Cruel Intoxication (Underground Kings 4)

Prologue

Owen

Twenty-One Years ago

Life is good.

Real fucking good.

I have a wife. I have a kid on the way. I have everything a man could dream of and more. I have the job that pays more than the bills and allows me and my family to live in luxury. I just retired from the military as a combat medic, and now I sell medical supplies and do demonstrations of how to effectively use the equipment. I also am a CPR instructor and certified EMT. I’m constantly busy.

But I’m never too busy for my family. I make sure to get off at five o’clock so I’m home for the evening. There’s nothing better than seeing Annabeth after a long day. She’s so damn pretty, and she has this way about her that has the stress of the day melting away from me. I don’t know if it’s her long dark hair or the smooth harmonic whisper of her voice, but I’m so damn thankful for it.

“Damn, what the hell is going on?” I turn the wheel to the right and inch off the road to get a look at what’s going on, but for miles all I see is traffic ahead. I glance at the clock on the dash and realize I’m going to be late for dinner. I dig my phone from the console and dial my wife’s number, then put it on speaker. I grip the wheel tight with one hand when I see a black cloud of smoke a few miles ahead. There must be an accident.

The phone rings and rings until it goes to voicemail. “Hi, this is Annabeth. Sorry I can’t come to the phone. Please leave a message, and I’ll make sure to get back to you when I can. Have a great day! Bye,” she says sweetly, and I can’t help but smile.

The guys give me shit about how gone I am over this woman, but I love her. Five years with her and forever to go. I can’t fucking wait.

“Hey, sweetheart. It’s me. I’m in bumper to bumper traffic. I don’t know how long I’ll be. I just wanted to let you know. I love you. I’ll see you soon. Bye, baby.” I press the button that ends the call and sag against the leather seat as traffic inches forward.

The sun is blazing through the window and heating the side of my face until I sweat. I pump up the air conditioning and keep flicking my eyes toward the time. Only a few minutes have gone by since I last called her. I just want to go home.

I loosen the tie and press the gas slightly when traffic starts moving.

Only to fucking stop.

“Jesus. Come on, there has to be another way.” There’s an exit about a mile ahead. I can take the back way. It adds on ten minutes, but if I stay here, it could add on an hour, maybe more. It means I have to cut through the grass and hope a cop doesn’t see me.

Worth it.

Right as I’m about to turn off the shoulder, my phone rings. Picking it up, I smile when I see Annabeth calling me back. I answer and hit speaker again. “Hey, baby, what are you wearing?” I say in a low growl, answering the phone like I do every time she calls.

“Ow-en?”

I sit up straighter when I hear the struggle in her voice. “Annabeth? What’s wrong?” She gurgles and coughs, then starts to cry. “Annabeth?” I slam my palm on my hazard lights and punch the gas, ripping the grass as her choked voice has me on the verge of panic. “I need you to talk to me, baby. What’s wrong? Please, talk to me.”

“He came out of nowhere,” she gasps.

I honk the horn when someone cuts in front of me to do the same thing I’m doing. Fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt before rampages inside me as I swerve around the car to try to get to Annabeth as fast as I can. My truck fishtails, turning up chunks of grass through the air.

“Who? What are you talking about, sweetheart? What happened? Just talk to me, okay? Talk to me. Please,” I choke. I can hear the struggle in her voice, the effort in her throat as she tries to speak. I lay a hand against my heart when my chest starts to hurt. My heart is racing, my mind is swirling, and all I can think about is getting to her before…