Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
“Can we just stay here a while longer?” I whisper and reach for a pretzel.
“Of course,” he answers in an instant, his gaze on the finger playing with my hole.
I could probably ask him now whether I can brand my family crest on his forehead and he’d say yes. I guess this is also a kind of power. One that I never before knew how to wield.
Chapter 10
Hawk
The past five years in a cage of steel and concrete did not make my memories of home fade. The cops would question my family, possibly watch the property too, awaiting my arrival, but this is far from the first time a Coleman has been on the run from the law. My family has had quite a bit of experience with that throughout the past century, so I keep away from main roads and approach the woodland at the back of the vast property. It’s getting dark, but I keep the car lights off as I move down the gravel road only ever used by the forest service. And us.
My eyes are strained from trying to find the spot I’m looking for. Back in the day, I remembered it by heart, but fortunately two of the trees close by remain marked, and I sigh in relief when I spot them. Soon enough, we will both get something to eat, and pillows to rest our heads.
Not that Sylvan needs a bed to fall asleep.
He looks so precious with his head against the window, curled up under a flowery blanket. His lips are parted, as if he’s already inviting more kisses, and his pale lashes lay against his sunburned skin. He reminds me of a white moth. Fragile, nocturnal, beautiful, but a little scary.
I’m already regretful about having to wake him up. The guy’s been through so much in the last twenty-four hours yet stood by me even after finding out I’m on the run from the cops. If that’s not a good sign for our future, I don’t know what is.
I believe at least some of what he told me about his family is grounded in reality, so I’m not surprised he escaped to la-la land after experiencing such loss.
I stop the car and listen, to make sure no other vehicle suddenly appears on the road. When I’m satisfied with the silence, I get out and dive between the trees, taking a lungful of fresh pine-scented air. I used to hate this part of the process, the need to exit the vehicle, push through bushes that never failed to scratch me or leave a spider in my hair, but now I relish the touch of leaves, and the crunch of old needles under my feet. Moments later, the hidden gate is open, and I drive through it, then carefully mask all traces of my presence. I even kick the gravel about to hide tire marks before returning to Sylvan, who hasn’t woken up throughout any part of the lengthy process.
My family and I haven’t always been on the best of terms, and none of them has ever set foot in any of the jails and prisons I’ve been in throughout the past five years, but they are blood. I can count on them when it matters.
As I make my way down the narrow road leading to the family property from the back, I hope the privilege of being one of the Colemans extends to me even now. After all, we have a code.
It takes around twenty minutes for the vehicle to approach the familiar compound, leaving behind the dense woodland and entering the clearing. A light comes on in one of the cabins, making me think they might have installed a motion sensor. Moments later, another window lights up, this time in the biggest house on the property, the one I know so well. The one my parents live in.
I lean over to Sylvan and push some hair off his forehead as I kiss his lips. If I have to wake him up, I want to do it gently.
Even after a whole day, he smells so fresh, like the rain, and dew on dense grass, and as I slide my finger over his pointy ear, his eyes open.
“Where… what?”
“We’ll be spending the night here,” I explain and kiss him again, but he pushes me away, sucking in air as he raises his hands, staring right past me.
I exhale and look over my shoulder, straight at the barrel of a shotgun pointed at us from behind the window.
“Have I really changed so much, Wolfie?” I ask, and the gun lowers, revealing my older brother’s face.
Wolf shakes his head. His hair is just as dark and shaggy as mine, but much longer. “Fuck me…” He takes a good long look at Sylvan. “No. You haven’t changed at all from what I’m seeing.”