Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“Is this him?” One of the new guys asked as he looked me over. He had more tattoos than I did, which automatically put him in my good book.
“He’s what all of this fuss is about? Kid, dafuq, did you get my kid into?” His kid? I’ve never seen this man in my life, let alone his kid.
“I don’t….”
“Lyon, give the kid a break. He’s had it hard.”
“From what I’ve heard, he’s a pain in the ass. Look, I’m tired; I just came from bum fuck USA to this hell hole, no offense Saunders. I do not wish to be here in this hellscape that’s about to disappear off the face of the earth for any longer than I need to be.”
“Geez, Lyon, these people live here.”
“Dafuq, then they should know. I haven’t seen my wife and kids in weeks, so let’s get this shit rolling. Did you fill him in?”
“Not yet; his girl was in the van.” They all nodded as if they understood. Lyon, I’d heard his name mentioned a time or two, but nothing much was ever said. All I could gather was that he was the boss, the one Tyler and Zak referred to before doing anything.
“The kid, the nieces are yours?”
“One of them is, and you can thank your lucky stars that she likes you and your girl, or your ass would be in a world of hurt right now.”
“Not his fault, Lyon. I don’t think he knew.”
“Knew what?” And why is this guy so pissed at me? I felt like I was back in elementary school, getting into trouble for shit I did on the playground.
“What’s going on?”
“First things first, there was a situation at your place.” Zak looked at Lyon when he said that, and Lyon’s face looked like thunder.
“What kind of situation?”
“Janie, your ex, was rushed to the hospital.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Is it bad that I didn’t care?
“Uh, she uh….” For the first time, Zak was speechless; I didn’t think he knew what that was.
“My kid sent her a warning; that’s what I meant about you being lucky, or your ass would’ve been next.”
“I’m not following. What kind of warning?”
“Probably anthrax or some fuck. I wasn’t there. You’d have to ask the rest of them.” He didn’t seem too pleased by that if the way he glowered around the room was any indication.
“We didn’t know she was going to do that. I think they must’ve said or done something to piss her off.” One of the new guys offered; his name was Cord, I think.
“What the fuck were the lot of you doing? And don’t feed me any bullshit. How did she get the flowers here without your help?”
“Flowers? Is somebody going to tell me what’s going on?”
“There was a flower delivery sent to your house for your ex. I was told to deliver them wearing gloves and not to inhale. Ask Jace. He’s the one who brought them to L.A.”
Jace Saunders didn’t seem too bothered when everyone’s eyes turned his way.
“Don’t look at me. I have no idea what they used. I just followed instructions. And before any of you give me shit, you would’ve done the same thing, too, unless you wanted to end up on the wrong side of the insidious trio.”
“Forget it. Let’s just brief the kid and get it over with before my nut takes out any more of Hollywood’s elite before the earthquake takes them out. And the next time you fucks… never mind, let’s just get on with it.”
“Are we still talking about the little girls on the computer?” No one answered my question, but by process of elimination, I figured I was right.
The room changed immediately. I can’t quite put it into words, but it was as if there was a shift in the air, not visible, but it was felt all the same. I could almost surmise that that little skirmish was their way of blowing off steam before getting down to business, and the next few minutes proved why. It was the least expected bombshell of them all.
“Come on, Ryder, sit down. We think it’s time we told you our reason for being here, the other one at any rate.”
“Okay, what is it?” Why am I so nervous?
“Your tours, do you know that some of your female fans never make it home after seeing you on stage?” Huh?
“Why? Do they get into accidents from drinking and driving or something?”
“No, nothing like that; they’re being trafficked.”
“What the hell are you talking about.”
“Sex trafficking, human trafficking, whatever you wanna call it. That’s what we do. We try to find the people who do that shit and take them down.”
“Who does that? I don’t know anyone who does that. How can my tours be used for something like that? I don’t understand.”
“Your manager Scott, Mary Hudson, and Matt, along with some others.”