Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Knocking on Frank’s office door, I waited until he replied with a terse, “Come in,” before entering.
Frank’s office was incredibly cluttered. He needed a filing cabinet…or two. Possibly even another room…with a file clerk.
My mind was a mess. “Hey, Grayson. Come in and sit down. I have to make one more phone call and then we can talk,” Frank said, pointing to a chair that was also covered in papers.
I picked up the papers covering the chair before sitting down, stretching my legs out far in front of me until they were nearly touching the front of his desk.
Of course the father had taken to calling me Grayson now, too. It was an off feeling having people use my real name again. It hadn’t been done in quite a long time.
I straightened the pile of papers on the chair and then sat them on top of his desk
She just told me she loves me, and I didn’t tell her I love you back.
I had two options, and neither one of them were good. One was going to kill me, and the other one was going to send me to hell, and then torture me.
“What’s on your mind, son?” Frank asked.
I blinked, not even realizing that he was done with his phone call.
Sitting forward, I leaned my elbows on my knees and scrubbed my face with the palms of my hands.
“Everything,” I groaned. “This is all so fucked up that it’s not even funny.”
Frank sat back in his chair.
The creaking of the leather made me remove my hands from my face as I saw him reach into his desk and pull out a bottle of whiskey, followed by two glasses.
My brows raised. “It’s only nine.”
“It’s three o’clock somewhere,” he said simply.
I chuckled softly and accepted the glass from him. “I think that saying is ‘Its five o’clock somewhere.’ Not three.”
He shrugged. “It’s Colby again, isn’t it?”
I nodded, bile running up my throat again at just the thought.
“Yeah. I got a letter,” I said, leaning forward and extracting it from my back pocket. Then I handed it to him before watching him read it.
What I saw didn’t surprise me in the least.
I knew exactly when he got to the part that had been the precursor to my nausea.
Your girlfriend better become your ex-girlfriend real quick, or you’ll be finding her skin on your doorstep in pieces. Cunt first.
“Fuck me,” he whispered.
That wasn’t even the worst of it.
I knew exactly who’d sent it. Not that there was a signature or anything. I didn’t need one. I knew it was Colby from the bottom of my heart.
I’d shown Silas, Trance and Loki before I came, and their solution was to ‘let her go’ since we had absolutely nothing to go on regarding Colby.
“What are you going to do?” His voice quivered.
My hands went to my hair, and I shook, vibrating with the rage I felt for what I was about to have to do.
“Break it off. I don’t know what else to do to keep her safe,” I said desperately. “They’ve literally got nothing on him. Everything that’s been done, up until now, can be explained away. Nothing ties back to him, and short of killing him, I’ve got nothing left to do. I don’t want her to die. I don’t want her to be unhappy, but if that’s what it takes, then so be it. She’ll be alive.”
I’d ran scenarios over and over again in my head.
I’d even thought of killing him. Ran through it over and over again in my mind, but coming up short each and every time.
If he was gone, I’d be the first one the police would suspect.
I didn’t want to bring that down on my club’s head, nor Tru’s. If it was going to be done, it’d have to be flawless. Nothing could lead back to my family or Tru. Nothing.
And until that could happen, I’d have to pray that by breaking it off, it’d stop.
If it didn’t stop, then I had one other option, and I wanted any and all ties cut before I did it.
“She’s going to be crushed at first, but she’s a smart girl, Grayson. She’ll figure it out. Make it look believable, though. Do it somewhere where everyone will see her. I hate to say it, but at the bar would be the best place. Invite her to lunch,” Frank said desolately.
His eyes looked haunted, and I could tell it was going to be hard on him as well.
“You know,” Frank said. “I can still remember the day where I said all those cruel things to my girl. I lost her, but she came back. She’s a forgiving one, my Tru. You’ve just got to put your trust in her. She’s a good girl. A loyal one. She thought she was sneaky about it, but I could still tell each and every time when I saw her discreetly watching me.”
He shook his head, and a smile crossed his lips. “There was this one time I was working a case,” a laugh burst free from his lips. “She must’ve seen my vehicle parked on the road or something. She stopped and wrote a note. ‘I love you,’ was all it said. I’d come out of that burned down building with my heart aching, and then I saw the note,” he shook his head again. “She’s the sun that comes out in the middle of a thunderstorm. She’ll change your life…if you let her.”
My eyes closed. I wanted to let her.
I knew it was cruel, what I was about to do.
God, I don’t want to do it.
“Alright,” I said and stood. “I’ll do it this afternoon. Go check on her for me tomorrow, please.”
He stood and offered me his hand. “I’m here if you need anything.”
I laughed humorlessly. “I’m going to need a shoulder to cry on, but I suspect she’ll need one too, and you can’t be there for us both at the same time.”
He smiled sadly at me. “She’ll be okay. You’ll see.”
Yeah, but would I be?