Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“And now, I’m done,” Otto said, striding toward Ephraim.
“I’m going!” Ephraim said, raising his hands in surrender as he backed toward his car. “Noel, you know how to get in touch with me when you decide to come home.”
“She’s not going back to you ever,” Esther spat.
We watched in silence as the men climbed back into their car and turned around, nearly clipping Cian’s motorcycle as they drove past.
“Hey, fuck you,” he yelled, grabbing his crotch with one hand and flipping them off with the other.
“Classy,” Esther mumbled with a sigh. She turned to Noel. “Are you okay?”
“They know where we are,” Noel breathed, her eyes still focused on the end of the driveway.
“We knew they would,” Otto said calmly, wrapping his arm around Esther’s shoulder as he kissed the top of her head. “They can’t do shit about it. You’re an adult now.”
“They’ll come back,” Noel said, grimacing as she looked at Esther. “Ephraim will give up, but Carl and Cory won’t.”
“We’ll handle it,” Esther replied.
Thumping on the back window had Esther and Otto moving around the car. Seconds later, the car turned off. It was full dark, the woods around us pitch black, and I finally understood why my brother had an insane amount of lighting around the house as Noel helped get the girls out of the car. We could see everything up to the tree line, and I watched it like a hawk while the three of them carried the girls inside.
“We’re gonna head back to the house,” Bas told me. “That shit was intense and Noel looked freaked. They don’t need a coupl’a looky-loos hangin’ around.”
“Thanks for comin’.”
“Always,” Bas replied, slapping me on the shoulder. “You know that.”
As Bas and Cian strode back toward their bikes, Mick and I headed for the house.
“That family is fucked,” he murmured quietly as we reached the porch. “I thought Emilia’s parents were bad.” He shook his head.
Esther and Noel were upstairs with the kids when we got inside, but Otto was in the kitchen, pulling down a gun safe from one of the cupboards.
“You good?” Mick asked.
“Figured they’d show up at some point,” he replied, pulling a small handgun out, checking it, and then setting it on the counter. “Did expect them to ambush us in the dark, though.” He grimaced.
“What do you plan on doin’ with that?” Michael asked in amusement, gesturing to the way the gun was dwarfed by Otto’s hand.
“It’s Esther’s,” he replied, his smile tipping up on one side. “She likes the shotgun better, but it’s harder to get to.”
“You think she’s gonna need it?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“I gotta work tomorrow,” he replied. “I’d rather she had it close in case those dipshits decide they don’t want to drive all the way home tonight.”
“Fuck,” I murmured.
Movement on the stairs cut the conversation short.
“Oh, your face,” Noel said, walking toward us. It took a moment to realize she was talking to me. “Oh, no.”
“What?” I looked at Michael in confusion.
“Got a shiner,” he muttered as Noel reached me, her hand coming toward my face. She didn’t quite touch it, her fingers a breath away.
“It’s fine,” I whispered as she started to cry. “Seriously. It’s fine.”
“Why did you let him hit you?” she whispered back. Fuck, she was so beautiful.
“Because I didn’t want him callin’ the cops.” I smiled when she froze. “He hit me first, I was just defendin’ myself.”
“You knew he was going to hit you?”
“I was hoping like hell he would,” I replied honestly.
“That is so stupid,” she breathed, letting her hand drop.
“I’ve been waitin’ over six years to teach your brother a lesson,” I replied easily, watching her expression morph from concern to irritation. “Glad I had the chance to teach it.”
“That is—”
“Awesome?” Esther asked dryly from across the kitchen. “Ephraim deserved it.”
“The girls could’ve seen you,” Noel pointed out.
“Did they?” the thought of it making my stomach flip over.
“No,” she snapped. “They were asleep.”
“All’s well that ends well,” Michael said cheerfully.
Noel scowled and Esther let out a small laugh.
My lips twitched as I watched a glimpse of Noel’s attitude rise to the surface. When I’d seen her at that trailer, and at my mom’s house earlier that night, I’d wondered if they’d somehow broken that part of her—the part that had made her fall in love with a kid she had no business even speaking to. Where she came from, women were expected to be silent and complacent. At fifteen, Noel had thought that was bullshit. I was so fucking glad that hadn’t changed.
“Come on, Noel,” Esther said, leaning back against Otto’s chest. “You can’t say you didn’t enjoy watching Ephraim’s butt get handed to him.”
“His ass handed to him,” Otto corrected.
Esther wrinkled her nose.
“Oh, are we pretending that sweet little Esther didn’t day fuck out there?” Michael teased, pointing toward the front door. “If those dipshits wore pearls, they woulda been clutchin’ ’em.”