Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“What did you know about her?”
“Nothing, apparently. I know I fucked up. She broke my heart and took off. Fuck her,” I bite out.
He knits his brows and looks me over silently for a beat or two. “Um, that’s not the answer I was looking for. I see you’re not ready. Anthony, I allow each of you boys one secret to hold from me.
“This wasn’t your one. So you either come clean or you figure out what shit you truly stepped into. Either way, you’re going to need me, so man up.”
“Man up? This has nothing to do with you or anything else in my life. Our thing is over. I’m going to divorce her and move on.”
“What year is this?” he asks and tilts his head as he looks back at me. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“You don’t have to keep me in the shadows because of this. I swear, she means nothing to me. I can handle my part. I’m ready,” I growl.
“You are the only one placing you in the shadows. I want to bring you out, but I need to know you can see around you when I do. Maybe things would have gone differently if you trusted me.
“I don’t care what’s going on with me. My brother’s children are a priority for me. I can’t cover you boys when you don’t trust me to do what I’m best at.”
With that, he raps his knuckles on the bar top and turns to leave. I stare after him with so many thoughts going through my mind.
Anthony, I’ll allow each of you boys one secret to hold from me. This wasn’t your one.
“What the fuck just happened?”
Chapter 27
It Begins
Anthony
Seven months later…
I sit in the Slow Roast coffee shop, waiting for my date. Kid has been out of town. Without her around to cockblock, I met this girl at the bar a few nights ago. She’s a cutie. I could use the distraction from life.
We’ve been texting and I agreed to meet her this morning. I’m thinking it’s time I get serious about moving forward with my life. I was bitter and had abandonment issues before my marriage.
After Lex, that shit went through the roof. However, seeing Pit and Skittles get their happily ever after has made me start to look into all of that. I need to pull it together.
“You Anthony Knight?” a dude with a messenger bag across his front asks.
I look him over, deciding if this is something I want to answer. He looks back at me as if to say he’s not here for any problems with me. Deciding that it would be nothing to knock his fucking head off, I grunt.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Cool”—he digs into his bag and pulls out an envelope to hand to me—“If you could just sign this.”
I lift a brow, getting ready to tell him I’m not signing shit. The guy looks me over, shrugs and scurries off without a signature.
I glance around and notice Deacon at a table with his little girl in her carrier. However, this sinking feeling in my stomach tells me not to make my presence known.
I open the envelope and pull out the contents. As I flip through the photos in my hands, my blood boils. I can’t be looking at what I think I’m looking at.
I can’t believe this shit. Ten minutes have to go by as my mind tries to process what I have in my hands. It’s like the coffee shop fades away. All that exists are these pics and the note that came with them.
Do you know who your friends are?
A chick screaming pulls me from my thoughts. When I look up in confusion, I see Jeff walking out. It clicks that my date isn’t coming. I push that thought aside as my anger burns through me.
Snatching up the photos and the note, I clench them in my hand as I storm out and head for my truck.
“Yo,” Pit answers his phone.
“I need to go to New York. Can I use your plane?”
“What’s going on? We leave for the cabin in the morning. You bailing?”
“Nah, something came up. I need to handle this now. It can’t wait. About the plane, I’ll pay for the fuel. I just need to get there now.”
“You know you don’t have to worry about that. Are you all right?”
“No, my wife is a fucking liar and a bitch,” I growl.
“Your wife?”
“Whose wife? You said that was Ox. Why did you just go pale?” Skittles says in the background.
“It is Ox,” he says to her, then to me. “Yo, bro. The plane is yours. Do you need me to come with you?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Nah, I don’t think you are. I’m coming.”
I close my eyes as I vibrate with rage. Reaching for the car lighter, I push it in. I then step back out of the truck to breathe, and when the lighter pops, I pull it and light the photos on fire.