SIX Read Online Free Page A

burrowed myself under the covers, but it didn’t protect me.
    A hand clenched around my ankle before dragging me by my feet from my bed. My head compacted with the floor, sending stars dazzling in my eyes.
    Next thing I knew, three little fists were pummelling into me while Mr. Peters told them to punish me.
    Waking up the next morning, freezing and still on the floor where I passed out, was terrifying.
    I crawled into the bed assigned to me and didn’t move until night fell once more and Mr. Peters sent for me.
    He was resting in an armchair and told me to sit by his feet.
    I did as I was told and he then instructed two of the boys to fight.
    My body shook with fear as I watched kids not much older than myself hit and attack each other while he jeered them on.
    It was like being thrown into a gladiator pit without weapons.
    If Jonny hadn’t reached his limit of abuse, there was a chance I never would have made it out of that house, but as I sat at Mr. Peters’ feet, Jonny stumbled into the yard, collected the axe he had been using that day to cut wood per instructed, and from behind the chair housing Mr. Peters, he buried the axe into his skull.
    The sound of metal connecting with flesh and bone is one I’m now accustomed to, but back then, it haunted my dreams.
    Blood poured from him like an erupting volcano.
     
    We were there three days with his body before someone discovered the scene.
    From there, I’d have some nice homes and some not so nice homes—meet new friends and then be dragged away from them.
    I learned to close myself off to attachments and it wasn’t until Haley that I realized how lonely I was.
    She gave me hope I wouldn’t always have to be this way.
    I make my way back up to the apartment above the bar to grab the watch I left in my hurry to escape the events from this morning.
    The phone on the side table flashes with a missed call.
    It must have been Haley trying the landline before my cell.
    Thoughts of her despair when talking to me play on my mind.
    Opening the bedside drawer, I grab the battered piece of paper Haley gave me when she was recovering in the hospital and my ass falls onto the bed.
    Even though I can recite the letter from memory, I read it out loud to myself—the same thing I’ve done every day since she gave it to me—and make the silent promise.
     
    Taylor,
    Make them pay.
    Make them all pay for what they did to me.
    I want you to destroy them,
    take them apart, and leave them broken,
    bleeding, and dying.
    I need them to pay.
    I need you to make them suffer like I have.
     
    “They will pay, in agony and blood. I promise you that.”
    I hold the paper to my chest and let my mind take me back to the day I killed six of those cunts.
     
    Sixteen years ago:
     
    “Taylor, this is an attack on the entire crew, not just you.
    They declared war by coming into our territory and attacking a member’s family,” Sticks demanded
    . He came to the hospital when word got back about Haley.
    He was my partner when it came to jobs given to me—mostly theft or roughing up shop owners who didn’t pay a fee for having our protection.
    Truth was, just owning a store in our territory made you a target.
    Cops were ineffective in our neighborhoods and anyone brave enough to try reporting us found their property turned to ash.
    We were a small, close-knit crew compared to others, but we were ruthless and our numbers were expanding faster than the Crimson Vipers, who we often went to war with over territory.
    The Crimson Vipers were nasty bastards into trafficking firearms and women. They were gaining a reputation for themselves and that made them brave when it came to wanting to expand. Jordon was a Viper and found himself in our territory one night when he was running from the law.
    I’d just finished roughing up a crackhead selling on our turf when he came barreling down the alleyway and smacked straight into me, knocking him on his ass.
    “Fuck me. Would have preferred to get caught