Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Bella started sobbing silently by my side. She was cracking bit by bit and I knew it was all my doing.
I pulled her against me, then pressed an angry kiss to her mouth, bruising both our lips, making a vow in front of everyone. “As of today, Bella Abandonato and I are engaged as per the rights established by Frank Alfero and Luca Nicolasi, forefathers of the Families, if someone takes innocence, they must join their hands in blood and unite their souls forever to prove their worth and loyalty.”
“But—” Bella started talking.
So I kissed her again. The last thing I needed was for her to ask where I found the old rules or who told me about them.
Our teeth clanged while I shoved her against the car and slid my mouth down her ear. “Trust me.”
“C-can’t.”
“Must.” I gripped her by the hair and pulled her head back. “Now smile.”
“Never.” She spat in my face.
I wiped it with a piece of her hair and winked. “I like a little fight.”
“I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
“What makes you think you and I will be sleeping when we’re together?”
Some of the men started laughing, I again, took note, and shoved her into the car. Tank immediately got into the driver’s seat and buckled up.
We pulled out toward campus.
The party was tonight.
And Ash was right.
We couldn’t fail.
Because everything banked on it.
Our very lives.
Now it was all on my shoulders, the fear of slipping up, and most of all, the truth.
Shit, the fan wasn’t going to get hit—it was going to burn the world, and I’d bet he’d be the one holding the matches. Had my entire life been foreshadowing this big moment?
We drove in silence. Her hands were shaking in her lap. I reached over and grabbed one of them. She tried to pull away, but I held firm. Bella started relaxing a bit like she knew this was her fate for now, but I knew better, she was plotting, planning.
Tank cleared his throat. “Want to explain, young one, because boss or not, I’m around five seconds away from emptying my entire gun into your pathetic twenty-one-year-old body.”
“Glad you asked.” I sighed and looked out the window. “It’s strange, isn’t it?”
“Talk faster?”
“People always talk about phoenix’s rising out of the ashes, but they never talk about the eagle who bathes in them.”
Tank’s green eyes met mine in the rearview mirror, he cursed under his breath and answered back, “That’s because where one rises and falls, another takes its place. Eagles are often overlooked, they bathe themselves in the ashes to look like the phoenix that used to be worshipped but it’s the same as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they’re not there to resurrect… no, the eagle, it’s there to destroy.”
“And destroy it will.” I grinned. “After all, sometimes, there is no choice.”
Bella looked between us. “Are you guys seriously quoting some weird sort of poetry right now?”
“Settle down.” Tank sighed. “It’s going to be a long night.”
“I’m not sleeping with him!” she yelled, then tried to head butt me.
“Whoa.” I shoved her away. “Like I want to touch you.”
“YOU DID! You kissed me.”
Tank’s glare was back in full force. With his nearly shaved head and angry eyes, I almost felt the need to sink into my seat for a second.
I held up my hands. “It was an accident!”
“WE WERE NAKED IN A SHOWER AND IT WAS AN ACCIDENT? JUST LIKE YOU KILLING JUNIOR? WHAT DID YOU SLIP ON YOUR OTHER GUN?”
I looked to Tank for help.
He held up his hands and turned up the music like he was already finished before we began.
Yeah, it was my war now, and I’d basically just captured Helen of Troy without permission. My demise would be swift if Nixon caught me, which is why I needed proof.
Damn.
There was no rule book for rage and retribution, for destruction and war.
When we pulled up to campus word, I assumed word had already spread if the general fear in people’s faces was to be believed.
I hopped out of the car and pulled Bella roughly next to me, wrapping my arm around her as we walked toward our dorm.
People whispered, a few of the guys, ones I knew worshipped the ground Junior had walked on, had nothing but anger and clutched fists, good let them think they can scare me.
I winked over at one of the taller guys with bulky muscles; he was a talented basketball player, one of the favorites, Junior had supported him a ton.
He had tears in his eyes.
I jerked my head toward him. He was wearing a blue Nike beanie and black sweats. His mom was Honduran, his dad was from Thailand, so pretty much every girl was obsessed with his smooth skin, smile, and the fact that he somehow managed to pull off almond-colored eyes perfectly, or so the girls said.