Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Once she was out of earshot, Trent heaved out a sigh, dude’s dark glare sweeping the bar once again before he quietly muttered, “Pretty sure dear old dad is the one who’s about to put that knife in my back.”
Cutter, Trent and Jud’s father and the club’s president, was the most vicious motherfucker Theo knew. Psycho had gutted a prospect simply because he thought he looked at him wrong, though Theo imagined he was just sending the message that he would gladly do the same to any one of them if they didn’t fall in line with his commands.
Commands that had gotten more and more twisted through the years.
Jud stirred in agitation, dude burly as fuck and all kinds of terrifying. He fisted a hand on the tabletop, all too ready to go on the warpath. “Not sure what he has planned, but I swear I can feel the treachery rolling off him every time I get in the same room with him. Eyes gleaming as he counts down our days.”
“You know we stand by your side, no matter what,” River offered low, making sure no one else could hear.
“Yeah. I know it. And we might need it. Just…be sure to keep your ears out. You hear anything, let us know. We need to anticipate when he makes his move.”
“Of course, brother,” Theo said before he took a sip of his drink, eyes tracking Scarlett who was at the bar.
Irritation bristled across his flesh when Toga sidled up to her side, grinning his pompous grin as he leaned back against the bar, sipping from a beer bottle as he said something to her that Theo could count on as being perverted.
“You gonna put a property patch on her or what?” Trent grunted, seeing the same.
A stir rolled through Theo’s crew. Their own uncertainty crawled around them. Theo had insisted that Scarlett stay at their house like she belonged there, the woman always attached to his side, while he kept a twenty-foot-high wedge between them.
Apprehension buzzed through Theo, and he took a sip of amber liquid, letting the fire glide down his throat like it could burn away the rejection.
The half-truth came out anyway. “Don’t think I’m quite there yet.”
Kane huffed in criticism. “Then you need to cut her loose, man. Girl’s fuckin’ gone for you, and you’re over there toying with her.”
Anger pinched Theo’s brow. “I’m not toying with her.”
River canted his head. “Then what?”
“I…I don’t fuckin’ know.” Theo scrubbed a palm over his face. “Only thing I know is she’s my responsibility.”
“Bringing her here doesn’t seem like a wise way to go about it.” Trent emphasized the point with a lift of his chin.
Theo sighed. “I know.”
“You love her?” Otto pressed.
Fuck.
He wanted to say yes.
Claim it.
Force himself into feeling something that he couldn’t.
Because he did love her, but not the way Otto was suggesting.
“That’s what I thought,” Cash grunted.
River shifted forward in his chair, voice dropped low in both urgency and encouragement. “You need to get her back to her home, Theo. Figure out a way to help her reconcile with her parents. Because this is no life for someone like her, and if you’re not careful, she’s going to become a permanent part of it.”
Theo lifted his attention back to the bar. Toga slanted him a look of challenge before he returned his attention back to Scarlett.
Discomfort dripped from her as she glanced back at Theo.
Nausea roiled in his stomach.
He was so damn torn.
Insides ripping and thrashing.
Wanting to be something different.
Wanting to be someone better.
But he was sure, sitting there, that he was never going to be.
He glanced around at his crew, and his teeth gnashed as he said, “I’ll handle it.”
THIRTY-FIVE
PIPER
Bright, wintry rays of sunlight poured in through the picture window that overlooked the lake.
The horizon was painted in that striking, fathomless blue.
A promise of peace and opportunity drawn in the peaked summit of the mountains in the distance.
While I stood biting my lip and pacing the kitchen, rereading the texts that had come in after I hadn’t responded to Raven’s confirmation text asking if I was coming to her house that came in earlier this morning.
Raven
Don’t make me chase you down.
Charleigh
Believe me, I know from experience, she is not joking. You’d better show or else you’re going to end up in her trunk. Gagged and bound, her prisoner forever.
Raven
I think it’s Theo who wants to gag and bind her and keep her his prisoner forever.
Emery
Fact. He showed up at the store yesterday to whisk her away in a car he bought for her. The man is done for.
Wait, what? Bought? That car was a rental.
And Theo had all but told me last night that he had nothing to give me. The cavern of secrets and shame carved in the middle of him was too deep for us to ever cross.