Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 924(@200wpm)___ 739(@250wpm)___ 616(@300wpm)
I shake my head. “One of them hit me, but—”
“Remind me to cut off some extra fingers the next time I come across any of those Bonesmen,” Nathan hisses at Milo behind him.
“Oooh … I love it when you get all aggressive,” Milo says.
“I’m okay,” I say, placing my hand on top of his. “I don’t want you to get into more trouble because of me.”
“Don’t worry about me. So what happened after you got taken away in that van?” he asks.
“The Bones Brotherhood tried to sell me to some rich men, but Ares, Caleb, and Blaine got to me before they succeeded.”
“Ares?” Kai raises a brow and chucks his smoke away too. “Interesting.”
“Is it that strange?” I say, feeling brave. “You wanted to save Lana too. Brothers think alike.”
“Brothers?” Lana’s eyes almost bulge out of her skull. “Ares is your brother?”
Kai shrugs.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Oh boy. I did not realize what I was about to unchain by saying that out loud.
“Didn’t think it was necessary. We don’t see eye to eye.”
“That’s an understatement,” I say.
Kai and Ares make eye contact, but Ares immediately looks the other way and pulls out a smoke instead.
“We have our issues. Just like any other family,” Kai says. “I don’t like to talk about mine, however.” Kai turns around and yells at Ares, “Ares. Explain to me why you wouldn’t help us find Lana, yet you happily assisted in finding Crystal, a girl you don’t even know.”
Ares, Caleb, and Blaine walk toward us like they finally feel invited to join the conversation.
“Who says he doesn’t know her?” Blaine says.
Kai frowns. “How?”
“You think you’re the only one who’s been fucking around?” Caleb retorts, tilting his head.
Nathan’s eyes widen. “You’ve been fucking Crystal?”
Oh boy.
“What the f—” Lana glances my way. “Seriously?”
“Holy shit,” Milo muses.
I hide my face in my hands. “This is not how I imagined this would go.”
“Oh my God,” Lana says. “So it’s true? You’re dating Ares?”
My whole face turns red. “Dating is a complicated word.”
Ares folds his arms, staring at them all with contempt. “She’s mine.”
Milo fans himself. “When you put it like that, I understand.”
“Really?” Nathan scoffs at him. “She’s my friend. She should not be dating any of those guys.”
A smug grin spreads on Caleb’s face. “Tough luck for you then, because she wants all three of us.”
“Jesus Christ,” Kai says, rolling his eyes. “You’ve been busy.”
“So a foursome, huh?” Milo says. “Guess we’re all banging like crazy.”
Nathan smacks him on the head with a packet of cigarettes.
“It’s not like that. We just … stumbled into it,” I say, trying to tone it down.
“Uh-huh,” Milo responds.
Nathan jumps off the fountain. “I never gave you permission to go ahead and jump in bed with my goddamn friend, Caleb.”
“I don’t need your permission to fuck who I want,” Caleb retorts.
Nathan grabs Caleb by the collar. “Give me one good reason not to punch your teeth out.”
“Guys, guys.” I shove my way between them. “Please stop.”
“And all this time, I thought you just wanted to get back in my pants,” Nathan grits.
“I never said that. I said I missed you as a friend,” Caleb replies.
“Whatever,” Nathan says.
Ares steps up and points a finger at Nathan. “You touch Caleb again, and I’ll kill you right here, right now.”
“Possessive,” Milo hums. “I love it.”
“Can we stop fighting, please?” I ask, placing a hand on Ares’s chest to calm him down. “I don’t want more bloodshed.”
His nostrils flare, but he finally backs away. “Only because he is your friend.”
“So you three have been doing this behind everyone’s backs?” Lana asks, narrowing her eyes like she can’t believe what she’s hearing.
“I could say the same for you,” I retort, smiling.
She rolls her eyes but smiles anyway. “I guess you’re right.”
“Guess everyone here is lucky,” Milo says, grinning like a bastard. “You get a foursome, we get a foursome, everyone gets a foursome!”
I just stare at them for a moment before I burst out into laughter eventually.
It’s all so ridiculous that it’s starting to make sense in a weird way.
Suddenly, Caleb’s phone rings, and he turns away to answer it.
“Yeah, Dad?” His voice begins to tremble. “What?”
He suddenly goes down on both hands and knees, still clutching the phone. A scream unlike anything else decimates all happiness from my heart.
I immediately run to him and place a hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”
Ares marches to him and goes to his knees in front of him, gripping his face to make him look at him. “Tell me.”
“My mom … is dead.”
ARES
This is the day I feared would come.
I pull him to me and hold him tight, letting him release all of the pent-up anger and anguish in my arms. He screams and cries, then punches my shoulders.
“It’s not. Fucking. Fair.” PUNCH! “She was supposed to LIVE!”
His wails go through marrow and bone.