Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
“As you do.”
I laugh. “Exactly.”
But then my face falls, remembering the fights and the blood and the looks in people’s eyes like they were sorry we ever came.
“The girls, the weapons…” I murmur. “Trafficking drugs is no less than a ten-year sentence, kid. For a first offense.”
“And murder is life.”
Yeah.
“I got in over my head,” I admit, “because I had it in my mind that Madoc had filled in as a father long enough, so I tried to make my own family, and I fucked up.”
“You only see it that way because you had something better,” he retorts.
His words make me pause, guilt creeping in over having all the privileges that others didn’t. I get what he’s saying. What he has in Green Street is worth saving to him, because to him, it is a family in some ways.
But in the end, it’s a downward spiral that leads to nowhere good. Not once. Not ever.
I steady my voice as I plainly state, “Anything else is better for you to the people who love you, Farrow.”
There’s someone who loves him and doesn’t want this for him.
I should’ve stayed. I could’ve put all of my energy into finding a way to make amends. I made the wrong choice.
I start the car. “I liked some of it, though,” I muse. “I liked feeling tall. I liked girls who wanted a college boy. I liked how dark the town got at night. Cruising the hills. Phalen’s Throat. The car graveyard.”
We did have some fun.
I grin a little. “I liked that no one I loved knew about my secret life, as if nothing was real. For a while.” I fix my eyes on him. “But it was just a fantasy.”
Everything ends, and there’s always a price.
He stares at me, and I know he’s not burdened with the same type of conscience. His father, whoever he is, is a very wealthy man who would never deny him. Farrow doesn’t have to be here, but I know why he is. I understand his loyalty.
Still, though, it’s a choice. He’s a guy with options preying on those who don’t have any. Just like Reeves.
I think he’s going to reply, but he doesn’t, and I shift the car into Reverse.
But he calls out, “It wasn’t because you were in college.”
I glance at him, seeing the twinkle in his eye.
“They like blonds,” he says.
Walking away, he stuffs his own blond head into a helmet, but I can feel the gleam in his eyes from here.
I don’t want to like him.
I wish I didn’t.
Much the same way I used to like Drew. Until I didn’t.
“Someone’s going to die,” Drew warned.
The hint of excitement in his gaze told me that he was up for the challenge.
I was almost breathless. “Don’t worry. I’ll save you.”
I looked at him, and he looked at me as the old, rusty car rolled into the pond, both of us locked into our seatbelts.
“And if I chicken out first and still don’t keep my end of the bargain?”
“Then I’ll go to Madoc,” I warned him. “After I burn it all down around you.”
He could never resist a dare. Maybe I couldn’t either. We wouldn’t fight. There would be no guns. I simply had to stay in my seat the longest as the car sank to the bottom.
The water fills the space around us, rising up our legs. He turns to me. “You would risk killing me to end Green Street?”
The shock of the cold water made me suck in a breath. “And you thought I was a lamb,” I scoffed.
The car started to go bottom-up, plunging, and we planted our hands on the dash, watching each other for any signs of retreat.
The water hit our chest. “I’ll miss you,” he told me.
I smiled. “Yes, you will.”
Drawing in one last breath, I got ready to sink, but then I heard it.
The pounding and screaming coming from the trunk.
I flex my jaw, that familiar roil through my stomach making the bile rise. I could’ve gotten out of a murder charge. Maybe even a manslaughter charge. But I would never forget what happened. Of that, I was always going to be a prisoner. The horror of the moment when you realize that you’re never going to be the same, and you can’t undo what you did.
God, Drew knew me so well. I didn’t know him at all. How could I not have understood that someone who had boundaries could never beat someone who had none? I still can’t believe I was stupid enough to challenge him like that, thinking I would ever win. He didn’t follow rules. He would make sure he succeeded, even if he had to cheat.
I speed to town, knowing the police have their hands full elsewhere. Farrow trails me on his motorcycle, and there are a couple of other cars behind him. The traffic tonight will be heavy everywhere as people move from one party to another.