These Broken Hours: A Dark Mafia Romance by B. B. Hamel

Author:B. B. Hamel [Hamel, B. B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Nolan

Cicadas whine outside the truck and their constant drone is like a hum that keeps me afloat. Cora pulls her knees to her chest in the passenger seat and stares out the window at the overgrown field. A hundred yards away, a lone barn stands, crumbling and dilapidated, the walls a faded white, the roof collapsed.

“Just don’t kill him, okay?” Cora doesn’t look at me as she says it. “I don’t think Kady will forgive herself if you do.”

“I don’t plan on killing anyone today so long as Jaxson isn’t stupid.”

“I mean it, Nolan.” She glances at me, eyes hard. “I hated this from the start, so at least promise you won’t be a piece-of-shit murderer.”

“You have my word. I won’t kill him. Though I’m going to hurt him.”

She relaxes slightly, but I know that isn’t enough.

This whole thing has her on edge. Kady’s safe back home and guarded by soldiers, but that’s still not going to put her mind at ease. Cora doesn’t like that Kady’s now deeply involved and actively a part of this war, which means whatever happens from here on out might affect her more than just sideways. The ORB might realize she was the bait, and they might act accordingly.

But that’s where Cora’s wrong.

If this goes the way I think it will, the ORB won’t know anything happened until it’s too late.

And besides, Cora and Kady were already involved. She wants to lie to herself and act like my fight with the ORB is separate from what she’s doing with me, but the two are intimately intertwined. Her burned trailer’s proof that she’s a target whether she wants to be or not.

“She doesn’t love him, you know.” Her voice is soft and distant. Like she’s trying to convince someone of something she doesn’t believe.

“I didn’t think she did.”

She gives me a look. “He’s just a distraction. A shitty distraction, but what else is there in this town?”

I shrug slightly and run my hands down the steering wheel. “What does that make me then?”

“An even worse distraction.”

I smile to myself. “I take it you’ve been thinking about that shower.”

“No, I haven’t.”

I look over and her cheeks are flushed pink. “You always were a bad liar.”

“Nolan, stop it.”

“If your sister doesn’t love this guy, why’s she keep talking to him? Why’s she keep going back when she knows he’s no good?”

“Probably the same reason I’m back in this car with you. The Stone girls are stupid when it comes to men.” But even I can see she doesn’t think that’s the only reason.

There’s more, we just don’t know what yet.

“You’re too hard on yourself,” I say.

“And you’re bad news, but what else can I do? I’m stuck.”

“You’re not stuck. You can always leave.”

“Yeah? You gonna let me?”

I smile at her. “No, good point. I guess you’re right after all.”

“Thought so.” She leans her head back and I watch the graceful curve of her neck and throat and the slow rise and fall of her chest. Cora’s

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