Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
She smiles grimly while looking back at me.
“The paralyzing fear you dealt with or didn’t deal with… The helplessness of being trapped and alone with nothing to do but pray for rescue… That’s where the nightmares come from, Eve. Not the experience itself.”
“How do you—”
The door opens back up, and in walks Snake, the doctor, and Drex. Sarah bites her bottom lip, like she doesn’t want to continue the conversation. So I let it drop.
“Rush is going to stay here with you. I have to go take care of something,” Drex tells me.
That’s confusing, considering he was arguing with his father about staying here just a few minutes ago. Emotional whiplash isn’t on my to-do list, so I don’t even acknowledge him.
“Sarah, the doc wants to talk to you about what she can eat right now,” Drex goes on.
Sarah squeezes my hand affectionately before walking out with the doctor and Snake on her heels. Rush walks in with Axle, and I tense. I don’t like Rush, and Drex is leaving me with him?
“I should be in on that,” Rush growls at Drex, even though I don’t know what he’s talking about. “You can’t possibly be rational enough in there to get answers.”
Drex tenses as his eyes narrow to slits. “Axle is staying here because I trust him with my girl. You’re staying here because I know you won’t hesitate to fuck someone up if they walk in.”
“I won’t hesitate either,” Axle states dryly.
“Two people need to be in here when I’m not,” Drex orders. “I’ll be back as soon as I have something.”
My eyes stay fixed on Drex, waiting on him to speak to me. He doesn’t. Instead, he turns and walks out, leaving me with one guy I don’t trust, and another who has pity oozing from his eyes when he looks at me. I still don’t know how I got here, and no one is in any hurry to tell me what happened.
From one captivity to another. I hate hospitals.
At least I’m allowed to sleep here.
Chapter 25
DREX
My fist collides with Mikey’s face, creating a satisfying crunching sound that has my sadistic smile turning up. He spits blood out as he turns to face me, fear and terror in his eyes.
He only thought he was scared of Ben.
“Is Benny involved in this?” Sledge demands.
Mike whimpers while shaking his head. “Benny is clueless. He’s over his brother’s death—has been for years. Even said it’s part of the cycle. But we knew we could make you think it was him retaliating. He’s simple-minded and everything he does is done at face-value. He never has a hidden agenda because he’s too stupid for that.”
“Then why send us Eve?” Sledge goes on.
“Because he wanted the fucking file. Herrin was taunting him, hinting that he knew something about one of the guys in his crew being a rat. And he knew about Eve’s old man pissing you guys off. I don’t know how he knew, but he did. To him, it was a simple exchange of each person getting something they wanted. Revenge on a dead man for you guys; a file on a rat—that turned out to be a fed—for him; and money for Eve.”
“Why the gag if the basement was soundproofed?” Sledge asks him, moving on in the line of questions quickly, even though the gag is the least of my questions right now.
“Ben,” Mikey groans, spitting out more blood. “He said he couldn’t handle hearing her scream. The dumbass thinks he loves her.”
All that does is piss me off more, but Sledge pulls me back when I lunge at Mikey.
“I’d stray from all feelings Ben thinks he has for Drex’s girl,” Sledge grumbles, struggling to keep me back even when Dash comes to help him.
“I’m fine,” I growl, shrugging out of their hold.
Mikey looks like a terrified lamb in front of a lion. He has no fucking clue how close I am to losing it.
“You want to know where I keep the cars?” I ask him with an eerily calm tone. “You want to know how I fix them up?”
“No!” Mikey exclaims. “I don’t. I don’t want to know.”
“I plan to tell you all about it,” I go on, taunting him. “I’ll give you every fucking detail.”
“Please. Please don’t. I swear I will keep my fucking mouth shut and leave. You’ll never see me again.”
At least he’s smart enough to know me spilling secrets means a death sentence to him.
“You took his girl,” Sledge says emotionlessly. “Sounds like you wanted to know pretty damn badly.”
Mikey sobs, shaking his head. He’s restrained to the chair he’s in, tied up with unrelenting wire in the same position I found Eve.
“No. Ben took her. Not me. I swear I don’t want to know. I swear! Please don’t tell me,” he cries.
“If you don’t want to know our secrets, then spill yours,” Dash tells him. But he better be fucking bluffing. Mikey is dead. No debate. “Who’s your inside man?” he goes on.