Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Behind my back! How could you?”
“Honey, I—”
Cook breaks in, “I had eyes on her all the time. It was a tiny dose. No danger at all.”
Sinner laughs at Greg. “No danger? Your guy didn’t see a problem with dosing her up while she was with the three of us? She barely fucking knew us.”
“He saw you posing for pictures with her. How was he supposed to know you weren’t with the show? It all worked out. I don’t see the problem.” Greg’s getting defensive, but he has no idea how much fucking trouble he’s in. Not really.
Not yet.
“And the fucking kidnapping?” Sinner looks ready to go for the throat. “What was the plan? Scare the ever-loving shit out of her and then dump her somewhere? God, you’re a fucking idiot.”
“Sheila! We talked about this.”
“Oh, no we fucking didn’t,” Sheila spits out. “You went way too far. This is over. I want my money back. Come on, Quinn, we’re leaving.”
“We? I don’t even…” Quinn throws her arms up, stunned speechless. “Where was ‘we’ when you were making these decisions without me? And then you had the audacity to get mad at me for not following the script nobody told me about?” She stops and takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second. “I’m going back to my apartment, and I’m going to need a couple days to cool off. Can you give me that? The only reason I’m not calling the police right now is because I need time to think about it and talk to the men who are actually watching out for me.”
With her fists clenched tightly, she whirls away from Sheila, stomps to the door and tears it open so hard it slams against the wall. Priest follows her out, leaving me and Sinner in there with the rats.
Sinner casually kicks the door closed again. He slips a hand into his cut and smoothly draws his piece, cocking it and aiming straight at Cook’s head. “This is what’s going to happen. You’re going to refund their money, and hope that girl never wakes up scared in the middle of the night.” He glances at Sheila. “You’re her mother and I know that still means something to her for some god forsaken reason. Leave.”
She looks at me, expecting what exactly? Sympathy?
“Do it. This is your one get out of jail free card. I suggest you use it.”
Sheila might not be smart, but she’s cunning enough to read the room. She’s out the door faster than a cheetah on speed.
Sinner laughs. This is the side of him that lurks beneath the surface. “They might believe you’re just an opportunist, but we both know that’s not true, don’t we? I shot one of your guys. Maybe he died, maybe he’s just hurting. Honestly, I don’t give a fuck, but you know what didn’t happen? Anything. You haven’t mentioned one fucking thing about it.” He pushes the barrel against Cook’s forehead.
“She never got hurt,” he whimpers.
“I know. If she did, this conversation would be over by now.” I flip my cut open and show him the gun in my belt. “But if you wanna take your chances, now’s the time to run.”
“Listen, guys. That bitch might not have known the details, but she—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sinner says in a creepy sing-song voice. “The road to Hell, good intentions and all that shit.”
“But I swear—fuck!” Cook closes his eyes.
“Look on the bright side, Gregory. Ms. Callahan would feel sad if she found out we popped you right now. That means you’ll walk outta here alive today.”
Sinner leans in, wearing his anticipation like an ugly mask. “The bad news? This is still gonna hurt like a motherfucker.”
19
Chapter 19 - Quinn
“I can’t believe her!” It was too loud on Priest’s bike to vent my frustration, so I had plenty of time for my thoughts to swirl around, building and building until I felt like a volcano ready to erupt.
It was enough that Priest actually adjusted where my fingers were digging into him like tiny little daggers. Even Clarke must’ve sensed it wasn’t a good moment to chat, because he opened the door for us and just shot Priest a slightly concerned look. Once inside the apartment, there isn’t even anything good to smash.
I grab an empty water bottle and throw it as hard as I can at the wall. It hits with an unsatisfying thunk before bouncing on the carpet.
Priest scoops it up and tosses it into the sad grocery bag I’ve been using for recycling. “Feel better?”
“No! She can never leave well enough alone. Never! You don’t understand. Every single time I succeed at something, she just sees it as a way to unlock some next, hidden level. I’m nothing but a way for her to live out her own dreams. I should’ve known when she didn’t care about me until I could do something for her. She’s going to keep using me until there’s nothing left, and what am I supposed to do then?”