Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 41073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“Let’s see, you’re an old man, but can you think back about fifteen years? You didn’t have this empire that you have right now, but you did have a partner back then. Someone who you relied on. Someone who helped you.”
Caleb stared at him. No one knew about Frank. Frank Caraway had been his best friend, or at least he thought he had been. They both wanted the same thing. Power, money, and to instill fear into everyone who said their name. Frank was the brother he never had. Only, his sister did warn him.
Frank had started out being the brother, only to turn against him. From the beginning, it should have been the two of them, but Frank had other ideas. He’d used him to get ahead. Caleb could fight. He was a vicious motherfucker and he had the anger to back himself up. Frank was older by ten years. He wasn’t a fighter, but a thinker. He’d been the brains. Caleb had the brains as well, but he knew where he was best suited at the time. Killing Frank hadn’t been easy. He hadn’t enjoyed the experience. In fact, it was one of the worst days of his life. That had only changed recently when he had to hold his dying sister.
Caleb vaguely remembered Frank’s son, Bernie. He’d been a dot of a thing. Frank hadn’t given two shits about him. Had spent most of his time trying to screw the kid’s mother over and not pay his fair share. Caleb didn’t agree with his friend’s methods, but he never got involved.
“Your father was a piece-of-shit crook.”
“You don’t get to talk about my father like that.” The gun was trained on Caleb.
“No!” Grace cried out, but Caleb held his hand up. The last thing he wanted right now was for Grace to get hurt.
“He didn’t care about you. He spent more time passing you off to other girlfriends he had.”
“You don’t know anything about my father or what he thought of me.”
Caleb burst out laughing. “Oh, really? All Frank cared about was lining his fucking pockets. He was going to rat me out. He’d arranged for me to get a beating. Were you ever told that? I won that piece of shit nearly fifty thousand, at least I thought I had. Your dad, he’d arranged for me to be killed. You want to know why? Because he couldn’t hack it having a partner. He decided to get me out of the way so he could have the whole thing to himself instead. Your father wasn’t a good man. He was a piece of shit, and I saved you a lifetime of pain, Bernie, but now, you took my sister, you came here, and you’re not going anywhere.” Without a second thought, he lifted his weapon and fired, taking Bernie out with a single shot.
This man had taken his sister and nearly took out Grace and James, but Caleb didn’t feel anything at killing him. He was completely empty. Dead inside.
Chapter Eleven
Grace took James for the rest of the day, giving Caleb all the space he needed. After he shot and killed Bernie, he’d sat on the edge of the bed, not saying a single word. She’d gone to James. She’d seen the emptiness inside Caleb and knew it was no place for a young boy to be. Whatever he was going through, she had to give him space. She couldn’t imagine what he must be feeling.
She had dinner with James. Caleb stayed out of the way. When she went looking for him and couldn’t find him, she went back to her bedroom and took a shower. She’d been sharing Caleb’s room for the past couple of days, and it had been a lot of fun, but right now, she wanted to give him time.
He’d lost his sister, and from the conversation she’d heard with Bernie, he’d lost a lot more.
Stepping out of the bathroom, she came to an abrupt stop. Caleb stood there, watching her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Taking a shower.”
“This isn’t your bedroom anymore.”
“You’ve been gone.”
“To my bedroom, now.”
She frowned at him. “Caleb, I get it, you need time.”
“No, what I need is my woman back in my bedroom so I can fuck her.”
She felt an answering pull between her thighs. She wanted him just as badly. “Caleb?”
“I will carry you back to my bedroom if I have to. Do you want to push me?”
She laughed. “You can’t be serious.” As she finished, she released a scream as he lifted her over his shoulder and carried her out of the room. “Caleb, stop. My towel. Anyone can see.” She tried to cover her exposed ass.
“Avert your eyes, boys. Anyone who looks at my woman’s ass will be punished.”
“Caleb, seriously!”
“I am being serious. Whenever it comes to you, that is all I can be.” He hit her ass for good measure, making her curse his name right out. “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”