Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” Theo agreed from the other side of River as he took a swig from his bottle. “Neither of them would think twice about driving a knife into your back, and not the figurative kind.”
“Don’t worry. Always have an eye on my back.”
Living a life like this, if you dropped your guard for even a second, you got dead.
River lowered his voice even further, making sure no other members of the club could hear. “Or Cutter, either. Don’t like the vibe that’s been rolling around. Something isn’t sittin’ right.”
“I get in, get the job done, and get out.” Kane said it nonchalant, though a gust of unease rippled through him. He knew it, too. Things had gotten strange.
“Good,” River said. “Keep it that way, and keep it clean.”
Kane arched an incredulous brow. “You suggesting anything we do is clean?”
River’s expression remained flinty. “Maybe it’s time we did.”
The old bracelet burned against Kane’s wrist. The bracelet that he’d never taken off. Now worn and tarnished. A suffocating vise that still felt like a lifeline.
The haunting of his mother’s voice fluttered through the darkest recesses of his mind.
“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”
Except it wasn’t who he was.
Not anymore.
He’d lost himself.
Maybe in the exact same way as she had, only his circumstances were just different.
And there was no way to find himself again.
So, he rode the runs he’d been charged to do.
The roar of his bike rumbling beneath him as he followed the trucks to their destinations and did whatever was required to ensure the loads were protected.
Spiraling and spiraling.
Until he swung off his bike on that fateful evening, standing guard as Tyke hopped out of the driver’s side of the truck and came around to open the back.
Until the moment when he saw what was inside.
“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”
He’d never heard his mother’s voice shout so loud. And that spiraling he’d fallen into?
It came up on a quick dead end.
FORTY-THREE
EMERY
Kane reached into the massive stone shower and turned on the faucet. The muscles of his big body flexed over the designs that covered his back. The grim scene of the dead woods with the skulls hanging from the trees on full display. Haunting and beautiful. The perfect match to the man.
The water began to fall, and he turned back to me.
Magic eyes swooping over me in a flash. Green flames that raved.
The old wounds didn’t stand right then. No place inside me that wanted to hide or shield.
Not when he was looking at me like that.
Like I was the treasure he kept promising I was.
God, what was I doing?
I was so close to tripping into that free fall. But from where I was standing, I wanted to step over that ledge.
Just let go. The guilt I felt now a distant vibration somewhere in the back of my mind.
Because maybe he was right. Maybe Emmalee would have wanted me to be happy. Maybe this is exactly what she would have wanted if she knew.
Could it be good and right?
Could he be?
Because there was no longer any question that Kane was involved in something hazardous, and I was also almost certain that whatever it was wasn’t legal.
“Come here,” he rumbled in that dark, low voice as steam began to fill the room.
I could barely stand where I remained in the same spot where he’d just devastated my body in the absolute best way…just the way he’d promised…my legs wobbly as I made my way to him where he waited.
He stretched out a big hand as I approached, taking it as he stepped into the shower and guided me in with him.
He looped an arm around my waist, spinning me around so that I was in the cascade of water that rained from the ceiling.
Chills skated across my flesh when the water hit my back, and Kane angled my head back to wet my hair.
His touch gentle as he carefully soaked me through, the warmth coming at me from every direction.
The spray of the shower and the caress of his hands and the fire in his eyes.
He shifted long enough to pump shampoo into the palm of his hand, the scent of eucalyptus and spice invading my senses, before he was back massaging it into my hair, careful to avoid the bump on my forehead.
“Figure this is the best way to keep you smelling like me since I’m about to wash myself off of you.” There was the hint of a tease that fell with the words, the gentlest smile tipping up at the edge of his delicious mouth.
“I doubt there is any washing you off after that, Kane Asher.” The words were coarse, clogged in my throat that was still thickened after the bliss he’d shot me into.