Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Hatred.
What had goodness and kindness gotten me? What did my rules? Shoes held together with tape and a home beneath the highway with the other discarded trash. All the while, people like Lyla thrived, climbing to the top of the remains of my broken dreams.
Cinco City never was and never would be a city of angels. Only the ruthless survived here. Only the shrewd succeeded. If I was ever going to get back what belonged to me...
I drew the switchblade concealed in the folds of my jacket and crept across the lawn.
...it was time to break the rules.
Chapter Three
Sienna’s eyes snapped open when I tried to swap places with the blanket the next morning.
“Where were you?”
I looked away, lips pressed tight.
“You went to her house again, didn’t you.” It was phrased like a question, but it wasn’t one. Sienna knew exactly where I was. “Oh, Kenzie, that witch said she’d have you arrested if she saw you hanging around again. You can’t risk it.”
“I didn’t hang around.” The confession forced out of me. “I broke in.”
Sienna shot up. “You did what? Are you insane?”
“When it comes to her, yes.”
“What if you had gotten caught?”
“I wasn’t caught. Not by her. I was caught by Lyla Dawson, though. I ran into her on Seventh Street.”
I expected my sister to jump on the subject change. She did.
“Lyla Dawson? No way.” Sienna rubbed my arm. “Are you okay?”
“No. She threw Mom in my face, then stood there licking her bloody chops like Thanksgiving came early and I was the prized turkey. She doesn’t feel an ounce of guilt for destroying our lives. Lyla even said I deserved to end up where I did, and this was just the universe putting me in my natural place.”
Red splotches stained her cheeks. “I don’t approve of this language to describe a fellow passenger on life’s journey, but since Lyla is actually a reptile in a skin suit, I have no problem saying I hope that saggy-cunt bitch flips that pretty hair into a wood chipper.”
“And that’s putting it nicely.”
“I can’t believe she’d say that to you after all she’s done. What kind of sociopath pats herself on the back after ruining someone’s life?”
“I was never just someone to Lyla Dawson,” I said softly. “From day one, it’s been personal between me and her, and last night, she saw without a doubt... that she won.”
“She didn’t win. Kenzie. One day, we’ll get it all back. A home, our family, your job. The only thing Lyla will be licking then is your boots while she’s bowing and scraping at your feet.”
“You paint the loveliest picture.” We hugged. “I hope one day it’s more than fantasy.”
Untangling myself from her, I crossed the space to check on Sunny.
“Sienna!”
Racing to him, I threw down by his side, taking his face in my hands. Sunny warmed my palms like heat leaking through a tea mug. Sweat soaked his expensive shirt—his jacket long discarded and lying in a pile next to him. He was hot, so hot, but his teeth chattered—clattering in his brain loud enough to drown out my cries. Or that’s what it seemed as I screamed for him.
“Sunny? Sunny, what’s wrong? Oh, Sunny, I’m so sorry.” I rested his head on my lap, stroking his burning forehead like I could brush the fever away. “I shouldn’t have left you.
“Sienna, we need ice, medicine—something!”
“There’s a pharmacy at the end of the street. I’ll make them help me. I don’t care if I have to steal the medicine.” Sienna ran out the door, and it didn’t cross my mind to stop her—warn her to stick to our rules. Sunny would not die because I was too broke and useless to buy him proper medicine, give him a real bed to rest, or even a fucking quarter to use a pay phone and call his family to help me.
You could say he wasn’t my problem and what happened to him wasn’t my responsibility. You could say that, and you’d be dead wrong. I decided the moment he looked up to me on the remains of my tent, that he’d live to gift his jewel tones on the world for another day. I had let down everyone in my life who relied on me. Everyone I swore to protect. Sunny wouldn’t be another casualty of my broken promises. He just couldn’t.
“Hold on, Sunny,” I whispered. I shrugged off my jacket, using the inside cloth to blot his forehead, cheeks, neck. “You’re going to be okay. I promise, you’re going to make it.”
I murmured to him over and over, holding him tight to my chest. Sunny’s eyes fluttered open and shut. His mouth worked as if trying to tell me something.
“Don’t give up.” I stroked his sculpted cheekbones. “You have to find the monster who did this. He doesn’t get to win after all the pain he’s caused. They don’t get to win.”