Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
“They’re better off without you,” Mike growled.
“No. I’m begging you. Please don’t!”
“I asked what you were gonna do to Rayne, you sick fuck?” Mike pressed the blade deeper into his uncle’s sweaty neck until a trickle of blood leaked down into his collar.
“Nothing. I swear.” His uncle sputtered out lie after lie. “He tried to seduce me and steal my money. I caught him robbing me. That’s who he is, it’s what he does. He—”
With lightning-fast speed and precision, Mike slashed his blade across his uncle’s cheek, making Rayne yelp, then clamp his hand over his mouth. A scream tore from Robert’s mouth as blood poured down his jaw and saturated his beard. Oh god. Rayne’s stomach rolled over.
“You’re a pervert and a liar. And I’m gonna show you what I do with perverts,” Mike scolded. He turned his head and motioned to the behemoth of a man who was standing guard at the back door. “Bring me the bitch.”
Holy shit. As much as Rayne despised the man groveling at Mike’s feet, he couldn’t watch anyone get killed—shit, not even Zelda. It wasn’t her fault she was made into a vicious weapon by her master.
Rayne made his way around Manny, but the guy they called Score was holding him back while Mike worked. “That’s enough. Please stop, okay? I don’t want this. Let’s just go, please.”
No one moved, and Robert didn’t blink as they all waited for Mike to make the call. After several tense seconds, Mike did a single head dip, and the man at the back door removed his hand from the knob. Mike squatted in front of his uncle and gripped his chin so hard it had to have jarred a couple of molars loose. “You should thank Rayne for saving you, you filthy piece of shit.” Mike stood and mashed his boot into his uncle’s throat. “I was gonna make you fuck your dog.”
“Make sure he knows how much I hate cops,” Mike told his men, then took Rayne’s hand and left out the door with Manny and two other scary gentlemen who had black handguns tucked in the front of their jeans.
Rayne covered his ears when he heard more terrified screaming and furniture breaking as they made their way to Mike’s truck.
“Manny. You, Marcus, and Score drive my son’s truck back to the trailer. Rayne’s gonna ride with me.”
“You got it, boss.”
Rayne was a jittery mess as Mike helped him into the truck and strapped his seat belt around him. Warm fingertips caressed his cheek; hands that’d just dispensed ruthless vigilante justice were now gentle and comforting. “You’re okay now,” Mike told him, and Rayne believed him.
He truly believed for the first time in his life that he was going to be okay.
Mike
Rayne’s hands were still shaking by the time Mike pulled into the driveway. It was a little after eight now, still early, but the trailer was dark when he killed the engine. Rayne wasn’t looking at him, and his breaths were shallow and unsteady. He’d just seen firsthand how cruel and savage Mike could be, but it was best he learned that now instead of later.
“Are you afraid of me?” Mike asked.
Rayne looked him in his eyes, his voice confident when he answered, “Of course not.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Rayne exhaled. “I don’t want to go back to jail. And I don’t want any of your guys to get in trouble because of my bullshit.” Rayne drove his trembling hand through his hair. “All I do is fuck up men’s lives. Good men.”
“What you just went through was a lot.” Mike touched Rayne’s hand, and he was glad that he didn’t flinch away from his touch as he wove their fingers together. “And if you’re not used to assholes getting what they deserve, then it’s understandable for you to be shaken up. But trust me. You don’t have to worry about getting me in trouble or my crew. We know what we’re doing.”
Rayne blinked moisture from his eyes. “Do you guys do that a lot?”
“No,” Mike told him honestly. “Only when we have to, and only for our family.”
Rayne’s chest swelled before he nodded once. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, and Mike allowed him those couple of minutes to compose himself. Rayne almost jumped out of the truck when a set of headlights turned into the driveway and pulled up beside them.
Mike held the back of Rayne’s neck. “It’s just Manny in Trent’s truck. Trust me. It’s going to be okay, and no one is going to jail. Not you, me, or any of the boys.”
“My uncle doesn’t know how to let things go, and that was one helluva an assault. How do you know he won’t—”
Mike touched his fingertips to those trembling lips, the protest dying, unspoken. He didn’t try to convince Rayne anymore; he just stared into his eyes until he seemed to understand.