Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
“Was this your idea?” Madoc charges, glaring at him. “A place of her own where you could seduce her away from her family?”
“Oh, come on, man,” Lucas explains. “It’s not like that.”
“I’ll tell you what it is like.” Madoc is almost spitting out his words. “She idolized you. Idolized an idea of you so much that she never entertained anyone else. She was in love with a dream!”
I can’t help it. The tears spill. If he gets in Lucas’s head…
Madoc continues, “And she’s going to give her life to you until you realize she’s too young and too devoted to someone who’s a figment of her imagination. All because you were horny.”
“I would never use Quinn like that!”
“You left for eight fucking years because this place wasn’t good enough for you!” Madoc rails. “What’s changed?”
Lucas’s tone turns solemn. “That’s not why I left.”
But my brothers aren’t listening. “I never thought you’d do something like this. You’re gonna hurt her,” Madoc tells him, “because you have nothing in common with someone just beginning their life.”
Lucas falls silent, and I look at him, waiting for him to fight back. Nausea racks my body.
He’s not going to hurt me. Lucas knows that. He’s not going to leave me.
I frown at Madoc. “Don’t talk to him like that.”
But my brother doesn’t even know I’m here anymore. He tells Lucas, “I have no fucking clue who you are anymore. I’m at a loss.”
Pain hits Lucas’s eyes, and I’m about to kick them out. Call Farrow and have him get them out of here, I don’t know.
But Lucas turns his gaze on me, and I have to hold back the sob in my throat as a crushing feeling hits me. That he thinks there’s no way out of this, and Madoc will hate him forever, and everything is ruined.
A knock lands on the front door, and it takes a moment for anyone to move. Jax finally goes over and opens it.
“Is Lucas Morrow here?” a hard voice asks.
We look over, seeing Shelburne Falls police officers standing on my porch. People loiter in the street below, watching.
Jax looks back at us, and the first cop walks in, addressing Lucas. “Mr. Morrow, you’re under arrest for the murder of David Miller.” Both cops approach. “You need to come with us.”
The first one—I think his name is Jesse Stevens—pulls out handcuffs.
I shake my head. “No.”
Madoc’s eyes shift from anger to confusion. “What the hell’s going on?” he barks.
A fist tightens around my lungs as the officer places Lucas’s arms behind his back and fits the cuffs on his wrists. “You have the right to remain silent…” the officer reads him his rights as commotion immediately ensues outside. People start yelling for Farrow, and my brothers move, looking like they’re not sure if they need to stop this or get on their phones.
“Quinn?” Madoc looks to me, his eyes suddenly filled with worry and fear.
“Sir, please step aside,” Stevens tells his mayor as he walks Lucas out.
“Lucas!” I call as he’s ripped from my arms.
“What the fuck is going on?” Jared blusters as Jax jumps on his phone.
I run down the steps after Lucas, but he glances back at Madoc. “Take her home.” He gestures to me. “It’s not safe here.”
I shake my head. Like hell. I’m not going anywhere with my brothers after what they just did.
“Hey, leave him alone!” someone calls out.
They lead Lucas to their police car.
“He didn’t do it,” someone else shouts. “I did it.”
“Nah, it was me!” another voice chimes in.
The officers stop, looking around at the Rebel crowd.
“Anyone else we need to bring in while we’re here?” they ask Lucas.
But he just shakes his head. “No.”
Farrow runs up, but a cop holds out his hand, pointing a finger in his face as a warning.
“Quinn won’t go with Madoc,” Lucas tells him. “Stay close.”
“Don’t worry about anything,” Farrow tells him.
Lucas stops at the open door of the cop car. Tall with his chin up, he peers back at Madoc.
Then, he looks at me.
I love you, he mouths.
And then he disappears into the car, gone in seconds.
Madoc
The heat that made my brain feel like it was on fire an hour ago has moved into my chest, anger now replaced with fear.
My God, this was why he left eight years ago. I stare at myself in the bathroom mirror, phones ringing out in the police station where damn-near our whole fucking family sits and waits. The water I’d splashed on my face drips off my skin, back into the sink.
How did I not know that something was wrong?
I mean, I knew something was wrong. Why didn’t I press him? Chase him down? Stop him from running? Bring him back?
Why was it so easy to believe he was just some kid being rebellious? I did everything I could to escape my house—my pain—when I was younger, how did I not see that he was doing the same damn thing?