Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Reaching out, she slid her hand beneath Daisy’s and held onto her friend. “I love you, Daisy, and I know we all miss you and want you to get well soon. I hope you’re just resting and at peace, and you’re not scared.”
The door to Daisy’s room opened and Adam stepped inside. “Any change?” He held out a Styrofoam cup for her to take. She saw the hot chocolate inside and thanked him for it.
“No change. She is still sleeping.”
“Damn,” Adam said. “She better wake up soon, otherwise Anthony is going to be pissed.”
She couldn’t agree more.
Taking a sip of the hot chocolate, she wrinkled her nose. It was gross, but it was a drink.
“Why are you not angry?” Rachel asked.
She loved this man, who had become quite grumpy in recent years, but she didn’t always know what to talk to him about. There was also the horrible chance she would blush, which was so embarrassing and hard to hide. In fact, she had started learning how to apply makeup, checking to see if it showed her blushing. So far, no, so she kept learning. She had no idea what she was going to do if he realized she was in love with him.
“Why would I get angry?” he asked. “What is the point of getting angry? I can’t change any of it. You guys made a decision and you did it. Sure, you went against Lash, and that is going to have consequences, but you also worked together.”
“Will Lash ... kill us?”
Adam laughed. “Nah, not with who your parents are. That is going to save your asses, but it won’t get you out of trouble every single time.”
Rachel sighed. “I don’t get it. Monster Dogs were the enemy, and now—”
“They’re scattered like pieces of shit.” Adam took a sip of his drink and wrinkled his nose. “Fuck, this is like dog shit.” He wrinkled his nose and took another sip.
“We did what we thought was right.”
“So? And what was right was to go with a half-assed attack that did fuck all. Sure, you killed some people, and I get it, they are the enemy, but if you had waited, there was a chance we would have been able to take them all.”
“Lash had no intention of killing them.”
Adam shook his head and laughed. “Fucking kids.”
“I’m not a kid.”
“All you guys want is right here, right now, instant gratification. You know what I blame?” Adam said.
She was in no mood for a lecture from him. Adam was not supposed to act this way.
“I blame the Internet and Internet shopping. Back in my day, you had to wait for shit. There was none of this binge-watching. You were lucky if television shows even got to video. That’s right, good old VHS, and then some stuff you had to tape off the television. Yep, you had to wait for that shit to be viewed. I was there, when I didn’t have enough money to pay for the movie and had to click on the ‘record’ button.” He laughed. “I was sitting there when ads came on, clicking ‘pause,’ so I could have movies that had uninterrupted breaks.”
She frowned. “Are you for real right now? Giving me a lecture on how it used to be?”
“With care and preparation this wouldn’t have happened,” Adam said. “You want me to congratulate you and say you did a good thing, that’s not going to happen. You are children right now. You’ve been at the club two minutes and you think you know best.”
“I thought you would understand.”
“And I do, but it doesn’t make what you did right. Like I said, at least Lash got to see you guys working as a team, which is great, but you still disobeyed your leader, your prez, and that will have consequences. The first being, he took your patches from you. Some of you might never earn them back. I hope for all of your sakes that it is worth it.”
And with that he got to his feet and walked out the door without a backward glance.
Rachel growled. “Can you believe that? The first time he really talks to me and it is to give me a lecture. I have a good mind to ... fuck. I’m weird because I found his lecture hot, and now I feel like a cretin. What kind of person gets aroused at a guy giving you an old-people lecture?”
There was no response and Rachel sighed. “I miss you, Daisy. I hope for all of our sakes, you come back to us.”
The door to her room opened and Tabitha stepped inside.
“Hey,” Tabitha said.
“Hey.”
Rachel got to her feet. “I better go.”
And with that, she went in search of Adam for a ride.
****
Tabitha sat down in the chair and looked over toward her friend. Rachel hadn’t lingered, not that she would expect her to. She was no longer a Skull. She wasn’t part of their little group that tried to wipe out the Monster Dogs.