Hood River Zero Read online K. Webster (Hood River Hoodlums #4)

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, Contemporary, Dark, New Adult, Romance, Young Adult Tags Authors: Series: Hood River Hoodlums Series by K. Webster
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Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 99766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
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Bam!

His fist is hard and painful. I black out again only to find myself his punching bag. Like he’s possessed by the devil, he wails into me. The assault is too much to bear. I shut down, my body growing heavy and fatigued.

“Wake up, bitch!” he snaps, shaking me.

His movements rouse me, but I let my head lol to the side. Maybe he’ll leave me alone if I play dead. After a few more hits, he throws me to the floor. He clumsily shoves his limp dick back into his jeans. As soon as he moves his hand away, I rear back and kick him hard in the balls.

“Fuck!” he cries out, landing on his ass and cupping his balls. “You fucking psycho!”

I look for a weapon. Anything. I settle for a lamp, yanking it from the wall. While he howls in pain, I smash it down hard over his head. Glass shatters everywhere as he crumples.

My body buzzes with adrenaline. I have to get away from him. I have to get out of here. I fight past the pain to drag my sweats back up my ass. The room spins, but I manage to stumble out of the room on a mission for Zella. I find her sobbing in her room.

“We…” I wince and take a deep breath. “C-Can you carry my backpack? We h-have t-to go.”

She nods, snatching up my bag. I wheeze as I unzip the side and grab my keys. Before we exit her room, I check to make sure Jack’s not lurking. One quick peek around the corner tells me he’s still sprawled out on his bedroom floor.

“Come on,” I whisper.

Zella holds my hand as we make our way out of the house. Everything keeps spinning around me. I have to stop just outside the house to puke. Zella cries harder, reminding me we have to get the hell out of here.

“C-Can you buckle yourself in really fast?” I choke out.

“Yes!”

“Good g-girl.”

I get the Jeep door open and Zella scrambles in. The effort to shut the door makes me black out, but I quickly blink it away. Hauling myself into my Jeep is difficult. Eventually, I manage and get it started. One of my eyes is swelling shut, but there’s no way I’ll stop. Not now. I back out of the driveway, narrowly missing the mailbox, before I throw it in drive. It’s a slow trip, me wheezing the whole time and Zella sobbing, but eventually we make it to Cal’s cabin.

“Let’s go see Daddy,” I whisper as I open her door once we’re stopped.

Zella clings to my side as we make our way into the cabin. My head hurts and I think I might puke again. Terrence is going to kill me, but right now, I just need to make sure we’re safe from that monster.

“Honey, I’m home,” I croak out, my joke falling flat when I meet Terrence’s horrified face.

“What the actual fuck?”

Terrence

These new glasses have got to be fucked up.

I’m not seeing what I’m seeing.

It’s a fucking hallucination.

“Penny!” Charlotte shrieks from behind me, jolting me back to reality.

It’s real.

Penny is bloodied up, face bruised and swelling, holding the hand of my little girl. Why? How?

I pounce forward, needing to assess the damages of my girlfriend while trying to make sense of what the fuck is going on.

“Penny, what happened?” I growl, tenderly putting an arm around her waist to keep her standing since she looks seconds from passing out. “Cal, call Garrett!”

She’s in shock. She has to be. Penny isn’t crying. Just staring. Her hand is firmly gripping Zella’s shirt like she might escape.

I guide them to the sofa while Cal and Charlotte both start chattering on their phones to different people.

“What happened?” I say, sitting on the coffee table right in front of Penny. “Who beat you up?”

“Jack.” She winces and squeezes her eyes shut. “He, uh, was going to whip Zella with the belt. I t-tried to stop him.”

“Why were you over there?” I demand.

Charlotte sits down next to Penny, a gel ice pack in her hands. “Where does it hurt, sis?”

“Everywhere,” Penny grumbles.

“Penny, why were you—”

“Jack did this to you?” Charlotte asks, cutting me off. She holds the ice pack to Penny’s head where a goose egg has popped up.

Penny and Zella both nod. I note that they’re still clinging to each other.

“Why were you there?” I bark out.

“He said he’d bury me in the backyard like my mother. He kept calling me Lacey,” Penny whispers, terror gleaming in her blue eyes. “I think…I think he may have killed Vicki.”

Jesus.

“We’ll call the police,” I assure her, “but why were you there?”

Penny closes her eyes again as though that’ll prevent her from having to answer me.

“Zella, baby, why was Penny there? It’s okay to tell Daddy. I need to know what happened.” I reach forward and take Zella’s other hand. “It’s okay. Talk to me.”


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