Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“My father lived in Alabama, and his wife went to the Baptist church Hayes’s grandfather is the minister at. When my dad had a heart attack, I, uh, left college to go help take care of him. My father wanted me to go to church because I think he believed I’d bond with my stepmother. I went, and Hayes was there. He followed me to my car after a service and asked me out. Then, the rest …” I shrugged. Sure, I’d left out a lot of details, but I didn’t think they wanted my entire life history.
“You moved out of your parents’ house after Hayes died?” Huck asked me.
I realized I hadn’t explained why I was now in Lake City, Florida.
“My stepmother’s house. My father had another heart attack four months after my return, and it killed him. He left the house and all his belongings to my stepmother. She, uh, doesn’t like me. Never has. So, yeah, I packed my things and drove south. Lake City was the first place I came to where I could afford an apartment and get a job immediately.”
Huck’s neck flexed, and I could see the muscles in it shift. The hard line of his mouth made him appear deadly, but then he was. I shivered at the thought.
“She’s the redheaded bitch from the funeral,” Huck said.
I nodded my head.
Nothing else was said for several minutes, and I rubbed my sore wrists as I looked out the window. We weren’t in Lake City, but my new employer, who was also dead now, had lived in a much better area.
“Are you going to take me home?” I finally asked when I realized we were driving farther away from Lake City and not toward it.
“No,” Huck replied without looking at me.
“Why not? I thought—I thought you weren’t going to kill me. I swear I won’t tell anyone anything,” I told him. My heart was racing again, but then it hadn’t ever slowed down completely.
Gage turned around and gave me an annoyed glare. “We don’t know if you’re telling the truth. Fuck, we don’t know that you didn’t get into Hayes’s life on purpose. Who you might be working for and if you were really there to clean that house.”
I shook my head. “But I told you, Hayes asked me out. I didn’t go after him.”
Gage laughed then, and although there were crinkles at the corners of his eyes, the gleam in them wasn’t amusement. It was calculating and terrifying. “He was a fucking man. Anyone could have hired you and sent you to wiggle your juicy ass in front of him to get his attention.”
My jaw dropped.
“Shut up,” Huck barked at him.
“We can’t take her to the house. We don’t know if she’s lying or not. What about the shop?” Gage asked.
“The house,” Huck replied.
“Gage is right. That’s not a good idea. Shop is neutral. Everyone knows its location and that you own it,” the driver said.
“We are taking her to the fucking house,” Huck said through clenched teeth.
I closed my mouth and turned my head to look out the window again. What in the world had I gotten myself into? These people were crazy. Who would hire me to go get Hayes’s attention?
“Hayes was going to be a minister,” I said just above a whisper. “I don’t understand why you think someone would have sent me to get close to him.”
I was afraid to look at Gage or Huck. The other guy remained silent as he drove.
“He was a fucking Kingston. Loving Jesus and shit don’t change that. Not in our world,” Gage said as if that made sense.
Four
Huck
“Where are we?” Trinity asked as she looked around.
“My room,” I replied.
“Are … are you going to let me go?” she asked, then bit her bottom lip.
I didn’t have an answer for that. I wasn’t sure what the fuck I was going to do with her. She’d been in the house of one of the biggest drug dealers in the southeast. He’d taken down one of our men last week. I wanted to believe she was what she had claimed to be. His house cleaner. But first, I had to pull her background. Do some checking of facts. As pissed off as Gage had made me in the damn car, he was right. We didn’t know she hadn’t been some plant. Hayes would have been a weak link, and anyone who did some looking into the family could have found him.
“I need you to stay down here. I’ve got to go to a meeting, and it’s not safe for you to leave this room. I’m going to lock you in. Don’t unlock that door for anyone,” I told her.
They were my friends, but they were also loyal to the family. That came first for all of us. I just hoped she wasn’t fucking lying.