Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 97696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“He’s taking up all my space.” Her little hands went to her hips, which was something she’d picked up from her grandmother lately and which gives her daddy fits. “What space, you pay rent?” Oh this ought to be good.
“Daddy, don’t be silly. So when’s he going home?”
“He’s not, what is it that you’re doing down there anyway?”
“Stuff.”
“Stuff? What stuff, you’re five years old you don’t have any stuff.” She rolled her eyes and hopped up on the bed for a cuddle.
I pulled her in close for a smell of her hair. Her sister was getting too old for mommy time, which was heartbreaking, but I still had my little terror and her new baby brother. She studied her fingernails and toes, which were full of sparkles from the mani-pedi set my mom had given her for Xmas. Something else that had caused world war six in my house when Colt first saw it, but was also one of the things that tipped me off that he was up to no good.
He’d been working up a good head of steam when he got a good look at her fashion statement. You’d have thought the child was committing a crime the way he’d carried on, but all she’d had to do that time was bat her lashes at him and tell him how all her little friends were doing it, and Colton Lyon had melted like a puddle of goo. Uh huh.
That, coupled with the fact that he’d had us under armed guard for weeks now was more than enough to put me on high alert. I’d asked him more than once what was going on, but each time I’d just get his patented ‘nothing for you to worry about Katarina’ like that was gonna work. This time I knew exactly what to do though.
“Scram kid, I need to talk to your mom.”
“Eww daddy, you just wanna do more of that kissing stuff.”
“I what, what the hell?” He really needs to take it easy before he gives himself a coronary.
“It’s okay daddy, I know all about it, my boyfriend…”
“Catalina Lyon, if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life locked away somewhere you’d stop right there.”
“Geez daddy-it’s just a kiss-just lips touching-people do it all the time, it’s like…saying hello.” She waddled off the bed on her little spindly legs reminding me that for all the words that were coming out of her mouth, she was still little more than a baby.
“Kat we gotta do something.” He actually looked distressed when he plopped down on the mattress next to me. “Aww poor baby, you know she’s just a little more curious and just a tad bit smarter than the others, but there’s nothing to worry about.”
“You won’t be saying that when we’re knee deep in teenage pregnancies, what the fuck have you and Elena been doing around that kid? I find it strange that Caitiebear who was practically raised by me doesn’t do any of that shit, but the one I left to you and my mother is twisted as fuck.”
What could I say to that enlightening piece of logic? There was no talking him down when it comes to her anyway so why bother? “Poor Colton, she scares you doesn’t she?” I dared not laugh because that would just send him off on one of his tangents again.
“You think this shit is funny, don’t you? Well we’ll see how funny you find it when you’re collecting her ass from Juvie in a few years.” He hopped off the bed mumbling something under his breath about Mengele’s experiments or some other such thing.
***
I stood in the doorway smiling and waving all the while formatting my words in my head. As soon as he cleared the street and I heard the last engine disappear I hightailed it to the nearest phone. I had to be careful though because I didn’t want anyone to hear.
This has got to stop. For weeks, things have been crazier than usual around here, and since meeting the other women, I knew something was definitely up, but their men were no more forthcoming than Colt was. I knew enough to know that whatever this was, it had more to do with us as a family than Colt was letting on. Now Caitie was getting strange emails and I knew that more than anything else would send my husband over the deep end.
I checked on the baby one last time before sneaking into the walk-in closet with the cordless. “Law, where’s Colton going?” No sense in beating around the bush.
“What do you mean what did he say?”
“He said he had to get parts in Arizona.” His ‘oh fuck’ did nothing to ease my suspicions and his next volley of questions didn’t do any better either.
“How long ago did he leave?” I gave him all the information I had growing more anxious by the silence on the other end. I guess I was expecting him to tell me not to worry, but I knew that whatever was going on had started at Law’s place and this wasn’t looking good. The last thing I heard after he told me he would take care of it was him whistling for his men.
***
LAW
***
“Creed, Law here, we’ve got trouble.”
“What’s up bro, the fuck is going on now?” We’ve been pretty much on alert ever since the little powwow a few weeks ago. I was trying to get shit cleaned up in my own backyard before heading to Georgia, but it looked like Colt, the fuck, wasn’t gonna give me the chance.
“Colt’s on the fucking loose is what’s going on. Just got a call from Katarina and he’s headed to the desert.”
“Oh shit.” Brandon, Travis and Clay joined me just in time to hear that last part.
“We’ve got to head him off and we don’t have much time, he’s on the move.” I need this shit. Dana Sue hasn’t stopped throwing her guts up in three fucking weeks, the asshole sheriff has been making noises since we burnt out the fuckwit hate brigade and now this.