Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
“Where are you staying?” she asked.
“With a friend. I assume you’re staying with him,” he said, jerking his chin in Moose’s direction.
“Yes. For a few days.”
Ricky nodded and shifted, hefting the backpack.
“Maybe after we return Buster’s merchandise tomorrow, we can all get dinner or something.”
“Him too?”
Daisy rolled her eyes. “Yes, Ricky, Moose too.” Unless he was already on his way out of town. She frowned. Damn, she hadn’t considered he might take off right after they returned the drugs. This could be it. Her final hours with the man who’d blown into her life and made her want things she had no business wanting.
“I thought you’d be alone.” He shifted back and forth as though antsy to get going. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing someone.”
She tilted her head. “I didn’t realize I had to. And I figured you’d be glad I had someone looking out for me. Protecting me.”
“From my fuck-ups, right?” His eyes narrowed.
What the hell did she say to that? Yes, she needed protection from his fuck-ups. This situation certainly had nothing to do with her until he dragged her in it kicking and screaming.
Clearing her throat, she walked closer to him. “Let me grab the backpack from you. We’ll work on setting up a meeting with Buster for tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be able to buy you some time to get the money back. Then we’ll both be safe.”
“Yeah. I guess.” He slipped the backpack off his shoulder and extended it to her.
“Thanks, Ricky. You’re making the right choice,” she said with a smile as she closed the distance between them. Maybe this would be the first step toward her brother getting on the right path. Maybe someday they could be close again, even friends.
She reached for the backpack, and the second her fingertips brushed the fabric, he dropped it to the ground. “Oh, sor… what the…”
Ricky grabbed her, spun her around, and anchored her against his front.
She was too confused to be afraid. “What are you doing?”
Something cold and hard hit her temple. Her blood ran cold.
“R-Ricky?”
A gun? It couldn’t be.
But when she looked at Moose and found him standing with legs spread and his weapon aimed at Ricky, icy fear washed over her.
Ricky had a gun to her head.
Her brother, her flesh and blood, was threatening her life with a gun.
“D-don’t shoot him,” she begged Moose, whose eyes blazed with fury. She hadn’t known him long, but she’d never imagined he could make such a lethal facial expression. Ricky’s life could end right there at Moose’s hand.
It hadn’t fully sunk in that her life could end as well. She refused to believe her brother would kill her. Then again, she’d never imagined him capable of holding a deadly weapon to her head.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” Moose said, voice almost robotic. “If it comes down to him or you, he’s not walking out of here alive.”
Please don’t let it come to that.
Fear clogged her throat. She had to force the words past a giant lump. “D-do you hear that, Ricky? He’ll shoot you. And he’s a good shot. He shot Pete’s leg out.”
“Shut up. Let me think,” Ricky said. “It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. He wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Daisy tried to breathe and keep herself from panicking, but it proved impossible. How the hell was she going to get them all out of this without anyone suffering a bullet wound?
“R-Ricky, w-what are you doing? What’s your end goal here?”
“I can’t give the drugs back. I need to sell them. Buster isn’t the only person I owe. I need this to get out of debt, or I’m dead.”
“Okay.” Thinking of a solution to talk him off the ledge was difficult with so much of her brain power focused on fear. “We can help you. R-right, Moose?”
He nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it. “We can. If you put the gun down, we can help you figure this out. There’s always a way out, Ricky, but this isn’t it. Look at your sister. She’s terrified, and you’re the one scaring her.”
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Ricky said.
She closed her eyes and blew out a shaky breath.
“Of course you don’t. She’s your sister. You love her. Put the gun down.”
She envied Moose’s ability to remain calm and rational as she hung on by a thread.
“You first.”
Daisy met Moose’s gaze and saw the indecision and distrust there. He didn’t know Ricky from the tree next to him. It was up to her to convince him Ricky wouldn’t hurt her. She nodded. “It’s okay, Moose. Do it.”
He stared at her for another intense thirty seconds before raising his hands by his head. The gun shifted off Ricky, pointing to the sky. Then Moose crouched down and set the gun on the ground. “Your turn,” he said as he straightened.