Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
My skin prickles, and not in a good way. If I fell down, I’m sure my limbs would break off like icicles.
“You’re coming with me,” Miles says.
I open my mouth to speak, but no words emerge. My vocal cords are frozen, like the rest of me.
Miles lifts the fabric of his slacks to reveal an ankle holster. “You and I are going to walk out of this room slowly, normally, as if we’re visiting a friend. You understand me?”
I shake my head.
Except I don’t.
I’m frozen. Can’t move. My body isn’t working.
“Good,” Miles says. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
No, no, no!
But the words don’t come.
My body doesn’t obey my brain.
Miles still holds my arm, and I walk with him, my legs obeying him and not me.
Falcon! Daddy!
Anyone!
Where’s the bodyguard my father hired? At Falcon’s house? Why not here? Why isn’t anyone watching me here?
We move toward the stairwell. Miles hates elevators. I remember that about him. I don’t know why. I don’t care why. Maybe he just knows people are less likely to see him in the stairwell. Or maybe he was stuck in an elevator as a child.
Don’t know.
Don’t care.
He opens the door to the stairwell. Which floor are we on again? Trauma. Fourth floor. Right.
Four flights of stairs until we get to the lobby.
Is Miles armed?
This is a small-town hospital. No metal detectors.
This is a place where people trust each other.
But I trust no one.
Not even my parents.
Not my brother who left the country and hasn’t been in touch with me since.
Not even Gert, my bestie. She’s close, but I’ve never completely let down my guard with her.
But Falcon.
I let it down with Falcon.
And I found a love so profound I never imagined it could exist.
Falcon, where are you?
And I still can’t stop myself from following Miles.
Something’s holding me. Some mixture of fear and loyalty and family and self.
And I’m frozen. Frozen inside.
Frozen and following a man I abhor away from the man who is my salvation.
31
FALCON
Eight years earlier…
“Come on.” I shake Eagle. “Get it together, man. What the fuck have you done?”
My brother shivers in my arms. I see him as a child, as a toddler, just learning to walk, walking to me, his oldest brother, with pride in his eyes. And I take him in my arms, hug him, and tell him how proud I am.
He would smile, lighting up his big brown eyes—the ones that are wide as saucers now.
“Come on, brother. We’re going to fix this. We’re going to fix it. I promise.”
I’ve been making promises to my littlest brother for as long as I can remember.
When he accidentally knocked over one of Mom’s favorite vases, and I took the blame for it. She still thinks I broke it after all these years.
“Come on, I promise...”
He’s still shivers. And I still don’t know what to do.
Behind me, Hawk touches my shoulder. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
My brother’s right, of course.
“Come on,” Hawk says. “The sun is setting, and if we have to work after dark, we’ll need light.”
“We don’t have any tools,’ Hawk says. “We need shovels, at least. We can’t fucking dig with our hands.”
“Right, right.”
Eagle is still staring into space.
“We’ve got to get Eagle home.”
“We can’t take him home like this,” Hawk says. “We can’t let Mom and Dad see him like this. We can’t let the girls see him like this.”
“Robin and Raven would help,” I say.
“But Falcon, we can’t bring them in on this. You and I are already accessories. Do you want that for Robbie and Ray?”
I shake my head and close my eyes.
Think!
No, I don’t want that for my sisters.
Why, why, why did Hawk and I get rid of that powder? If we’d left it, none of this would be happening.
Except Eagle might be in more trouble. When you get in with these cartels, it’s damned near impossible to get out.
We’ve got to get Eagle somewhere safe. Somewhere they won’t find him.
Where the fuck is that?
Damn.
“We’ve got no choice,” I say. “We have to leave everything as is, get Eagle home, and keep watch over him until morning. Then you and I will come back and deal with this shit.”
“No,” Hawk says. “We do it tonight.”
My brother’s right. I’m thinking of Eagle, and he’s thinking of the big picture, which is where we need to be focused.
Eagle will have to stay here where we can keep an eye on him. I nod to Hawk. “I’ll stay here with him. You go back for supplies. Try not to be seen.”
“I won’t be.” Hawks hurries away from the area.
I hold onto Eagle. “It’s going to be fine, baby brother. It’s going to be fine.”
I see different things when I look at my youngest brother.
I see the man who screwed up royally and got me put away.
But I also see the cute little toddler who followed me around, grabbing my hand and calling me Fah-fah, the little boy who I taught to ride a horse and a two-wheeler. The little boy who said I was his hero.