BLOOD TIES (Decklan Jennings Thriller Book 1) by Philip Duncan (book recommendations for young adults txt) 📕

long after that Marie was pregnant with Sophie. Everything in their life seemed perfect.

Now this place seemed like the worst place in the world. Like one of those places where he was deployed to wipe out scum and try and restore some peace and order. It felt like Hell. The pain in his heart was almost too much to handle. It was the worst pain in the world and yet he was numb at the same time. Life had a much different meaning now, and every second he was here without his family was a second too long.

Something was painfully obvious to him now, and it only made things worse.

People aren’t inherently good.

CHAPTER 4

Tired of walking around and having nowhere to go, Decklan decided he was going to go pay his little bro a visit down at the station. He needed to see if there was any progress with the case. It had been less than twenty-four hours but his patience was razor thin.

As he pulled into the station parking lot, he noticed a bunch of officers standing outside talking and laughing. They were drinking their coffee and not doing a damn thing that looked the slightest bit productive. This pissed Decklan off. He couldn’t understand why they weren’t all out there doing their jobs and trying to track these murderers down.

This is what my tax dollars are paying for? This is a freaking joke!

He finally managed his way inside without spouting off any rude or sarcastic comments to the officers. He headed directly for his brother’s office but someone at the front tried stopping him from walking any farther.

“Excuse me, sir, can I help you?” a smooth voice asked while also placing a hand on Deck’s shoulder.

“Get your hand off me before I break it,” he responded firmly, well aware he was speaking to a police officer. “I am here to see the chief.”

“I’m sorry, but he’s in a meeting right now. You are more than welcome to sit in the lobby and wait.”

“Just tell him that his older brother needs to speak to him. He knows where to find me.”

He turned around and headed back out the way he came. Wasted energy and nothing to show for it. The frustration was really starting to kick in now for Decklan, which under normal circumstances would be reasonable. But these weren't normal circumstances and he could feel himself starting to spin. He knew he needed to find a place to try and relax and cool off before he did something stupid.

He jumped into his truck and peeled out of the parking lot, hoping the loud screech of his tires and the smell of burnt rubber might get those lazy-ass cops standing outside to go do their job.

He headed for one of the local bars. He needed a drink. The only problem was he hadn’t had a drink since his daughter was born. He had a history of making bad decisions when he drank and he was known to get aggressive and mouthy, which was not good considering he was highly trained and extremely dangerous.

But he didn’t care. Who the hell was he going to disappoint? His wife couldn’t exactly yell at him from six feet under the cold, hard ground.

Screw it. I’m getting a damn drink.

He sat down at one of the open stools at the bar. There weren’t many people drinking, considering it was the middle of the day. Only alcoholics and people wanting to drink away their pain drank in the middle of the day, which was exactly what he intended on doing.

“Hey Decklan, I didn’t know you drank,” the bartender said

Decklan looked up and recognized the man. His daughter is in the same class as his sweet Sophie… or at least was.

“Jack neat,” Decklan responded, choosing to ignore the small talk.

As a bartender, one gets good at reading people, and he could tell Decklan wasn’t in the mood for chitchat. So he just slid a glass in front of Decklan and poured the whisky. Decklan held the glass with both hands and looked into the liquid like he was trying to read words on a page. He could remember all the times drinking had got him in trouble. It almost cost him his life when he was younger. It almost cost him his marriage with Marie. What could it cost him now?

There’s nothing left to lose, he thought as he tasted whiskey for the first time in years.

He threw it back like a shot and placed the glass back down on the bar.

“Another one please,” he said with no emotion, tapping the top of the glass.

Again he slammed it back, wasting no time. After two more, he started to feel the buzz, which was usually his indication to stop before it was too late… but he didn’t. He pounded two more before the bartender cut him off.

“Let me call you a car,” the bartender said.

“I’m fine. I’ll just walk it off.” Decklan said.

He paid his tab, stumbled off his stool and headed for the door. As he was going to push the door open, a few guys walked in and one of them bumped Decklan harder than he cared for.

They were obviously a group of douchebag friends who probably thought they were a bunch of tough guys. Unfortunately for them, Decklan Jennings wasn’t the kind of guy you wanted to bump into. Despite being intoxicated, he could still handle himself better than ninety-nine percent of people.

As he stumbled back a couple of steps, he managed to gain his balance back. In the blink of an eye, he was pissed off to the point of sobering up real quick. He paused for a few seconds and quickly evaluated the situation. He needed to establish who the alpha in the group was so he could take him out first, and it didn’t take long to figure it out.

Him! That’s the leader of this little boy band.

Decklan took a few slow but calculated steps forward, hoping his body language