Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
The struggle became less violent, and Luke finally stopped kicking about as his oxygen-deprived mind shut down.
“He deserves this,” Mike said to reassure Arden, who sat on the other side of the room, clutching the front of his T-shirt.
Arden opened his mouth but ended up staying quiet as he nodded, wiping away a tear that rolled down his cheek.
Minutes later, Luke was dead, and Mike only broke his neck as a precaution before dropping his lifeless body to the large plastic sheet he spread in the living room to minimize the chance of leaving traces of their presence. It had been almost too easy to get in with Arden as bait, but why take unnecessary risks?
“Are you okay?” Mike asked, stepping away from the still-warm corpse to change into fresh clothes.
“Yes,” Arden rasped, but his fingers trembled as he shifted in the wooden chair. “I’m just sorry when I think of the years he hovered around me and I failed to see what a terrible person he was. I was like a puppy begging for his attention.”
Mike glanced down at Luke. While kind of generic in appearance, he was quite handsome and rather tall, which explained why it had flattered a teenager that someone like him showed interest. “To be fair, you really were only a puppy when you met him,” Mike said, pulling on a fresh pair of pants.
Arden’s hair was tied back into two braids and Mike fondly remembered a time when they’d been together and he’d gotten to pull on those.
The boy shrugged but stayed still otherwise, as if he were afraid to move. “Too young. I can see it now. He was hot so he didn’t seem like a creeper. Kaley warned me, but I wouldn’t listen.”
Mike covered the body with a sheet, so Arden wouldn’t have to watch his rapist’s face anymore and approached him, offering his hand. “It’s over now.”
The pretty fingers slipped into his with such ease. And even though Arden had just watched Mike end someone’s life, he got up and hugged him so tightly it had Mike’s brain racing.
“Thank you. It won’t get traced back to you? Are you sure?” he demanded
Warmth bloomed in Mike’s heart, and he allowed himself to enjoy the embrace a while longer, shutting his eyes as Arden pushed the tips of his shoes against his, molding their bodies together. For the briefest moment, he imagined that they were still a couple, and that there was a future in which they traveled far away from Hawk Springs and the club. Where no one knew of Mike’s past, and where it could pose no danger to Arden. But the MC was Mike’s home, and regardless of his feelings for Arden, he wasn’t able to desert his whole life and all his other loved ones.
“If it somehow does, I won’t have any regrets.”
“Don’t say that. Do I need to help you… move him? What do we do?” Arden looked up, his cute face tense in the darkened room.
Mike swallowed, smiling when he noticed faint light catching the shimmery highlighter on Arden’s cheek. The pretty baby didn’t need to lift a finger. Mike was here to handle everything for him, so Arden didn’t have to stain himself with dirty blood. Unable to help himself, he petted the smooth skin with the back of his hand. “I’ve got this, baby.”
It’s been days since their breakup, and Mike still instinctively called Arden pet names. It would have been much easier to stop if Arden confronted him about it, but he never had. It was the sweetest, yet most painful limbo, like being stuck in a thorny bush while his mouth was full of vanilla milkshake.
Arden had confessed his love just once, but whenever his big blue eyes watched Mike, those three sweet, smooth words echoed in Mike’s head in the way they had been uttered in the dark, for only him to hear.
“I’ll never be able to repay you,” Arden said, lowering his gaze.
“There’s no need. I’ll be happy knowing you’re safe.” Mike exhaled and pulled out his cell phone to type a message to Zolt, who knew the best body disposal guy in the area. The message was coded, of course, but once Zolt confirmed, it was a done deal.
Arden’s fingers danced up and down Mike’s side, as if he too couldn’t stay away despite it being the reasonable thing to do. In the week since their breakup, Mike had been thinking about their relationship a lot, and the reckless part of his brain tried to come up with excuses to crawl back to Arden. To pretend there was no danger and fall into the boy’s willing arms.
Maybe he could have kept Arden safe from the Jarens, but once those crazy fuckers were dealt with, there would be someone else with a grudge. And Arden, being a boy, would have a much larger target on his back than Mike’s brothers’ female partners.