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)
Her answer had been yes.
And this whole thing was riding on that yes.
“Means she’s gonna flip when I grab them to get them the hell out of there because I’m not going to have time to explain.” River gave a grave nod. “Goin’ to think someone’s out to hurt her. That is if her piece of shit husband isn’t already watching from the sidelines.”
Bile rolled in my throat, and the rose on the back of my hand burned. Same reaction I always got when I heard about some piece of shit harming the ones they were supposed to love most.
Protect and care for the most.
Rage rolled out of River as he rocked back in his chair. Guessed we all pretty much suffered the exact same reaction.
I forced myself to take a sip from my drink, a bolster as I relished in the fire gliding down my throat, before I set the tumbler onto the table and looked at one of my oldest friends point blank. “You aren’t going to be the one to do it.”
Some contortion of confusion and ire twisted through River’s features. “The fuck are you talking about?”
“Yeah?” Otto added as he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.
I glanced at Theo who was sitting over there chewing at the inside of his cheek. He gave me an I told you so shrug of his shoulder.
I let my attention ride over my entire crew. Rolling from Theo to Cash, then to Otto and on to River before I finally spoke. “We might have been ignoring it, but every single one of us knows things have changed.”
“How so?” River’s head cocked to the side.
I scraped out a harsh laugh as I sat forward. “Whole reason we had the rule that we didn’t get involved with women is because this shit is dangerous. Not knowing when we are going to come to our end.”
All of us had always been willing to make that sacrifice.
But there was a whole ton more riding on this now.
River stirred, irritation riding through his nerves as he was hit with what I was saying.
Wondered what he’d think if he knew that I devolved into far darker things than this all the time.
I held my hand up to stop the rebuttal I knew was coming.
“It’s not a criticism, River. It’s just the truth. Two of you have families now.” I pointed between him and Otto. “We are long since past holding to the creed that we have to go it alone. It no longer stands. But that also means other things are going to have to shift.”
I let my attention slide to Otto. Otto who’d let it slip to me the other night that he and Raven were trying to get pregnant. Information I doubted River was privy to yet, and I wasn’t going to just toss it out there like a careless prick.
But Otto knew exactly what I was implying.
Both of them did.
A vision of that little girl flashed through my mind. Those chubby cheeks and dimpled chin and megawatt grin.
Those unmistakable eyes.
In a split, it felt like my chest got rent wide open, rib cage cracking at the force.
Heart pumping wild and fierce.
I fought it, sucking the reaction down and focusing on what had to be done right here.
Right now.
“Nolan has been with me for years,” River argued, though there was no spite behind it.
“Know it. And don’t tell me that hasn’t nagged at you this whole time. And now you’ve got Charleigh, too.”
“Charleigh who supports everything we do. One hundred percent.”
“Same as Raven,” Otto said with a dip of his chin.
I blew out some of the strain. “That doesn’t mean either of you should be putting yourselves in the line of fire. Not when you don’t have to. Not when there is someone else who can stand in your place.”
Otto sighed in frustration. “We each have our roles.”
“Yet we all started out the same,” I said.
Murderers. Thieves. Our days spent riding with the Iron Owls MC ensuring that. Our list of sins long and debased. Corruption seeded into our beings.
Only we’d taken it and used our brutality for this.
Jaw clenched, River rocked back farther. “You think you’re less important than the rest of us?”
Shrugging, I went for a nonchalant smile that likely came out a grimace. “Pretty sure to your little family, I am far less important than you.”
He was Nolan and Charleigh’s lives.
“That’s bullshit thinkin’, man,” Otto gruffed as he slanted his fingers through the longer pieces of his light brown hair. “Skewed as fuck.”
“And also the truth.”
Another flashfire of that little girl’s face blistered through my mind, this time accompanied by the memory of the woman I couldn’t extinguish. The way she’d felt against me. The warmth of those hands and the sanctuary of those eyes.
Like in that momentary sliver of time, we’d found respite in each other.