Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Grayson drives straight past the cathedral and guilt settles into my soul at seeing Cruz’s mom standing with her husband and newly saved sons, sobbing with grief. “Shit,” Cruz murmurs from behind me, knowing just how hard all of this is on her, but she’ll pull through. It won’t be long until our secret is out and all her grief will vanish. Though I don’t doubt that Cruz is going to get one hell of an ass-whooping.
Grayson finally brings the car to a stop behind the massive church where we can sneak in through the back undetected. We all clamber out of the car and Carver grabs my hand, darting across the lot to keep us out of sight.
The boys take off through the backdoor with more than enough excuses to be there, though they have to stop before walking through to wipe the stupid grins off their faces and pretend that today is the worst day of their lives. At least, I hope that’s how they’d feel about being at my funeral—my real funeral, that is.
They quickly disappear out of sight, and knowing that there are bound to be people that way, Carver and I sneak through the shadows until we find one of the many back rooms. He breaks the window right off its tracks and gently places it down, not wanting the bad juju that’s bound to come from vandalizing a cathedral.
Carver takes my waist and hoists me up through the window and while there aren’t any people in this little back room, I do what I can to keep my legs glued together. Again with the bad juju. I’m sure getting my pussy out in a church isn’t going to end well for me.
Carver comes straight through behind me, grabbing hold of my waist to balance me as he comes flying through so fast. We get to work.
We sneak out through the back room and through the long corridors, doing our best not to get caught. We hear the boys talking to someone, keeping them distracted, and we don’t waste our opportunity to run.
We take off until we reach a door and Carver stops. “This is it. This leads out to the main part of the church. Are you ready for this? There’s going to be people everywhere. We have to be discreet.”
I nod. “Discreet isn’t really my specialty.”
“No shit,” he mutters under his breath.
We meet each other’s stare and with a small nod, Carver slowly pulls the door open.
We look in to find the cathedral filled with bodies. There must be hundreds of people here so far, and with every passing second, more come through the massive doors.
We stand right up at the front of the cathedral and I can see perfectly where my casket is going to sit. “Wow, this really is morbid,” I say as a strange unease settles over me. “What a shame, I kinda thought this was going to be fun.”
“Look at the bright side,” he tells me. “At least people actually showed up. You could be staring out at an empty church. Now that would fucking suck.”
“Good point,” I mutter, nodding toward the massive vases of beautifully arranged flowers that all but cover the space behind the casket stand. “Do you think anyone will catch us behind there?”
Carver grins. “Hope not.”
He takes my hand once again and with our heads down, we sneak out into the cathedral, doing our best to keep hidden despite being the most obvious people in the room. I mean, I must be the only person in here not wearing black.
We reach the big vases in no time, and when no one in the crowd screeches, gasps, or squeals, we each let out relieved sighs and drop down, hoping to God that no one decides to take a stroll back here.
We sit for at least ten minutes before the soft music starts and Earnest Brooks stands and approaches the dais. “Please stand,” he asks the congregation, making my stomach drop.
“Him?” I whisper-yell as a sickly, paleness comes over Carver at seeing the guy who he last saw in a brothel doing who the hell knows what. “Why the hell does he get the honor of running this shit?”
“Good fucking question,” he grumbles beside me, doing everything he can to not look Earnest’s way.
“Is now a good time to quiz you on what you actually saw in there?”
His jaw clenches and he glares back at me. “I fucking told you to never bring it up again. I thought we were clear on that.”
I laugh to myself but it quickly fades away as I watch Grayson, Cruz, and King, along with other heads of Dynasty carrying a black casket down the long aisle, their heads all bowed in devastation. “Ah, fuck,” I murmur as Carver’s fingers slip into mine, hearing the sobs come from all corners of the cathedral. “Maybe we should have just run away when you suggested it.”