Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 130761 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 654(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130761 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 654(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
“My way will only take days. So get the fuck out.” I addressed Ky and Styx directly. “I’ll call when she’s through it.”
Styx’s eyes went to Phebe on the bed. Lifting his hands he signed, “You ain’t gotta do this. Bitch ain’t your concern.”
“Want to . . . have to” Before I could see the unwanted fucking sympathy on Styx’s and Ky’s faces, I turned and went to my closet. I pulled out a black Hangmen tank and a pair of boxer shorts. Without looking back, I said, “So get out. I’ll call when it’s done.”
I knew they didn’t leave immediately, but I also didn’t turn around until they were gone. When they were, I stood at the end of the bed and stared down at Phebe. She looked so damn peaceful, but I knew in a matter of hours, when the craving came calling, there weren’t no peace for her to have for days. I gripped the tank and boxers tighter in my fists and fought the fucking pit that was trying to form in my stomach.
Phebe flinched in her sleep. I made my way toward her and drew back the covers. I stared at her emaciated body and imagined what she’d look like filled out and healthy. Shit. I knew, like that, she’d be the best fucking bitch I’d ever seen. I imagined her skin free of gashes and track marks, the color of milk. And a smile on those lips that was due to being free from the shit in her veins and not from some misplaced gratitude for being saved from a sex-trafficking ring.
Forcing myself to move, I slipped the tank over her head. Hades smiled up at me with his Uzi and noose in his hands. My tank hung to the middle of her thighs. I slipped my black boxers over her legs and pulled the cover back over her.
Vike and Flame were watching me from the doorway. “You ain’t gotta do this shit, ’K,” Vike said. “Leave it to someone else.”
“I can do it.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Flame, for once, was fucking still, and I knew the brother was worried when his black gaze held mine without looking away. “Give her to someone else,” he growled.
I shook my head. “I got this,” I said. Flame shook his head like he was ready to argue. “Flame,” I pushed, then added, “I got you through your shit, right? When we got you out of that nuthouse?” Flame’s nostrils flared and the cords in his neck bulged at the memory. “I can do this for her too.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I . . . fuck, I gotta do this for her too.”
Vike tipped the back of his head against the doorframe in exasperation. Flame looked at Phebe on the bed, and his eyes narrowed slightly. I could tell he was seeing himself on that mattress. He turned on his heel and left my cabin. I knew that was the brother letting go of his protest shit.
“You ain’t always gotta be the one to do this for people, you know?” Vike said. I looked at my oldest friend but didn’t say shit. We had very different views on that point. “It ain’t gonna change the past.”
I put my hand in the air and cut that shit off quick. “Don’t,” I warned. “Don’t fucking go there, Vike. I mean it.”
Vike eyeballed me, but he dropped it. He turned to go. “What’s with you and this bitch? Why d’you even give a fuck?”
I didn’t answer. Mainly because I didn’t know myself. I just needed her to be better. That’s all I allowed myself to accept.
“I need you to take the kid for a few days,” I said instead. “Flame needs time with Madds alone. He ain’t right after the ghost town. Don’t wanna put Ash in that path.”
Vike nodded.
“And don’t be a dick to him.”
Vike gave me a shitty salute.
He left the cabin, and I knocked on Ash’s room door. “Yeah?” he called out.
I opened the door. Ash was sitting on his bed. “Gonna need you to stay with Vike for a few days, kid.”
Ash stared at me, his black hair a damn mess on his head. “Okay.” He got to his feet and started packing a bag. He waited until he was almost done to ask, “This has to do with the bitch in your room?”
I smirked. “Bitch, Ash? Careful, you might actually start sounding like a true Hangman soon.”
His face lit on fire with embarrassment. “Y’all say bitch, so now I do too. It ain’t bad to say that here. You only ever say it about chicks y’all like.”
I nodded, then answered his original question. “But yeah, kid, it has to do with the bitch in my room. And it ain’t gonna be pretty.”