Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
I check on Athena next, she looks pale, and a bit shaken. A pit forms in my stomach until I see color starting to return to her cheeks. She isn’t hit, just terrified. There is a small bullet hole in the couch next to her. She was almost shot. Another few centimeters, and she would have had a new hole in her shoulder.
Shame, all of my problems were almost solved.
The thought makes my gut twist. I didn’t mean it. Why didn’t I mean it? Why am I relieved she wasn’t shot?
It doesn’t matter. I will have to unpack those emotions later with a six-pack and a pretty little girl with golden-blonde hair sucking my cock.
That will all have to wait. The important thing right now is that Athena is fine.
Paris is still tied to his chair, looking pissed but not injured. With a deep breath, I try to calm my racing heart. Everyone is fine, no one has been shot. Yet.
“Let me go, now!” I yell again, trying to use the adrenaline still in my veins and redirect that energy into rage instead of fear. “Before you all kill each other.”
No one even looks at me. I start pulling at the thick plastic holding my wrists and ankles in place, trying to break free, but it’s no use.
“Athena.” I call her name several times before she even looks at me. “Cut me free.”
She looks like she is about to say something when Eros manages to roll Heph over, knocking into Paris and tipping his chair back. He makes a strangled yelping sound as he hits the floor, and I hear a massive crack.
“Are you okay?” I call to Paris.
“No, I am not fucking okay,” he yells back in what is probably the only time I have heard Paris yell in anger or frustration. The situation definitely warrants it, but the malice in his tone still shocks the hell out of me. It’s just out of character for the only even-tempered one in this group.
“Did you break something?” I ask.
“No, but I am about to.”
Another loud banging starts up, and I take a moment to realize he is trying to break the chair. I start rocking in my chair, too. Maybe if I can twist enough to make it fall over on the back corner, I can get free. Another loud bang comes from Paris before a louder crack that sounds like wood being split.
These dining room chairs were clearly not meant to hold men our size, so with a little man handling and a little luck, I should be able to free myself. Then I have some serious ass to kick. Heph had better not maim Eros too badly before I get my hands on him. Tipping this chair is harder than it looks, my ankles are tied down as well as my hands. There is no ledge or step to try to push the chair off of. I can only shift my weight back and forth to tip and pray it will hit at the right angle.
That, and I really don’t want to hurt myself while doing this.
I am still trying to knock my chair over when another loud crack sounds and Paris stands up on the other side of the brawl, his face twisted in rage as he watches Eros and Heph fight. The malice in Paris’s face makes me pause. It’s understandable. I know why he is livid, but I have never seen Paris look like that. For half a second, it feels like I’m not looking at Paris, the man I call a brother, but a stranger.
“Paris, cut me free.” He looks over at me, and the snarl on his face intensifies for a moment before it disappears completely. Still not sure what I am seeing, I ask again, “Help me.”
He nods as he removes the last few pieces of wood still zip-tied to him, manages to cut the remaining zip tie off his wrists with the wood, and takes a step toward me. That’s when Heph gets on top of Eros again, and the gun goes sliding across the wooden floor.
Paris and Athena see the gun at the same moment, and they both lunge for it. The two are on the ground fighting each other. For a moment, I can see how Paris is trying to restrain himself, and quickly losing patience. Athena has one hand on the gun, but so does he. She won’t let go, and he rears back like he is going to backhand her, but before he gets the chance, she jerks her knee up between his legs hitting him square in the nuts. Even my balls ache just watching the hit. He falls to the side, and Athena stands with the gun in her hands. Her hair is all over the place, her eyes are wild, and her chest rising and lowering with each rapid breath.