Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
What it did do, though, was move everyone out of the line of fire.
Four loud booms filled the air behind the bar followed by Colby dropping to the asphalt like a brick directly in front of me.
The sound of his body hitting the ground was incredibly loud after all the noise that’d happened only moments before.
Eyes open in shock, I turned towards the back door of the bar to see Loki, Trance, Grayson, and my mother standing, shoulder to shoulder, with their guns still raised up in a shooting stance in front of them.
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
Iliana turned to me in a pained grimace and smiled. “Bobby busted him out.”
“What?” I asked, in a little bit of shock.
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. I called your phone, but Grayson had it. He answered and I told him to find you. I’d been on my way here, anyway, for your party, but Bobby was acting all kinds of weird, trying to rush me out of the house. I thought he was trying to sneak a girl in after I left, so I stopped down the road to watch only to see Colby coming out my front fucking door!”
“Oh, my God!” I breathed.
“Could we get you out of the path of the fucking blood before we continue this conversation?” My mother growled.
I blinked and looked down at the blood that was indeed in a collision course with my pants and stood up somewhat painfully.
Grayson’s hand went underneath my arms and helped me up before crushing my face into his chest. He was shaking, and I looped my arms around him, holding him back just as tightly.
“I’m sorry, Grayson,” I said softly.
He shook his head. “I knew this would happen. I just underestimated the timeline.”
I looked over when my mom helped Iliana up off the ground, disengaging from Grayson to run into my best friend’s arms.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I said into her neck.
She started sobbing about the same time as me, and neither one of us made much sense until much later.
***
“So what exactly happened? Why’d you become so distant?” My curiosity was killing me.
She shook her head. “Bobby was acting so weird. I mean it’s like his personality was transplanted into someone else, and I got stuck with the new, evil Bobby. When he told me he got out of the Navy, I was so excited. Then, he started hanging out more and more with his brother, and slowly started to change into someone I didn’t like.”
I nodded. I really could see that happening. Colby had always been a persuasive person each time I’d been around him.
I remembered one time, in particular, that he’d talked a woman he’d met at dinner into going out on a date with him. He’d been so charming and persuasive that she never stood a chance.
He’d dated her for a while, and now I could tell that his plan at the time had been to make me jealous. When it hadn’t worked, he’d broken it off with the woman. Cruelly, if I remembered correctly.
“Why didn’t you say anything? I mean, I see you at work from time to time. Why not say something then?” I asked.
She shook her head, running her fingers through her tangled hair.
“I think he followed me. Bobby, not Colby. He started to get really creepy about it, too. Never letting me go out without him, which is why I stopped calling you. I’d catch him reading my texts. I’m able to forgive a lot, but after tonight, that’s not happening anymore. I’ll need to get him out of the house. Like now,” she said, shivering slightly.
“I’ll help with that,” my mother said as she sat down. “I’ve already got them at your place. Bobby’s going to be charged with aiding and abetting. He’ll be seeing the inside of a jail cell. At least for a few years.”
Iliana seemed to wilt. “Thank God. I really wasn’t looking forward to kicking him out.”
Grayson walked up a few moments after her admission, which brought my attention not to Grayson, but to the man directly behind him standing against the wall.
“Who’s that man with my sister?” I questioned Grayson when he slid into the booth.
Grayson’s pissed off eyes turned from the tabletop, to my sister, who had a large, blonde man holding her in his arms.
“Luke Roberts. That’s Baylee’s brother. He’s a cop in Kilgore, Texas. About an hour from here,” he answered.
I nodded in understanding.
That explained why she was leaning into him. She must know him somehow.
Then he kissed her, and I guessed that knowing and knowing were two different things.
Holy shit!
Chapter 21
Remember, as far as anyone knows, we’re a nice, normal family.
-Tru to Reese
Tru
5 months later
“You know this isn’t normal, right?” My sister asked from her position underneath my dress.
“Yes, but something’s poking me in the ass. If you don’t fix it, I won’t be able to wear the petti-skirt-shit you have me wearing,” I informed her.
She sighed and started rooting around my underwear and petti skirt looking for the poker.
I looked to my left when I heard a camera click, and I screeched. “Mom! Get the camera away before I rip it out of your hands and stomp on it with my pointy heals.”
I’d meant it to come out more intimidating, but my mom worked with drug dealers and pimps five out of seven days a week. One bridezilla wouldn’t faze her.
“Got it!” My sister crowed just as the door opened and my father walked in.
He looked at me, looked at my sister who was backing out from under my dress, and then shook his head. “Why me?”
My mother came up and hugged him from behind. “You deserve this and more. We were such bad kids to our own parents.”
He sighed. “Yeah, that’s true.”
From what I’d heard, they’d both been really into the seventies when they were younger, if you catch my drift.
My mom kissed him on the back. “Alright, girls. I’ll see y’all after the wedding. Break a leg, Tru.”