Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Five shadowy figures detached from the darkness and came to stand behind Joint. A few were young, no more than seventeen or eighteen. The others wore the hardened look of street toughs. My stomach squirmed. I did not want to touch any of them.
Joint glanced at the group. “This is Stone. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.” A few of the men straightened, and one even took a step back. “Razor owes him, so just tell him what he wants to know so we can get back to business.”
Stone edged closer, so I tagged along, glued to his side. He nodded toward Joint. “I don’t think you were introduced earlier. This is…” He paused, like he’d forgotten my name, but then I realized he wanted to protect me.
“Sen.” I held my hand out. “We saw each other at the shop.”
“Yeah.” Shocked that I wanted to shake his hand, it took him a second to reach out. Luckily his touch was brief.
“All right if I meet your men?”
Joint flicked a gaze between me and Stone, but finally nodded.
“Great, thanks.” Smiling, I quickly stepped to the next man and introduced myself again. “Hi. I’m Sen.”
“Uh, Staples.” After a quick shake, I moved to the next, meeting Ajax, Hammer, and Snake. I held out my hand to the last guy, but he didn’t make a move to touch me.
“Dude… you afraid of her or what?” Staples, one of the younger guys, laughed.
With a scowl, he finally gave in to the pressure. “Grizzo.” The brief touch was enough to let me know that he had a good reason for not getting too close.
My stomach fluttered, but I smiled as pleasantly as I could, and stepped back. Wiping my hand on the side of my dress, I glanced at the street. Were the cops already on their way? Did we have time to question these guys? I hadn’t picked up a thing from them about Stone, so they probably didn’t have anything to do with the phone call that lured him to the blast. Crap. We needed to get out of there. “Well, it was good to meet you, but, uh… we’ve gotta get going.”
I grabbed Stone’s arm and started pulling him toward the car.
He turned around, but didn’t budge, sending me a questioning glare.
I leaned in close. “I think the cops are coming. All these guys are going to be arrested.”
“Wait! Did you just say the cops are coming?” Joint stood right behind us.
Jumping, I twisted to gape at him. “Uh… yeah. We all need to get out of here.”
Hearing that, the group scattered, each of them taking off in a different direction. All but Joint, who stared at me with narrowed eyes. “How do you know the cops are coming? Did you sell us out?” His wild eyes held accusation.
“No! I’ve got—I know things. Look—we all need to go. I am not getting picked up by the police tonight.”
“Fine, but this ain’t over.”
“We’ll talk later,” Stone replied.
“Yeah, we will.” With a scowl on his face, he lumbered off toward the houses across the street. He didn’t seem in any hurry, but I lost sight of him as we continued toward our car. I quickly opened the passenger door and jumped in.
Stone started up the car. Driving out of the parking lot, he glanced my way. “What did you see?”
“I saw most of them in jail cells. I’m not sure when it happens, but from the impression I got, I think it’s tonight.”
“Most of them? Did a few get away?”
I hesitated, unsure if I should tell Stone about the last guy I’d touched. In my vision, I’d seen him talking to one of the cops, but he wasn’t in jail. He was working undercover to bring them down.
“Serenity? What is it?”
“I think the last guy, Grizzo, is an undercover cop. But you can’t tell Razor, okay?”
“Dammit.” His mouth twisted.
“You won’t tell him, right?”
He sighed. “I can’t make any promises. This puts us in a tight spot, and it’s not helping our case.”
“I know, but if they find out Grizzo’s a cop… they’d do something bad to him, wouldn’t they?”
Stone’s lips twisted. “Let me worry about that.” He paused. “So, what now? If you didn’t see anything else, does that mean the guy we’re looking for isn’t one of them?”
“Yeah, I don’t think it is.”
He huffed out a breath. “Dammit. I thought we had a lead.”
“I know… it sucks.” We drove in silence for a few seconds, then an idea popped into my head and I turned his way. “Hey… why don’t we go back to the trailer park and check on Cash? Even if you’re convinced it’s not him, I think he’s connected in some way, and it’s late enough that he’s probably home. You could convince him to talk.”
Stone raised a brow. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” He turned the car in that direction, and I kept my eyes peeled for anyone following us. Traffic was sparse, and nothing stood out to me, so I settled back into my seat and worried about other things, namely, that Stone had found out about Brandon.