Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Axel smirked, shifting to sit on the Ferrari. Why they brought a Ferrari was beyond me. They had money. I was aware. Everyone was, but they were stupid. Honestly. There were gangs in our town that would boost a car like that. If I were in a gang, and I needed to boost a car, that Ferrari was the first I’d go for. There was usually a GPS tracker installed and another added as a backup, but both were reachable. Yank them out, insert your modifier, which took twelve seconds to replicate the vehicle’s fob, and boom. Press a button, and that engine would be purring.
I wasn’t supposed to know this stuff, but I did. I’d done my research. Every adult in my family had been a hellion growing up. It was in my blood.
“What are you doing with those guys? I don’t want anything to do with them.”
God. Max. I fought against rolling my eyes, stepping back a little.
I loved Max. I did. We’d grown up together. We were best friends. He was family, though not actually blood, but he was such a smart, careful, don’t-get-in-trouble kind of guy. I wouldn’t call him lame or a goody two-shoes, because I knew he wasn’t either of those. If he needed to lay it down, he would, and when I say that, I meant whatever was needed in any situation. The guy was one of the most adaptable and intelligent guys I’d ever known, which was why I needed him to come with me.
He was my conscience.
If there was fire, I had to get so close to it that I burned. Something in me made me go to the fire. Max would pull me back. He kept me safe even from myself. It wasn’t fair to him, but that was our dynamic.
So, I needed him.
I shrugged, moving around him. “They’re just our way in. Don’t worry. We’ll ditch them when we get there.”
He groaned. “This is not a good idea, Maddy.”
I just grinned. I was going. And if I was going, he’d go too. Seeing the set expression on my face, Beltraine and Axel both straightened from their car. They were the cool guys at my school. Hot. Wealthy. Assholes. Both were tall, lean. Beltraine had dark shaggy hair. Axel had the same hair style, but with dirty blond hair. They were white, came from old money, and were beyond privileged. They both knew it too.
They were smug. They smirked at us, but neither said anything else. They didn’t dare. Because while these guys were the top of the top, they weren’t what Max and I were.
I was a Kade, and he was a Monroe, and no one fucked with our families.
“Boys,” I greeted, almost coyly.
Beltraine went to the driver’s side.
Axel opened the passenger door and stepped back. “After you.”
I climbed in, going to the back.
Max hadn’t moved. He stood glowering at the car.
Beltraine got in. “Are we leaving your buddy?”
I rolled my eyes, folded my arms over my chest, and slid down in my seat, getting comfortable. “No. He just needs a minute. He’ll come.”
Axel leaned down, poking his head into the car. “We can leave him.”
“No,” I said. “If he doesn’t go, I don’t either.”
The guys shared a look, but in the next moment, it didn’t matter.
“Fuuuuuuuck!” Max yelled, his head falling back as he let out another shout. He glared, his hands in fists, and stormed over to climb in next to me. His shoulder nudged against mine as he sat. He hissed under his breath, “You so fucking owe me.”
At this point, I’d owe him all the way until it was our coffin at our wake one day. Until then, I was planning on living it up and forcing Max along for the ride. He’d thank me when we were old and had to wear diapers again. You know, when we were fifty.
As we pulled out of the lot, the engine purring fantastically, we went past a line of people going into the funeral home for the wake.
A girl stopped on the sidewalk, watching us drive past. I recognized her. She went by a different last name, but I knew who she really was.
She was a Broudou.
Then we drove past, and it was as if she never existed.
7
MASON
“Do you know where your daughter is?” Samantha sidled up to my side.
The wake was over. We’d left the funeral home and congregated across the road, to the patio of a bar. The owner invited us personally. I’d just sat down, after going inside to shake hands with the owner and the staff. They hadn’t asked for pictures or autographs, which I was thankful about considering what I’d just left.
Logan, Nate, and Matteo were sitting at a table. Channing was in the back, standing with a bunch of his crew members. They worked as bounty hunters with his company but were still his crew. It was an old system from their school in Roussou, but that dynamic was strong. Catching my glance, he tipped his chin up in question. I texted.