Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Tanner smirks and hits the gas, pulling the Mustang around in a wide U-turn and heading back toward school so we can all face the firing squad and be handed our detention. Though hopefully that’s all we get.
Addison cranks up the music, trying to make the most of the ride just as Tanner slams the brakes and pulls off to the side of the road, nearly sending me right through the fucking windshield. Though at least this time a broken windshield wouldn’t be my fault. Tanner only just got the Mustang back from the shop yesterday.
“What’s wrong?” I rush out, leaning forward in my seat, getting closer to Tanner as he stares out the window, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.
He nods out the window, and I follow his gaze to find Rachael and her mom stepping out of a designer store, probably spending the money Tanner was forced to pay for a child that isn’t even his. Rachael pushes a stroller as her child sleeps, her shopping bags dumped on top of him.
Anger drums through my veins. There’s so much wrong with this picture, I can’t even focus. That baby might not be Tanner’s child, but he’s still his half-brother, still shares his DNA, just like the three babies living in Australia. And despite how they all came to be, I don’t doubt there’s nothing Tanner wouldn’t do to protect them. Family means everything to him, and it’s not their fault their father is a lying, adulterating piece of shit.
Tanner is out of the car in no time, but I’m right there with him.
“Oh shit,” I hear Addison behind us, scrambling out of the Mustang and racing to catch up with us as we cross the road, looking like a pack of fucking wolves going in for the kill.
Colby’s mom spots us first, and before Rachael even has a chance to look up, her mom is rushing across the street, her hand whipping out and smacking hard across Tanner’s face. “You … you murderer,” she spits at him. “You killed my baby boy.”
I’m more than ready to tell her what I think of that, but Addison is on fire and comes racing in like a knight in shining armor, shoving her hands hard into the woman’s chest and sending her flying away from Tanner. Addison keeps on her, forging ahead and getting in her face. “Your piece of shit son deserved to die for what he did to me,” she spits, rage like I’ve never seen flying from her mouth. “He drugged me and threw me down. Pulled my fucking pants off while I screamed for somebody—anybody—to fucking help me. I begged him to stop, begged him not to touch me, and you know what that bastard did? You wanna know? HE FUCKING LAUGHED IN MY FACE and then got away with it. He walked free because of that dirty fucking lawyer, but he couldn’t handle the shame of what he’d done. Couldn’t handle the fucking world knowing what a piece of shit he was, so he tore the fucking breathing tube right out of my throat as I laid in a fucking coma. Is that the little boy you were trying to protect?” she spits, tears springing to her eyes.
Addison steps even closer, her voice lowering with the deepest, raging anger. “The night Colby came to the track and held a knife up against my throat, he was ready to fucking touch me again. Oh, he fucking wanted it. He wanted to throw me down and force himself inside me all over again. I should have killed him myself. Fuck, I wish I had killed him myself because maybe then it wouldn’t be so fucking hard to close my eyes at night. He deserved it for what he did. He stabbed me that night right through my chest, and when he didn’t get what he wanted, he stabbed Brielle and Jax too. So tell me, please for the love of God, tell me why the fuck my brother should feel bad about what he had to do to protect us. He saved our fucking lives because of the decisions your son made, and he’ll have to live with the weight of that for the rest of his life.”
The woman weeps as Tanner steps in, placing his hand on Addison’s shoulder. “Stop,” he murmurs, gently pushing her back toward me. “She’s in denial. Yelling at her isn’t going to do you any good. It just brings up things you don’t need to be thinking about,” he says before fixing his stare on Rachael. “But right now, we’ve got bigger issues to deal with.”
Rachael stares at Tanner, visibly shaking, and with every step he takes toward her, her eyes widen further. “What … what do you want?” she questions, her gaze snapping nervously toward her son.