Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
"Clear it; there is a body in there," Jax tells them both, and they nod.
"Dead?" Damon asks.
"Not sure." I close my eyes at Jax's response. He gives my hand a squeeze. Damon and Cooper enter the warehouse.
"Why aren't we calling the police? What if the killer is still in there?" I ask when we're alone. The two of them just went in there, and we saw a dead body, and there’s probably a gun person running around somewhere.
"They fled."
"How do you know that?"
"We must have spooked them, and there were tracks in the dust on the floor." How could he notice that with so many other things going on?
"You're freaking me out." I put my hand to my mouth, fighting not to throw up when I recall the girl on the ground with all the blood. Who the hell was that?
"Take a deep breath, Bunny." His tone is calm, but his eyes don't match.
"We need to call someone," I tell him. I fight back tears that sting in my eyes.
"I did."
"They don't count." I motion toward the closed door.
"We aren't calling the police." There it is, that finality he can lace into his words that has every cell in your body obeying. I mean, what choice do I have in this situation? "Let me take that." His hand grabs my other, lifting it. I’m gripping the knife he gave me tightly. I'd forgotten that I had it at all. I instantly release my hold on it.
The door swings open suddenly, making me jump back. Jax spins back around, ready to pounce, but stops when he sees it's Damon and Cooper.
"There’s nobody in there," Damon says. "And I'm not just saying that because—" He gives a slight nod toward me.
"I saw it." What the hell are these two talking about? They must think I’m an idiot if they think they’re actually going to convince me that I didn’t see a dead girl lying in a pool of blood a few minutes ago in that warehouse. Their warehouse!
"We saw the blood." Cooper casts me a few curious glances. Oh, what, I'm the odd thing here? Not the dead girl in our school uniform?
"Did you drop this?" Damon holds out my phone for me.
"I guess I did." I take it from him. I hadn’t noticed I dropped it.
"What's the plan?" Damon springs his attention back to Jax. "I cleared this place this afternoon. There wasn't anything."
"Wait, you were here earlier?" I ask. "I got a note!"
"We're not going to have any feed." Damon ignores me altogether.
"I know." Jax shakes his head.
"You want to go inspect it?"
"I'm not leaving her. I trust that you cleared it." His words make me feel marginally better. He’s sticking to his word.
“So we’re not calling the police.” I hold both Jax’s hand and my phone like a lifeline.
“No,” they all say in unison.
I have three Marinos standing in front of me, and I’m not sure if I’m really out of danger.
Chapter Nine
JAX
Ihave never had a plan go more to shit than this one. The panicked expression that has been on Kinsley's face is killing me. I put her in this situation, and now I have to get her out of it.
"What about her?" Cooper glances towards Kinsley. I can see Kinsley start to retreat into herself, her shoulders pulling forward. She's scared, and I fucking hate it.
"You don't worry about her." I tug her behind me. "In fact, don't even look at her."
"Fucking hell, Damon, you didn't tell me Jax had lost it. This shit better not be in the blood." It is. All our parents are examples of it.
"How about you stop speaking?" I order Cooper; he's only going to freak her out more, and I'm trying to think here. "Everyone to the farm and get the system back online."
Damon had come earlier to open the gate and the warehouse, along with shutting down the camera feeds. The plan was to lure Kinsley here with a tip for a story. I'd debated staging something or letting her overhear Damon and me making shit up to get her curious. Then I'd be so lucky that she'd stalk me for once.
But after how today went, I chucked that plan. I wanted to kill it altogether, but the note had already put everything in motion, and my new plan was to tell Kinsley to be more safe and let her know it was a setup. I was going to admit to what I'd done. That I was trying to get her attention. Then kiss the fuck out of her.
Now I'm an asshole and a dumbass because here I was wanting to teach her a lesson about sneaking off into places alone, and now I really have gone and pulled her into a fucked-up situation.
On top of that, I'm not sure I can let her go. She could run to the police or write up a story. Right now, the only safe place is back on the farm, where I can get her calmed down and my head on straight.