Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Troy didn’t wait for my answer. He rolled up his window and disappeared into the shadows of the night like the ghoul he was. Now that I was alone, I drew a deep breath to calm my shaking. Too bad it did fuck-all. Troy, that fucking asshole. It made me sick to be at his beck and call, but what other choice did we have?
And if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t ready for River. Not after tonight.
“Fuck!” I yelled. The word echoed in the empty parking lot.
I turned back to the fence and slammed my fist into it. The sting of the steel bars felt good on my taped up hands. I did it again and again, throwing punch after punch into the fence until my knuckles were raw with blood and my flesh stung. When I pulled away, my body felt heavy as lead. All my adrenaline was gone, replaced by the weight of Troy’s offer.
I dreaded telling the others. As I walked the empty asphalt back to where we parked the car, I thought about what I could tell them. But I was a shit liar, especially when it came to Lotto. He always knew how I felt and what I needed to make it better. But even the thought of Lotto’s cock giving me familiar comfort didn’t feel like enough. This sinking feeling wasn’t going away any time soon.
As soon as I made it near Frankie’s car, I caught sight of the three of them. Ari, Frankie, and Lotto, all looking around for me with clear worry etched on their faces. At least Lotto had my shit in his hands.
When Ari saw me, the tension in her body physically deflated. “There you are! We’ve been looking for you everywhere. Do you know—”
She stomped toward me like a raging bull but stopped short when she saw the blood on my knuckles. Her anger was replaced by a gasp of worry. “Bones, what happened?”
Frankie was right behind her, checking my wounds. “We should get out of here before we’re caught.”
“There’s no cops. It was a setup.” I shared a knowing look with Lotto, who swore under his breath.
“By who?” Ari asked. I only blinked at her. The crease in her styled eyebrows loosened as realization washed over her face. “Troy?”
“The whole thing?” Frankie demanded. “Fuck. Even the fight with River?”
I nodded. “We have a meeting with him tomorrow morning at ten. All of us.”
“You saw him?” Ari let out an annoyed ‘ugh’ when I confirmed Troy’s bullshit conversation from earlier. “Prick. Of course he wouldn’t contact me about it first.”
“Or me.” Frankie ran a hand through his hair and set it on Ari’s shoulder. “This was targeted. At Bones. That’s who Troy wants.”
“And River. He wants us to go head to head.”
All three of them stared at me silently. The words tasted like ash on my tongue. I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but it needed to be said. Tonight had proved it.
“Which means we have a fucking problem,” I ground out through clenched teeth, “because I don’t think I can win.”
Chapter 11
Frankie
“Thank you all for coming.” Troy smiled and leaned back in his leather chair.
As if we had a fucking choice.
I sat at the end of the row of chairs, with Ari next to me, Bones in the middle, and Lotto at the other end. We all looked dressed as if we were going to some show or bigwig meeting.
But this wasn’t a meeting. It was a fucking hostage situation.
How else would you describe how tight Troy had a hold of our balls?
“I appreciate the showing last night. Great match.”
“We didn’t realize you would be there,” Lotto said around a tight smile. Clearly, he was still pissed off at the last-minute switch of the originally planned fight. “Or else we would have greeted you personally.”
We certainly wouldn’t have. Lotto was always the best ass-kisser of our group. I stayed silent per Ari’s request in the car. If I didn’t “keep my damn mouth shut,” she was going to kill me. Or deny me sex until I learned my lesson, which would certainly kill me anyway. With such slim pickings, I let Lotto and Ari handle the talks.
For now, anyway.
“Why did you invite us here?” Ari asked. When she crossed her legs, her tight black dress rode up on her thigh. My jaw clenched. I didn’t want Troy’s predatory eyes on her body, but it was also a great reminder of what I’d be missing if I fucking blew this. “Bones said you have an offer for us.”
“I thought it was pretty obvious,” Troy said.
A Bones and River fight. If that was all he wanted, why was he taking so long and dicking us around? Something wasn’t adding up.
Bones clenched his jaw. “A fight with River.”