Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
“Holy shit,” I say when I see all the people crowded around the ring in the center of the room. Two men are in the middle swinging punches at each other.
The floors are concrete, and the few chairs around are folded metal ones. The attire of some of the girls stands in stark contrast. You'd think they were heading to a fancy club in the city. Some of the men are in slacks and buttoned-up shirts while others are just in jeans and T-shirts. It's an interesting mix, but I can tell that Willa and I don't fit in.
The cute fuzzy sweater Willa has on might be five times more expensive than any of the dresses here, but it’s got a kitten wearing a crown on it. A few people glance our way, but as quickly as they do, they turn back around. I glance over my shoulder to see leather jacket guy standing about ten feet back from us. Everyone gives him a wide berth, confirming my suspicions from earlier that he’s in charge around here.
I cringe when one of the men takes a hard hit to the face and hits the ground even harder. “Oh, gross.” Willa covers her face with her hands. Everyone cheers and screams.
“This is intense.”
“I can’t believe this is what my brother does.” Finally, Willa removes her hands from her face. As if she conjured him, people started chanting Richy Rich. “Is he coming up now?” Willa tries to look around, standing on her tiptoes.
“Want to get closer, princess?”
“You can do that?” Willa asks.
“You got a name?” I cut in, wanting to know who this man is that has taken a quick interest in my best friend.
“Everyone calls me King,” he answers but doesn’t glance my way. I recall seeing the name King on the fancy speedboat. I would never have guessed it belonged to this man. “You can call me Vasily, though, princess.” Willa’s face starts to turn pink again.
“You can get us closer, Vasily?”
“Yeah, I can.” He throws an arm around her shoulder, tucking her into his side. “Stay close.”
“Okay,” I see her say, but I can’t hear it over the chants, and I’m pretty sure it’s a whisper. Willa’s turned a bit shy, but she's not backing down. I follow behind them. The crowd parts for King but quickly closes behind him.
I get lost in the throng of people. Not wanting to fight it and honestly not sure that I can, I turn to go back to where I was, pulling out my phone to text Willa and let her know where I’ll be so she’ll know where to meet me when Rich’s fight is over.
As I'm texting her, I bump into someone, causing the phone to slip from my grasp. “Shit, sorry.” I try to find my phone, but there are too many people around.
“Teddy?” I glance up to see that it’s Derrick I’ve run into.
“Hey,” I respond. “I dropped my phone.” Derrick looks down, helping me search for it.
“Got it.” He finds it under someone's foot.
“Sorry,” I tell the person.
“Come on.” Derrick grabs my wrist, pulling me through the people.
“My phone,” I tell him.
“I got it.” He continues to pull me along. A weird sensation creeps up my spine as everything West told me about staying away from Derrick floods back to me. It slipped my mind for a second when I was searching for my phone. I try to tug my hand back, but his grip only tightens.
"Let go." I jerk, but he's stronger. "Stop!" I scream louder, but the crowd is roaring as Derrick drags me toward a door, no one else seeming to notice.
Chapter Twenty-One
WEST
The fact that I’m parked down by the docks because I tracked Teddy here probably makes me a huge asshole, but I don’t care. I need to know she’s safe at all times. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to her.
Not only did I track her here with GPS, since I found out what’s going on with Derrick, I’ve had someone keeping a close eye on her for me when I’m not personally available to. He alerted me when Teddy and Willa left the diner and didn’t head in the direction of the house.
I immediately got in my car and made my way toward the direction they were headed in. Now I’ve been waiting in this damn car, torn whether to go inside whatever this place is and drag my girl back home or let her be.
I only last a few minutes before I exit the car and head toward the warehouse. I’ve known about Rich’s extracurricular activities from day one. It was one of the first things I did when I found out about the twins and did a deep dive.
The kid is good. I’m not sure why he does it. Either he enjoys it, or he only wants to beat the shit out of people. It’s not about the money. He has a trust set up for him. Both Willa and Rich are set for life for the most part. As long as they don’t go crazy.