Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
“Do you really wanna go down that road, Nikki?” I said, and she froze, glancing up at me.
“Snitches get stitches,” Hendrix said, shooting a sinister smile at me.
“Come on, Nikki,” Wolf said. “I’m sure whoever did it only meant it in fun.” He bit back a laugh.
“Kinda like I’m sure you only pulled a knife on Drew for good fun, huh?”
Moments of silence passed, the soft crackle of the fire the only noise.
“You’re such a loser,” Nikki said, dropping her phone to her side before storming back to her trailer, ranting.
The guys barked out laughs. Hendrix grabbed another beer from the fridge then sank down beside me, glaring. “Reputation, my asshole, Bell.”
“Like I said,” Wolf flicked his roach over the side of the house. “One doomed motherfucker.”
And maybe I was.
I left Wolf’s in time to get home before mom had to leave for work.
As soon as I cut the engine, I could hear dad shouting. Shit breaking.
Arlo was on the front porch, ears plugged and crying.
Anger built like a ticking time bomb as I jogged up the wooden steps. I went to kneel beside him, but something loud banged inside, and the scream that came from my mom made my blood run cold.
“Stay right here, Arlo,” I said already on my way through the door.
From the entrance, I could see Mom on all fours, crying and begging him to stop.
Before I could get to her, Dad took a chair to the back of her head, and she crumpled to the floor.
That rage that had always stayed below the surface, bubbling and heating, waiting to explode, erupted with the force of a millennia-old, dormant volcano. With utter destruction and fury...
The flashing lights from the ambulance bounced around the destroyed living room.
Can you come get Arlo from my house? Please. Like right now?
I’d sent that to Drew because Nora’s family wasn’t at home, and I had no one else I could trust with him. And I trusted her. I fucking trusted her...
“Son, put down the phone.” Jacobs’s boot tapped the broken glass strewn across the floor.
Under normal circumstances, I would have sent the next text while glaring at that prick, but nothing about the situation that brought the cops to my house was normal.
A text from Drew popped up on my screen: Yeah. Is everything okay?
And I set the phone beside me on the couch.
One of the other officers brought Arlo back into the room and placed him beside me.
He sniffled, wiping at his tears with his sleeve before he latched onto me. “You can’t take him to jail. No one else will take care of me.” The pitiful sob that followed practically yanked my heart clean out of my chest.
“It’s fine, buddy. They just need to ask me some questions.”
The other officer glanced at me, and I could see it all over his face. His hands were tied, and he didn’t want to have to do it, but they had a protocol. Domestic violence case—no conscious witnesses. I was going to jail.
He pulled Jacobs to the side and exchanged a few words, while Arlo cried on my shoulder. He’d seen shit no kid should have to see.
“Is Momma gonna be okay?”
“Yeah. She’ll be fine, buddy. They just have to make her feel better for a few days.”
33
Drew
It had been five minutes, and he hadn’t answered me.
I would have left as soon as he texted me because for him to ask me to get his brother—I had no idea why he hadn’t asked Nora, or Wolf, or even Hendrix, but I knew how important Arlo was to Bellamy. He wouldn’t ask if he weren’t desperate—but I couldn’t find where my dad had hidden the car keys. I tried to call Nora, but she didn’t pick up.
So, I ended up walking to the Jet Pep across from the subdivision and catching the bus before walking two blocks to Bellamy’s house.
As soon as I rounded the street corner, the red and blue flashing lights came into view, and I panicked. I had no idea what went on in Bellamy’s house, but whatever it was, I knew it was bad enough that Nora had to watch Arlo when Bellamy went to jail.
He didn’t trust his dad with Arlo...and he texted me to please come to get him. And now the cops were there…I took off down the street, rushing past the patrol cars in his drive, and stopping when I saw the broken window in the front.
I had never been in any situation like this and had no idea what to do. Was I supposed to knock on the door or not?
I went up the steps, unable to ignore the small spots of what looked to be blood on the concrete. Then I knocked on the door, my heart banging in my chest.
It swung open to a middle-aged police officer. “Drew Morgan?”