Unleashed: The Devil Between Us (Shadow Mind #1)

CHAPTER 1

My eyes drifted anxiously to the oven clock as Danny threw another handful of small plastic baggies across the table.

“You’re not going anywhere boy, until this is done. Ya hear me?”

I glared at him from under my brow, smoke spilling from the cigarette tucked within his lips.

Danny always looked like the type of man the world had tried to break down and failed.

His bald head gleamed in every unforgiving beam of light wherever he stood.

His nose, bent out of shape from past fights, was accompanied by a jagged scar slashed under his right eye.

Patchy stubble clung to his jaw, casting a slight shadow over muscles that never quite loosened.

He wore a vest top year-round, the uniform of someone who dealt more than just cards.

Grease, cigarette burns, and sweat marked his clothing like badges. Scrubby bastard.

Letting out a sigh, I leaned forward and pulled the bags closer, avoiding the skillfully placed pills that decorated the kitchen table. A smirk appeared on his face as he watched me deposit three small pills into each bag, sealing them shut with my fingers.

My hatred for him burned inside me, strong and relentless.

Fighting against the urge to pull a knife from the kitchen drawer and plunge it into his neck.

I would joyfully stand back and watch the blood spill from this fucker as he attempted to cling to life.

I could almost taste blood in the air and hear his desperate pleas fading away.

Without realising it, a wicked grin spread across my face as I tossed each sealed bag toward him.

“Something funny?” His rusty voice pulled me from my murderous daydream.

My lip tightened as I hurled the last bag aside. “No. Can I go now? She’s going to be waiting for me.”

He grumbled, waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal.

Annoyance struck his features even though I had been sitting there for most of the day doing his dirty work, all while he drank what I can only describe as goblin piss.

As soon as this deadbeat showed up in my mum’s life, I ended up being his unwilling errand boy.

Pulling me into his dodgy drug dealings, continuously dragging my ass out of bed in the early hours of the morning to make the fucking drop-offs.

Walking away, my eyes darted to the time once more.

Shit.

Late again.

Luckily, Squeeks knows not to wander from the school gates, but I could already imagine the earful I was going to get from that stuck-up teacher, Mrs Harrison.

As I opened the door to leave, Danny shouted from across the room.

“Oh, and if you see that whore on the corner, tell her I want her home now!”

As Danny turned back to the scattered pills, I flipped him off, slamming the door behind me. That slag he’s referring to, that’s my mum. Working the streets to put food on the table.

Nah, who am I kidding? It’s only ever to feed her own drink and drug habits, or to please that piece of shit at home.

My sister and I are just background noise, barely noticed and never listened to.

Lately though, things have gotten tighter.

The air hung heavier in my chest, which only meant one thing.

Shit was about to get desperate.