AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterOne
DIEGO
Well, fuck.
I close my eyes and release a heavy breath. Talk about an unexpected intrusion of the past.
The voice on my phone is one I can’t ever forget.
A voice I never wanted to hear again.
In any fucking lifetime.
Yet it’s haunted me for all this time.
So, what do I do? I hit replay on the message.
Again. And again. And again.
“Please, Diego, I . . . I wouldn’t call if I had someone else to turn to, but I don’t.” A swallow. I can hear it. The absolute fucking effort it’s taking her to call. “I-I’m okay, but . . . please call—I need you.”
And it ends.
I can see her, hand on her phone, fingertips white with little moons of red at the top from gripping so hard. Nadia would have been tucked up in the corner of her couch, legs curled up tight to her chest, her free arm securing them there, making this call.
She was probably also watching out for anyone around her so no one could see who she called.
Chip meet fucking shoulder.
Opening my eyes, I lean back against the wall and end the voicemail playback, tucking the phone away. I should’ve erased the message and said forget about it, but I can’t.
Shit.
Nadia Reed, the prettiest girl I ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes on. I don’t know what the fuck the call’s about, and I have no intention of finding out.
Enders Ridge, hometown, misery mill, and reminder of all the shit in my life, has always been a hotbed of small minds and big prejudice, of dickwads running the place into the ground for oil or whatever the fuck they want there.
Gussy the place up, bring in a tourist dollar for I don’t fucking know what and let the rest run to ruin. That’s Enders Ridge.
Yeah, I maybe exaggerating, but most people don’t see the underbelly of small-town America like I’ve seen.
Nadia probably broke a fucking nail.
The thought stabs guilt into me because unless she was body snatched or something, she’s not the type to break nails. Or have long ones. Then again, it’s been a while—
“Yo, Diego.” Nicolo pokes his head around the corner of the building. “We gotta roll.”
“It’s him?”
Nicolo grins. “He sure as shit is in the wrong place at the right time. Let’s go find out.”
Yeah, definitely not interested in old flames and betrayals, or the bullshit smalltown crap of Enders Ridge. Why the fuck would I help?
I got better things to do.
* * *
Tizio has some aggressions to work off, something about an old friend involved in a major beef with the law. So, we let him take on the guy first.
