Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
I was just glad I didn’t share her effect on men.
I wasn’t ugly even by the most hating bitch’s stretch of the imagination, but Hunter had a natural sex appeal that I didn’t share. She exuded it even when she wasn’t trying. The girl could brick a dick in her sleep.
But it came with its own challenges too—such as her penchant for attracting stalkers.
Hunter had an obsession with guns and knives. She literally had an armory stashed in our apartment, so she could more than handle herself, but I still worried for her.
I shook my head at her offer, making her eye me like I’ve bumped my head and forgotten our bestie code. We’d both burn the world down before leaving the other behind.
“He said to come alone.”
Hunter pursed her painted lips in disapproval but didn’t argue. Unlike Roshaun, Hunter never tried to come between us despite her personal feelings.
“Wish me luck?” I said playfully to ease her worry.
“Your brother’s the one who’ll need it if he doesn’t cough up your money. We’ll just jump his ass until he does,” Hunter said, completely serious. “You know I’ve been dying to cut him.”
I chuckled before kissing her cheek. “And that’s why you’re my bitch.”
She hooked her pinky with mine like always before one of us made our usual vow. “Ride or die, sis.”
We kept our fingers locked as I slowly walked away until that last moment when we were forced to let go. My stomach felt like it was caving in from the heavy dose of foreboding filling it. I looked over my shoulder to see if Hunter felt the same. She was still watching me, looking like she wanted to stop me, so I knew she felt it, too.
I forced myself to keep going because I’d rehearsed this moment a thousand times, and I wasn’t backing down. It wasn’t easy asking someone for half a million dollars, but I just had to do it—like ripping off a Band-Aid. Tonight, I suppose, was as good as any. Maybe Shaun would be in a good mood, and I wouldn’t be subjected to another lecture about how I’m too young to be trusted with so much money.
Our parents had left us both a small inheritance after they died. Roshaun had used his half as seed money to start his club with the help of an angel investor. Since I had been a minor when our parents died, the other half had been placed in a trust controlled by Shaun until I turned twenty-five.
My twenty-fifth birthday had passed nearly a year ago, and I had yet to see a penny. Hunter had been urging me for months to say something, but I’d been reluctant, knowing my brother would see it as a sign of distrust.
I ran my sweaty palms down the front of my green sequin corset once I reached the back of the club and the hallway that led to the alley. It mostly went unused because it was meant for the celebrities Shaun paid to appear at his club. Most of them preferred to use the front entrance to be seen and photographed for the blogs. Instead, only members of the Fola put it to use, but they—he—didn’t make an appearance very often.
My steps faltered when I noticed a stoic man armed and dressed in a black suit, blocking the entrance. After two years of pining for their leader, I was now able to spot one of his goons from a mile away, so I spun on my heels without a moment’s hesitation and headed in the opposite direction.
Maybe I could find another way around.
“This way, Ms. Perry,” the man called out before I could take more than a few steps away.
Stopping in my tracks, I slowly turned with my heart racing and my skin flushing. “What did you say?” He wordlessly beckoned me forward, but my feet refused to move. Had Abel not given Ocean my message? “Sorry, no, I can’t,” I said while trying to sound like I wasn’t losing my shit. “I’m looking for my brother.
The hair on my arms rose when the goon nodded. “This way,” he repeated.
Oh shit.
Roshaun, what the fuck did you do?
“Oh…okay, thanks.” I hurried past, my unease growing when his shadow fell over me immediately after. Peering over my shoulder, I clutched my mace a little harder as I scurried along when I noticed the giant following at a carefully measured distance. I once again considered slipping past him to run back to Hunter.
My phone vibrated in my hand again, and I knew it was Shaun. I didn’t know what had his boxers in a bunch tonight, but I was not in the mood. Sighing, I quickened my steps as I followed the short hallway all the way down to the end. I could already feel the cold air outside bleeding through the walls of the club as I grew closer to the exit. I picked up my pace, praying my brother was in one piece.