Page 10 of Tore Up

The man lowered his face until it was inches from mine. “Youhave twenty-four hours to find him. If you try and run, I’ll kill you, then find your family and kill them too. Do you understand me?”

Lucifer. This must be how the Devil appeared. Beautiful and evil.

“Yes,” I replied.

Twenty-four hours didn’t give me much time, but I could find Nicco, his best friend, and ask him what Ares had done. I’d have to tell this man the truth about where he was. It wasn’t like he could go to boot camp and kill Ares there. He was under the Army’s protection. However, the rest of my siblings and I would have no safety net. This man could kill us.

“Clock starts ticking now,” he said as he let my hair go and the blade was taken from my neck.

I wanted to weep in relief, but stayed silent.

The man stood up. He had to be over Ares’s six foot and Crosby’s six foot two. He was definitely more fiercely built. He didn’t need a weapon to look intimidating.

I held the sheet up to my chest and waited for him to leave. I wouldn’t be going back to sleep, but I was going to go lock the door and check all the windows.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked him.

He narrowed his gaze, but in the darkness, with him that far away, I couldn’t make out his expression.

“You don’t know?”

Why would I know? Did I look like I knew?

I shook my head.

He didn’t say anything at first, but instead stared at me. As if he could see into my soul and read my secrets. I was trembling. I might be going into shock. I wasn’t sure what that felt like, but I was cold. So very cold for it to be late August in Mississippi.

“I don’t make threats I don’t keep. Find him,” the man said, then turned and headed out the door.

Was this about drugs? Had Ares gotten involved with some dealer? That man didn’t look anything like what I thought a drug lord would look like, but what did I know about the criminal world? Besides, it had been dark in here. He could have something wrong with him in the light. Maybe he had bad teeth, and I hadn’t paid attention.

The door to the house slammed closed, and I jumped up to go run and lock it. Once the bolt clicked into place, I let out a gasp, then a sob as what had just happened sank in. I’d almost died. I reached up and touched my neck, then turned to go look in the bathroom mirror. Before I got there, I knew that the warm, sticky feeling was blood, but when I saw the mark where the knife had been, my knees went weak.

Oh God. This man wanted to kill me.

I grabbed the sink, trying to overcome the wave of nausea. It hit me hard, and I barely made it to the toilet before what little food I had in me came back up, along with the water I’d drunk earlier. I continued until I was dry-heaving.

My legs went out from under me, and I sank to the floor.

There was the briefest of moments when I’d thought,Why not let him do it?

No one would care. But it wasn’t just me anymore. I was responsible for another life. That was the only thing keeping me going. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t just give up at this point if it wasn’t for the baby.

The next thing was, I had to decide the best way to handle the man hell-bent on murdering me if I didn’t tell him where to find Ares. I knew I was going to have to tell him, but I also wasn’t sure staying here was a good idea. Being alone would make it easier for him to just kill me anyway.

I reached up and flushed the toilet, then rested my forehead against the tiled wall beside me. If only Crosby would come back, I knew he’d help me, even if he didn’t want the baby. Believingthe same guy who had sworn he loved me but would just ghost me like this was hard. I wasn’t going to demand anything from him, but if I just had someone who cared, I wouldn’t be so alone.

Five

Bane

“What were you thinking, Crosby?” I muttered as I watched the girl carry out two boxes and set them on the front porch, then bring out two black garbage sacks and a duffel bag.

She might be a looker, but she was also backwoods trash and had no doubt been after my brother’s money. Whatever kinky-sex shit she’d done to get him so obsessed with her cunt, it had worked. Now, he was dead because of it. I had no proof it was her brother, but there was no other reason for what had happened.

Seeing that run-down house she lived in, I couldn’t figure out why her brother would want to kill Crosby. Wouldn’t they have seen Crosby as a gold mine? Why would he want to end that? Maybe he was her stepbrother, and this was some sick jealousy thing. If they weren’t blood-related and he lived in a house with a sister who looked like her and was a freak in bed, then he was probably as fucked up in the head over her as Crosby must have been.

It was real convenient the brother had left town right after Crosby was shot. Seemed like he had something to run and hide from. Not only that, the others were now gone. The whole fucking family looked guilty to me. I’d kill them all.

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