Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
King’s deep tone tears through the phone. “Chill the fuck out man. We’ve been making funeral arrangements with Cruz’s mom. She’s going all fucking out, but she’s a mess. It’s too fucking much for her to handle.”
Funeral? What the fuck? They don’t mean my funeral, do they? Fucking hell. I’m not even dead yet and they’re already making plans. Unless something else went down while I was away.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Carver roars, the anger in his tone speaking volumes. “Why the fuck are you wasting time on that shit? That’s not important. You should be spending every fucking second searching for them.”
There’s a slight scuffle through the phone before Grayson’s familiar roar breaks through the small SUV. “We fucking are but if we’re not acting the part, they won’t buy it. Every minute wasted is another minute that they’re gone. Just focus on finding Ellie and leave us the fuck alone to do what we have to do. I should have been the one to stay. I never would have let her get away.”
Fuck me.
Anger bubbles deep inside of me. How can they just talk about it so easily, as though what they did means absolutely nothing? They tried to blow me the fuck up and now they’re acting as though it was as easy as picking out their favorite dish.
I start rubbing my face against the leather seat of the SUV, trying to be discreet as the duct tape slowly peels back off my face. I cringe and moan, hating how obvious I’m being but fuck Carver. I don’t care if he knows. He’d be stupid to assume that I wouldn’t try anything.
“Come on, bro,” I hear Cruz mutter, his voice softer and further away, making my heart break all over again. I think his betrayal was the worst. “We’re all fucking stressed. You know Winter, she would have put up a big fucking fight. She would have made it hell for him.”
“Too fucking right,” Carver murmurs as he glances back at me, his eyes narrowing on the duct tape that’s nearly off my face. “She had me jumping through fucking hoops, but I found her this morning. That’s why I’m calling. She’s in the back being as fucking stubborn as ever.”
I scoff. What the fuck was he expecting?
“My girl is there?” Cruz asks, his voice a little louder as if he had stolen the phone right out of Grayson’s hands. “Is she alright? Why hasn’t she been cursing us out this whole time? Babe, are you there? Let me explain... it’s just …”
I scoff to myself. His girl? It’ll be a cold day in hell when I’ll be his girl ever again.
Carver just laughs, cutting him off and I watch as his eyes sparkle through the rearview mirror. “She’s uhhhhh ... she’s a little tied up right now.”
“Fucking hell, man,” King interjects, with an irritated sigh. “What the fuck did you do?”
“I did what I had to do. She wasn’t going to come easily,” he explains. “She’s a fucking fire cracker, you know that, but she’s safe. I’m going to take her somewhere and try to ... explain what’s been going down, that’s assuming she lets me.”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
The tape finally comes free and I screech out, my anger knowing no bounds. “Because you fuckheads tried to blow me up. Are you fucking kidding me? I hate you. All of you can go to hell and suck my fucking dick while you’re at it. You’re not going to get away with this. I’m going to fuck you all up. I trusted you and you all fucking betrayed me, but never again.”
“Babe, come on. I swear to you, if there was another way ...” Cruz says, trailing off, the hurt in his voice almost enough to have me taking back every word I said, but fuck him. His bullshit isn’t going to work on me this time. I won’t ever fall for that crap again. Any of their crap.
Carver glances back at me with unease in his eyes and before I get a chance to tell Cruz to go to hell, he cuts me off, his deep voice filling the cab. “Gotta go,” he says as I bring my bound wrists up to my mouth and start gnawing at the thick tape. “I’ll let you guys know what’s going down once I have a plan.”
I groan low, pulling my hands away for a brief second. “If you’re going to fucking kill me, just get it over and done with. I’m done playing your bullshit games.”
Carver’s gaze shifts to mine in the rearview mirror. He rolls his eyes as though my little outburst is below him, and that one look has the anger building up inside me once again.
I don’t fucking hesitate.
I throw myself up onto the seat and without a second of warning, I loop my bound wrists over his head and bring them down around his neck. I pull tight, giving it everything I have as I press his throat into the back of his seat. “I fucking hate you, Dante Carver. You’re just like your father. Corrupted, sick, and twisted.”