Total pages in book: 227
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 220940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1105(@200wpm)___ 884(@250wpm)___ 736(@300wpm)
“She’s a virgin,” I breathe, looking at Brad. Fuck. I didn’t see that coming.
Brad seems to come round from his daze, looks at us all, then walks off, going into the men’s changing room.
James gets up and follows him, and, of course, I do too. I walk in behind James, and we find Brad on the bench. I know what’s running through his head. “I bet you’re thanking your lucky fucking stars you resisted temptation, mate, because I don’t even want to consider the consequences if King doesn’t get his one-hundred-million-dollar virgin back.” We could take on the Russians, even the Russians and the Mexicans together, but add King, his arsenal, and his love of explosives into the mix? Yeah. I don’t mind admitting that we’d be biting off more than we could chew. “This is fucked up,” I say, laughing. “Everything we believe in, my own personal integrity, being put into question, but I don’t see what other options we have.” I look at Brad. I’ve never seen his eyes so fucking wild. “It’s Pearl or it’s all of us.”
52
BRAD
* * *
James and Danny are watching me. Assessing me. Trying to figure out what the fuck is going on in my head. They’d never guess.
He doesn’t want you or Danny or James. He only wants me.
Leave.
I should get Pearl and leave. But I know if I did that, the whole family would still be exposed. In danger. For the first time in our lives, we are out of our depths. And I can’t even be sorry. Would I change things if I knew then what I know now?
No.
Not a thing.
“It could be worse,” Danny quips, almost laughing. It’s a nervous laugh. One I have never heard on The Brit.
“How?” I ask, looking up at him. “How could this be any worse, Danny?”
“Well, you could have fucked her.” He laughs louder, uneasy, and looks at James. He’s not laughing. I’m not laughing. And when Danny registers that, his amusement slowly fades until his expression is nothing but worried. “Brad,” he says quietly. “Tell me you haven’t fucked her.” There’s an unmistakable pleading edge to his tone. “Please, tell me you haven’t fucked Pearl.”
I inhale and drop my eyes to my feet. “I can’t.”
“Oh fuck,” he breathes, dropping his ass to the nearby bench.
“Shit.” James turns into the lockers, pushing his head to the metal.
“You fucked a virgin?” Danny asks, the disbelief in his tone cutting.
“I didn’t fucking know.” I grind the words out, my fists balling.
“She didn’t tell you?” He gasps. “That’s need-to-know information. She fucking tricked you.” He stands. “She fucking led you on and got the small issue of her virginity out of the way so King wouldn’t want her back, and you, you dumb fuck, fell for it!”
I’m up like a rocket, and I slam him into the lockers, snarling in his face, but before I can swing at him, James is between us, arms extended, keeping us at a safe distance from each other. “Enough,” he yells.
“You’re talking like it would make a difference if she wasn’t a virgin,” I seethe. Has he forgotten how he met his wife? “Either way, we are not sending her back to him.” Over my dead fucking body. And that’s possible.
“Yes, we fucking are,” Danny bellows.
“No, Danny. We’re not.”
“For fuck’s sake,” James roars. “Cut it out!”
“Why, Brad?” Danny shouts, fighting James’s hold to get to me. His scar is so fucking deep, his temper lost. “Why aren’t we sending her back?”
“Because,” I roar.
“Because what?”
“Because I fucking love her!” I yell, shoving James away and staggering back a few paces. “Because I fucking love her, and it’s fucked up, and my head is fucking spinning, but I fucking love her.” I take a few breaths, exhausted by my outburst, raking a hand through my hair, stressed. She told me she wasn’t a mole. I didn’t believe her. Couldn’t because I was so filled with rage. But mixed with that rage was a burning love. I wasn’t letting her run away from me without an explanation. I would not be made a fool of. Manipulated. But now? I feel sick. So fucking sick. “I fucking love her,” I breathe. “And I can’t change that. So, no, we are not sending her back.” I take a few deep breaths, try to appear calm amid this absolute carnage. “We have to find another way.”
James observes me sweating and shaking, and Danny straightens himself out. Curls his lip at me. “Of course we find another fucking way, you dumb fuck.” He pushes James aside and hauls me into his chest, hugging me. “For fuck’s sake. How the fuck is she a virgin at twenty-one?” he asks himself. I don’t even want to know. But I know I need all the information I can get. Danny shoves me away and starts to pace. “For the record, do not try to keep shit like this from me again.”