Read Hell Breaks Loose: A Devil's Rock Novel for Free Online

in for a life sentence.
     He knew, inevitably, he would end up behind bars again. He hadn’t escaped Devil’s Rock to stay out of prison.
    He escaped to take care of some long overdue shit. No, it wasn’t fear of reprisal that had him standing in Rowdy’s way and
     stopping him from going in that bedroom. It was the simple wrongness of it.
    He’d seen the girl. He’d read the terror in her eyes . . . felt it. He couldn’t let any of them go back there and break her. He wasn’t that indifferent. He wasn’t that sadistic. And it
     bothered the shit out of him that his brother was. Zane didn’t use to be like these guys. He had failed, Reid thought. He’d
     let his kid brother become this.
    He glanced over at Zane, still sitting on the couch, nursing his joint like it was any other day. Like girls got raped around
     him all the time.
    “You really want to go to the mat over this?” Rowdy challenged. “You just got back. Pretty early to already be pissing me
     off, ain’t it?”
    Reid faced him again and cocked his head. “Pissing you off has never been a big concern of mine.”
    He and Rowdy had been in the same grade. They’d scrapped as much as they got along. Growing up with parents that didn’t give
     a shit about either one of them, there hadn’t been much for them to do except raise hell. Especially after his grandfather
     died. Fight and get into trouble. That had been his life. Unfortunately, that existence was what led him to Sullivan.
    Rowdy snorted. “Some things don’t change, then.”
    He jerked his chin up. “So we gonna do this or what?”
    Rowdy smiled. “C’mon, man, not like we never shared a girl before.”
    He suppressed a wince at the reminder and shook his head. “Not sharing.”
    Rowdy’s smile slipped. “Now you’re just being a selfish bastard.”
    Suddenly Zane was there, sliding between them. “Guys, go easy. It’s all good. We’re friends here. Remember? Family.” Some
     of Rowdy’s tension lessened. He didn’t look quite so eager to pounce.
    Zane looked back and forth between them before settling his gaze on Rowdy. “C’mon, bro. The guy’s been in prison for years.
     He’s got a right to be a little selfish. Let him have her.”
    Rowdy didn’t react at first. His granite jaw remained locked. Reid was starting to think there was no avoiding it. They were
     going to throw down. Then Rowdy grinned.
    “What the hell? It’s been what . . . ten years or so? Shit, man, what have you been doing with yourself all that time?” He
     grimaced. “Never mind. I can imagine how you been getting off.” He mock shuddered and then laughed with a shake of his head.
    It took everything in him not to slam his fist into Rowdy’s face. What Rowdy was thinking, what he was implying, had not happened,
     but it was no joke to him. He’d seen it happen to plenty of other guys at the Rock. When he closed his eyes he could still
     hear the grunts and cries echoing through the night. It wasn’t the kind of thing one ever forgot.
    He shouldered past the two of them, ignoring Rowdy’s shout, “Have fun! We’re gonna grill some steaks. We’ll bring you one.”
    He held up his hand in a backward wave as he headed down the hall, eager to leave their company. Being around them made him
     almost long for prison. There was a rhythm there. A norm. He knew who his friends were. Who he could and couldn’t trust.
    It wasn’t until he stepped inside the bedroom that he realized being in here alone with her presented its own form of hell.

Four
    In her second year of college, Grace took a zoology course. She remembered the professor talking about apex predators, also
     known as alpha predators. They ruled at the top of the food chain. They killed and felt no guilt. The weak fell beneath them
     and that’s just the way the world worked.
    She was face-to-face with an apex predator. She knew this with surety. He stared at her for a long moment before moving forward—and
     that’s when