Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Larkin turns his gaze from me to his patrol car, raking his hands through his hair and kicking at the tire. He holsters the gun, and I know if I don’t make a move now, I may never get another chance.
Kill or be killed.
I won’t go out like this. A flood of adrenaline washes through my veins, helping me get to my feet. I rush him, jumping onto his back. A shocked grunt hisses from his lips as I bite down on his ear, tearing at his flesh like a crazed animal. Blood pisses from the chunk I rip away and spit to the dirt. His hands grapple behind him, trying to pry me loose, but I cling on for my life. Digging my nails into the skin of his face and shredding.
Spinning our bodies, he jerks back, slamming me against the car hood. All the air flees my body, and not only do I feel the crack of my ribs, but I also hear it. Staggering away from me, Larkin checks the damage to his ear and face in the window’s reflection. I roll off the hood into a heap by the tires.
I’m barely able to catch a breath before he grabs my foot again and drags me along the road toward some heavy brush. My top shreds completely off my body, leaving me in a torn bra. My right boob is on display—the road rash causing my skin to scream in distress.
This is how they’ll find your body.
Coming to a stop, his blood drips all over my bare flesh as he leans over me. Raising his arm up, he backhands me across the temple almost stilling my consciousness. “Look at you, half-naked like the whore you are.” He reaches for the waist band of my jeans and wrenches them and my panties down my legs, having to yank hard to pull them over my shoes before tossing the fabric away leaving me bare. “I’ve seen a million whores like you giving it up to those criminal bastards. You want to be a whore.” He grasps a fistful of my hair again, heaving me up. I run my palm through a gathered cluster of pebbles, clutching a handful. “I’ll use you up like one and leave you out here to die, let the wildlife live off you. It’s all whores like you are good for.”
“Fuck you.” I spit a mouthful of blood at him before scrubbing the stones in my hand into his face.
“Argggghh,” he bellows, lurching away from me and frantically wiping at his eyes. “Fucking bitch.”
Limping with the last of my will to survive, I shove into his body, knocking him off kilter causing us both to topple over, me on top of him. He rolls us, crushing my body beneath his, his heavy palm covers my face, restricting my airways. Panic turns my bones to stone. Is this what Harley felt? What are the odds of me ending up murdered like her? Left in the wilderness like trash. My nails scratch at his hand but it’s futile.
“You don’t deserve to live when my sons’ lives got stolen away.” He growls, tears blurring the dark of his eyes.
His other hand fumbles with his buttons, his knuckles digging into my stomach as he attempts to free himself.
No. No. No.
The world becomes a vacuum around me. His lips move, but there’s no sound. Harley’s image bursts into my mind, followed by Kitty’s and Callan’s. It can’t end like this. The thought offers me a surge of strength. A roar vibrates my chest. My hands come up to Larkin’s face and I gouge my thumbs into his eye sockets. With every last ounce of fight left in me, I force my thumbs in deep until he can’t take anymore and wails in agony before clambering off of me.
I take the reprieve and scrabble toward his hunched-over frame, my eyes drawn to his unclipped holster. Within the next heartbeat I seize his weapon and pull it free. Exhilaration fills me at the feel of the heavy weapon in my palm. He attempts to grab me once more, but I stumble away just out of reach, aiming the weapon at his stunned fucking face. Hands splayed, eyes wide and bleeding, he’s dumbfounded at how I turned the tables on him.
Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.
“Put the gun down.” His voice has dropped to a soothing whisper, starkly contrasting the threatening tone from seconds ago. Blood and stones cover his face as he wobbles on his feet. He looks ridiculous. God knows what I must look like.
“Put the fucking gun down, cunt.” The insidious intent has me stroking my finger over the trigger.
“Fuck you, you animal.”
The sharp crack of the gun warps through the air, over and over, as I shoot five shots into his legs and groin, dropping him to his knees. He attempts to move, but I stop him instantly with one final shot to his forehead. His mouth is agape, a red hole blossoming. He falls like a stone from a cliff, hitting the road with a thud, sending a cloud of dust around him like smoke. Silence follows. The night appears so calm around me. A scream claws it’s way up my throat as I collapse, terror streaking through me, seeping from my pores. My body vibrates like I am caught in an electric current, and the realization of what’s just happened sends ice crystalizing up my spine.