction, his finger too damn close to the fucking trigger. “I can make you disappear. No one will find a trace.”
She let out a heavy breath, finally showing some concern for her life. “Roger is dead. Unless you want me to take you out on a boat in the gulf to the general vicinity his body was dumped in. Seeing as it’s been three weeks now, I’d gamble the sharks have eaten his body, so it would be a pointless activity.”
Damn.
“Is that so?” King asked, clearly not believing her.
“She’s not lying,” I told him. I could see the truth in her expression.
She barely flickered a glance in my direction before going back to King and the gun he had pointed at her.
“How do we know she’s not telling us what was told to her?” he shot back at me. “I want to know who told you that and where I can find them,” he demanded.
Her eyebrows arched as she lifted them. “No one told me,” she replied.
“Listen, I’m done with your bullshit. You’re wasting my time,” he growled, taking another step toward her.
“Well, I’m done with you being in my room, demanding things from me,” she snapped at him, then took a step back.
“Listen, as entertaining as all this is, you’re real close to setting him off,” Thatcher told her.
She swallowed and let out a sigh as she lowered her gun to her side. “I know because I killed him and dropped his body in the gulf. I don’t know what he did or why you want him, but you’re late.”
Truth.
“Storm?” King asked, not lowering his gun.
“She’s telling the truth.” Or she was the best goddamn liar in the world.
“I just got hard,” Thatcher muttered.
“What? The hot one is a human lie detector?” she asked, her eyes shifting to me.
“Close enough,” I replied, unable to keep from smiling at the fact that she’d called me the hot one.
The interest in her eyes made it hard not to act on. It was always King’s face that drew the females in. When he was in the room, they always noticed him first.
“Why would you kill your own father?” King asked, still not convinced.
Her eyes swung back to him. “Is that a demand or just a nosy question?”
“Does it matter? There are three of us, armed. If you shoot, one of us will return the favor.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Because he molested me from the time I was nine years old until I escaped that hellhole. Is that enough for you? Or are you going to demand details?”
King lowered his gun and slid it back into its holster. A sick knot twisted in my gut. I’d had a feeling that Roger Ball had done the same to Rumor, although King never said more than he’d hurt her.
“I have a question for you,” she said pointedly. “What did you want with him?”
King didn’t say anything at first. I watched his jaw clench as he stared at her.
“He did the same to the woman who owns me.” He never said love. Claimed it wasn’t strong enough of a description.
Briar swallowed hard. “A former foster kid, I assume.”
King nodded.
A pained expression crossed her face. “Maybe you do have a reason to shoot me after all. That would be my fault. After I left, he hooked up with a woman because she was a foster parent. He needed another little girl to take my place. He must have moved on to Netta after that. But I made sure that cycle ended. And I’m sorry I didn’t kill him sooner.”