Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 80391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
My lungs were billowing like a freight train, and each puff of my breath filled the cold night air like a cloud, surrounding me.
“You piece of shit. You stupid, goddamn piece of shit. I should fucking kill you. You’ve taken nearly everything from my sister. You don’t deserve to live.” Viddy screeched, making the tension in my shoulders ease slightly.
“Who are you calling?” Sebastian asked as I walked to where I could see the show unfold in the kitchen.
“My soon to be wife.”
***
9:37 P.M.
“Cameras are off, but I don’t know for how long. Keep it under control though. The captain won’t like this if you beat the shit out of him. Try to keep a lid on it, eh?” Loki confirmed as he showed me to the interrogation room Gustavo was in.
I walked into the room without saying a word of affirmation to Loki, and immediately clenched my hands into tight fists as not to pummel the little weasel’s face.
Gustavo grinned at me, instantly knowing who I was as soon as I stepped through the door.
I walked sedately into the room, trying with all of my ability to keep the fury I was feeling back.
“So you finally came to find out what my motives were, yes cazzo?” Gustavo asked.
Cazzo. Dick. Glad he could be original.
My father had said that often when I was growing up
“Yes, cameras are off,” I said staring at the man. “Tell me why.”
“You got a letter. I would’ve left you alone if it wasn’t for the letter.” He shrugged.
“You wasted your time. I never even read the letter.” I growled in frustration.
“It doesn’t matter, cazzo. I’ve been meaning to find you and say thank you for years now. I would’ve never known if you hadn’t sent that package from Iraq. I never intended to hurt your bastardo that bad, but once it happened, well, it just happened. Rosalie was kind enough to keep it quiet, although I did have to threaten her a wee bit.” He said holding up my fingers a short distance from the other.
“Anyway, I thought for sure when your papa delivered that letter to you, that you would read it, but you didn’t. Only that girl of yours did. Of course, then I had to kill her. I used her brother. Those stupid little twit kids. Nobody could follow through, so I had to do it myself. Sorry about your sister, though. That’s too bad.” He grinned and bared his teeth.
Hearing what I needed to hear, I started to leave the room, but stopped when I reached the doorway.
“Just remember this, cazzo. Don’t drop the soap. I hope you enjoy playing the bitch.” I hissed before crashing out of the room.
***
10:18 P.M.
I watched as Adeline and Viddy reunited, keeping my mouth shut and letting them have their moment.
“So she was kicking him?” Adeline giggled. “Did Trance toss her over his shoulder before or after she kicked him in the face?”
“After. Trance had her nearly outside before she squirmed her way loose, heading for the downed man. Then, she reared back and kicked him in the face, breaking his nose and spraying blood absolutely everywhere.”
“Yeah, I think it got in my hair.” Viddy groaned from the couch beside Adeline.
Adeline giggled even more as she pulled her sister towards her, and buried her nose in Viddy’s hair.
“I can’t believe you did that. Thank you.” Adeline whispered.
“I guess you should really thank yourself. You’re the one who bought me that dog tracker thing. Worked out well, too. I had it around my neck.” She said as she pulled the object that was on a chain around her neck from beneath her shirt.
It was a circular medallion type thing that was the size of a quarter.
“No, that was you keeping it charged. Without that, it would’ve been useless.”
Viddy waved the comment away with a flick of her hand. “Whatever.”
“Squeeze you to pieces, Viddy.” Adeline said as she curled a little more into her sister.
“Squeeze you back together.” Viddy replied.
Epilogue
Ride with me forever.
-A note from Kettle to Adeline on their wedding day.
Adeline
“Alright, I’ll be back momentarily. I want you to start reading the lab manual, and then we can get started on the lab. Rebecca, can you...”
Beeeeeeep.Beeeeeeep.Beeeeeeep.
The fire alarms started ringing, making my heart lurch up into my throat. Although I’d known we were doing a fire drill today, it still scared the crap out of me. The fucking thing was louder than hell, and on the verge of giving me a seizure.
“Alright ladies and gentlemen, line up at the door. Leave your things. Cell phones too.” I said to the class before heading to the door.
As they filed out, one by one, and started heading for the nearest exit, I counted my class until I was sure I had them all, and then followed behind them. “Head to the football field. We’re at the thirteen yard line, remember?” I called up ahead.
They all grumbled their acknowledgements as we made our way down the hall and outside into the cool spring air.
It’d been two months since that horrible night my sister was abducted, and I still woke up in night sweats just thinking about how she’d been taken right in front of me.
Viddy, on the other hand, had seemed to come out of her shell. She’d started coming to more of The Dixie Wardens’ Barbeques, as well as any party that they threw. I was enjoying each and every minute of having her back, too.
“Gentlemen, stop holding up the line. Please continue to follow the crowd to the field. Jackson Freeman, what did I say...oh, my God.” I gasped.
The boys I’d been yelling at moved all at once, and there in front of me, down on one knee, was the love of my life. Decked out in his bunker bottoms and helmet.
It took me a while to get past the fact that my man was down on one knee in the middle of a fire drill, but then I happened to look down in front of him to see ‘Will You Marry Me’ written out in fire hose.