Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
At least he and his boys had gotten out of this area.
Bought a house thirty minutes away that was safe for Raven. The one they protected with every fiber of their beings.
Didn’t matter if they’d moved themselves out of it, though. It would always be a piece of who they were. Each of them cut from the fabric of immorality. Sewn into the mold.
Night rained down. A cloth of iniquity that bound around him like chains, and he slowed even further as he cut across the road and took to the barely visible alley that ran the back side of a metal building.
An old fabrication shop.
A building they used for exchanges and drops.
Theo fought against the ball of guilt that threatened to roll up his throat.
This was the part he hated. The part that contributed to poverty and pain and shredded, broken families.
The part that preyed on the vulnerable and susceptible.
He tried to tell himself that none of them were innocent. They made the choice for themselves. But not even he was a big enough liar to convince himself of it.
Doing his best to squash his shame with the heel of his boot, but never quite managing to stub it out.
But this was who he was, so he eased his bike up to the back of the building and stopped near the door.
He killed the engine, the roar cutting off and giving way to the quiet shout of the city.
The drone of traffic and the cry of faraway voices and the unmistakable sound of gunshots in the distance.
His attention scanned the desolate, dimly lit area as he strode for the door. He always watched his back, not fool enough to get complacent. He swung open the door to the dingy light inside the building.
Three Owls were inside waiting.
Dom, Toga, and Flea.
Unease rustled through Theo.
That loyalty he was speaking of? It didn’t extend to all the Iron Owls. Only his brothers and a few other guys, their vice president, Trent Lawson, and his brother, Jud.
He knew most of these assholes would be happy to stab him in the back the first chance they got.
“What’s up, brother?” Toga lifted his chin at Theo.
They called him Toga since he was a frat, pretty boy type, though he clearly had a thirst for the dark side.
Theo returned the gesture, though he didn’t take time for pleasantries. “Transaction complete?”
Trent sent him to do a job, so he was going to do it.
The money these three had collected from Deik in exchange for two kilos of coke.
Toga gave a nod as he tossed the leather satchel to the floor at Theo’s feet. “Yup. Fuckers tried to short us five large, but we made sure to emphasize that we aren’t in the game to be played.”
“Good,” Theo grunted.
Deik never could fuckin’ be trusted.
He snatched the satchel from the floor and tossed open the flap so he could thumb through the stacks.
“Everything’s there,” Toga said, jutting his chin. “Counted it myself.”
Theo could hardly keep from rolling his eyes. Like that prick could be trusted, either.
It’s what happened when you surrounded yourself with swine.
But it was, in fact, all there, so Theo gave them a dip of his head as he tucked the satchel under his arm and headed out, going right for his bike and securing it in one of the saddlebags.
His chest squeezed with guilt.
He thought he and his brothers all knew this was coming up on a dead end. Theo just had no idea what that would look like for them when they hit it.
He swung back onto his bike and kicked it over. Arms outstretched and hands wrapped around the handlebars, he eased back onto the alleyway in the direction of the street.
He didn’t know what it was that drew his attention to the right.
Out into the overgrown field littered with trash.
To the shape that was almost concealed in the shadows.
He slowed and squinted, peering into the grim night.
It was a person.
A body, likely.
Crumpled and discarded like garbage on the ground.
It would serve him well to mind his own business. To move on and get this money to where it belonged.
But he couldn’t do anything but edge off the side of the alley, letting his bike idle low as he pushed to his feet and started out into the vacant field.
His pulse was thready and fast as he cautiously moved toward them.
Sickness balled in his stomach as they came into better view.
On their side and facing away.
Arms and legs limp.
Dark, tangled hair spread around them.
A girl, he finally discerned.
He attempted to swallow down the bile as he knelt. He needed to turn away. Put in an anonymous call. But he couldn’t do anything but reach out and roll her onto her back.
The deepest moan reverberated out of her, and her eyes blinked open.
Relief rasped out of Theo, though rage pummeled him when he got a good look at her face.