Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Then, in what felt like slow motion, he removed a bronze lighter from his pocket, flipped it open, and was promptly slammed to the ground by a raging bull of a man who was protecting his son.
The lighter snapped closed with the force of the hit, echoing loudly in my ears.
Colby landed on the ground with an exhale of breath, and the sound of bodies colliding filled the night air.
My racing heart started to slow, and excitement for what was about to happen started to course through me.
Rearing back, my father slammed his fist into the stunned Colby’s face, hitting him over and over again before Colby could catch his equilibrium.
I winced inwardly, remembering being on the receiving end of that punch once when I was a dumbass kid that’d been picked up by the cops for trying to boost a car.
Luckily, the cop had taken me to my father instead; or, at least, I thought I’d been lucky, at the time.
He showed me how not lucky I was as soon as the cop pulled out of the driveway when he promptly punched the shit out of me.
At nineteen, I’d never been in a fight with someone of my father’s caliber.
My father was four inches over six foot, three hundred and fifty pounds, and had a fist like a sledge hammer.
“You okay?” Tru asked softly, looking me over, but not touching.
“Yeah, but I want you to go stand by the front door. Stay away from here until we can have the gas cleaned up. In fact, there’s an emergency pump shutoff next to the front door. Why don’t you go ahead and press it. If the clerk doesn’t have the cops on their way, he needs to make it happen,” I instructed her.
With one last longing look at me, she followed my command and hurried to the building.
Shutting off the pumps, she dashed inside and spoke with the clerk, finally allowing me to turn around and watch as my father finished…whatever he was doing to Colby.
I wasn’t quite sure if he was pissed off and beating him, or if he was doing it on purpose.
Whatever the reason, I had a feeling Colby wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.
“Damn, Booney. You could’ve saved some for the rest of us,” Silas muttered under his breath as he looked at Colby whining on the ground.
My eyes moved from my father to Silas, and I grinned.
“He was never one to play by the rules,” I informed him.
“Fuck if that isn’t right,” Silas muttered, turning his back on us and walking to cop car that pulled into the lot a moment later.
“You okay, boy?” My father asked, giving Colby one last good kick before standing.
I nodded. “Sure thing.”
“You know,” my dad said conversationally. “You could’ve acknowledged the fact that he was going to go for it, and moved, before he actually saturated you in gas. That’s gonna be a bitch to dry clean.”
***
Tru
“He’s your brother?” I shrieked in surprise.
Grayson’s father winced, covering his ear with his palm when my scream of outrage got a little out of control.
But seriously…his brother?
Grayson nodded to his father who was leaning against a wall across the clubhouse. “My dad’s with another woman, yes.”
I looked at his father and shook my head. “I really don’t understand. How do you not know you have a kid? And does that make Bobby your brother, too?”
Booney was nice and all, but the man had the self-control of a rabbit when it came to keeping it in his pants. Who doesn’t know about their own kid?
He shook his head. “I don’t pretend to know what was going through my father’s brain. The woman was just a one-night stand, supposedly, and never let him know about the kid. Later on, Colby’s mother married, and it was to a ‘respectable’ banker. It was in her best interest not to tell him then. The banker was abusive to Colby, though. Colby resented him until the day he died. Then the step-father admitted that Colby wasn’t even his son, and wouldn’t inherit a dime.”
“Holy shit,” I said in surprise. “What then?”
“Colby was already a cop at that point. He figured out who his real father was, but didn’t pursue any relationship. Probably would’ve never bothered, but then he saw me with you. When he started digging into my past, he realized quickly who my father was. He got his panties in a twist that I’d had a ‘good life’ while he had a shitty one, and didn’t want me to get you, too. Tried to get me fired. My connections wouldn’t allow it, though. Which I didn’t realize until your father shared with me the day before I broke it off with you. When he realized he couldn’t get to me, he started threatening you.”
“That’s…that’s… that’s fucking nuts!” I yelled, waving my hands in front of me wildly.
He nodded, looking down at his skin, which had broken out slightly from the gasoline, and then back up at me. “He’s a sick fuck, is what he is. Good riddance him being in jail. I just wish I had the ability to suggest the death sentence.”
“He didn’t actually kill anyone, so unfortunately, he’ll only be getting twenty years at most. His brother, Bobby, not you, will probably be able to find him a good lawyer. I bet it’s ten years tops,” my mother said honestly.
I deflated, shoulders sagging in disbelief. “Then what was the point of going to all that trouble? What a load of shit.”
My mother put her arm around my shoulders, bringing me in close before giving me a kiss on my forehead. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll worry about it when the time comes.”
I nodded, knowing there was nothing else we could do.
When I looked up, my eyes caught on Grayson’s father who was in the process of speaking to Ross for the first time.
Ross had his hands shoved down deep into his pockets, his head slightly hung as he nodded to something Booney said.
“Frank, would it be all right if I spoke with you for a moment?” Grayson asked.