Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39161 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39161 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Instead, I leaned in to brush a kiss on her forehead, wrapping an arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder, but didn’t quite relax. She still didn’t let go of my hand, but other than that small gesture, she didn’t move. I thought she might be close to falling asleep, but she slowly pushed away from me. With a sigh, she let go of me and laid her hands in her lap.
“Talk to me, Holly. I’ll make everything all right if you’ll tell me what you need.” I meant it too. She was breaking my fucking heart.
“This is all my fault.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“What’s your fault, honey? You’re not making sense.”
“That you’re here. This plane. All that money everyone spent. This time because I did something stupid.” Tears had been streaming down her cheeks in a steady flow since I found her. The only time she seemed to be able to fight them off had been unloading the Badger.
“Honey, I’m here with all this shit because I will always come for you. By any means necessary. Bad choice on your part or not, I will always come for you.”
She sucked in a small sob but held on to her emotions by the tiniest of fingernails. It wouldn’t take much for her to shatter.
“Hey, man!” The angry demand came across from me. I wanted to drive my thumbs into his fucking eyeballs. “I’m filing a formal protest against your company when we land.” Fucking Chris Alistair the fucking Third. There was every possibility either me or him wouldn’t make it to Lake Worth alive. And he was too big a pussy to even think about taking me.
“For doin’ what? Savin’ your sorry ass? I can see how that could get me in trouble. Especially if you’re as big a pain in your old man’s ass as you’re starting to become in mine, but also because you weren’t my problem or my job. Holly is the only person I was authorized to spring. I’m beginning to think it might be best to remedy that mistake right now.”
“You left that whole village with no way to get food or supplies! If they die, it’s on you. And I’ll tell every reporter I come across that you committed genocide.”
“Do you have any fuckin’ idea what you’re talkin’ about?” Razor plopped down in a seat on the other side of Holly putting her solidly between our wall of protection.
Alistair gave Razor a withering look. “I know exactly what I’m talking about,” he snapped. “It’s the only road in or out of that village! How are they supposed to get supplies without that road?”
Razor chuckled. “Fuuuuck. Did you know they made ‘em this stupid, Jax?”
“I mean, I’ve heard stories.” I shrugged like it was really no big deal. “Not sure I believed ‘em. Till now.”
“Son, the villagers that close to the Amazon want nothing more than to be left alone. They couldn’t care less if people show up with stuff they’ve never heard they needed. They distrust the few things that could make their lives better. No. Those trails you call roads are made by the cartel. If you went into this situation and didn’t bother to find out, you really are fuckin’ stupid.”
Razor waited until Alistair finally dropped his gaze before speaking to me. “Got you guys a small space with a little privacy if you want to look her over. Make sure she’s not injured and in too much shock to feel it.”
“If anyone gets a private room here, it’s me, you asshole.” Alistair piped up again. “I’m the important one here. I don’t care what you say, I know you were sent to find me. Not her. She’s nobody! You’re supposed to do what I say!”
“Hate to tell you, bro,” I took over before Razor lost his cool. I could practically see steam coming out the other man’s ears. I felt pretty much the same way, but Razor was bigger than me and his punch was harder than my punch. “But real life don’t work that way. No one knows you guys were missing. The only way your father knows now is if your body man got a message off to him, and my boss ain’t sayin’ nothin’ if he did. Nothin’ gets by Cain. No matter how recent the development. So you’re on your own. No one knows you’re in trouble. Nobody is sending you help. Nobody.” The threat wasn’t even thinly veiled. Razor was ready to do his worst, and I was right behind him.
“Of course they knew! They sent me help! You’re here, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” I continued. “Because her family hadn’t been able to speak with her in several hours, and I wasn’t willing to wait another two or three hours they’d agreed upon before finding out where she was. Like I told you in Columbia. You’re only here because it was of no benefit to her at the time for me to leave you behind. I don’t give a good Goddamn who your daddy is.”