Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
He got up, slipped his phone in his pocket, and made his way to her door. She watched him, burning with anger and budding love. But she was rendered speechless. She wanted to curse him out, but she couldn’t. Wouldn’t. He opened the front door and helped himself out, then closed it behind him, without a goodbye. She got up and watched him from her window. He walked towards his truck then disappeared out of sight.
How could she describe what she was feeling right then? Her emotions flipped and changed from one second to the next. She went back to the couch, still smelling him in the air, and smiled. A tear streaked her cheek, and then another. He had the self-control of a priest, and the sex drive of a beast. She’d been in the company of an alpha. Supreme big dick energy. She’d kissed a top dog. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. His bark was as big as his bite.
Lennox was the definition of a REAL man…
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The “Kaged” Saint
A few days later
Kage’s lips crimped beneath a curtain of salt and pepper hair. His unruly mustache and mountain man beard made him appear older than his years, yet gave him an uncanny sophistication. A thick layer of long blond hair streaked with premature silver covered one of his mischievous light blue eyes as a curl of thick cigar smoke escaped his crooked mouth. He tapped the ashes into a dark brown ashtray, then fidgeted around in his worn chair, half the stuffing coming out of the cushion. Stretching a long leg forward, he slumped down a little and half of his body was gobbled up by the shadows.
“You can stop lookin’ at yer phone, Lennox. Ain’t no good signal out here in my neck of the woods, lest I turn it on.”
“I can’t believe you live like this. It’s like a time machine…” Lennox looked around his cousin’s two-room, hand-built, off-the-grid abode. “A dirty, small, strange time machine.”
“And I can’t believe you ain’t on steroids, with your big, beefy, bison Burger King lookin’ ass! Ya look like a white-skinned gorilla. More importantly, where I live should be the least of your fuckin’ worries, brawny boy. Take a piss test for me. What’s your blood type? Vanilla protein shake?” Chuckling, Kage grabbed a small plastic trashcan and spit into it.
Lennox took a deep breath and slipped his phone in his pocket, staring at his cousin.
“We gotta do something about Grandpa.”
Steely eyes met his. The mood turned suddenly cold and somber.
“I tried. More than once. He’s got too much protection around him, and he’s attempted to kill me at least twice. What was his ultimatum to ya?”
Lennox paced the small house, darkness beginning to consume him, too. He moved closer to a small window that allowed a few meager streams of light into the dwelling. Outside, past the bright red curtain, he could see the forest. It was beautiful. Peaceful. Like something that would be on a postcard with a picture of Bambi frolicking in the woods with butterflies. On one wall of the room, about eight guns hung on a log wall, near them a big box which he presumed was filled with ammunition. A small electric refrigerator buzzed, but knowing Kage, it was probably only full of beer and wilted produce.
“He’s threatened to tell my mother’s family some things about her… some things that will get her buried body dug up from the family cemetery and sent to a place they reserve for evil people. That’s a big deal where she’s from.” Kage brought his cigar to his mouth, and rested it along his lips. “He’s also threatened to get me tossed into prison for that murder way back when. The same strings he said he pulled to ensure I had no record and didn’t serve a day in jail, after my dad begged for his help on my behalf without my knowledge, he said he’ll tie those same strings in a knot that’ll never unravel, and never be turned loose.” He dropped his gaze and fiddled with his cuticles for a moment or two.
“Well, he might be able to swing it if you don’t do something.” Kage exhaled a dense cloud of smoke that sailed past his blue peepers real slow, like lazy storm clouds. “Lennox, your problem is, you’re now the good guy. You got this thing about not wanting to go back from where ya came. New age therapy. Spiritual journey shit. The motherfucker that was out here bustin’ heads open with baseball bats and cussin’ everyone out is now some yoga master with a gun.” Kage smiled big and wide as if he much preferred that version of him.
“Something had to change. I was a danger to myself more than anyone else.” Lennox crossed his arms and sighed. “He’s hellbent on destroying my mother, too. Even beyond the grave. Really, he doesn’t give a damn about her, but she’s just collateral damage. He knows my mother is my weakness, so,” he shrugged, “he’s using it.”