Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 38829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
“What’s that?” Winnie asks.
I turn to look at her and notice that Blade has moved so that he is reaching into Cross’s truck. He pulls out a box. I gasp, air lodging so tight in my chest that I feel like I might explode. It’s the cut that Bear had made for me years ago. He told me when we were being held that it was the only way he was allowed to claim me and honor my wishes. God, I was so stupid. I stepped aside for a woman whom I thought was a sister to me. I thought she loved Bear. I thought he loved her, and in a way, he did. I know he was good to her, and he never cheated—at least physically. He put her first, even before I got with Blade. For her to betray him the way she did makes me sick.
As I look at the cut, tears sting my eyes. I immediately put it on over my blazer. I look at Blade and then at Cross. “Thank you,” I tell them, my voice thick with unshed tears. I fight to get control over my emotions. This moment is too important. When we stand at the door, Blade looks at me. “Are you sure you’re ready, Olivia? Cross can take you home, and you can stay there and let me deal with this. I promise that every single one of us would understand.”
I immediately shake my head no. “I need to be here. I promised Bear I would be. I’m not going back on what was essentially my last vow to him.”
Blade nods, his face tight. He walks in first, Winnie beside him.
“Blade, you didn’t tell us you were bringing a woman by. Is she a new play toy?” I hear one of the boys ask.
“No, she’s fucking not. She’s my old lady. Show her some fucking respect. Arwen, meet the assholes that I sometimes call my brothers.”
“Hey guys. Just call me Winnie. The only one to call me Arwen is Blade, and I’m pretty sure he does it just to annoy me.”
“Hey, Cross. What are you hiding back there?” Hangman asks.
I take a breath. This is it. I step around Blade and look at the men that Bear loved.
“Holy fuck,” Hangman says, getting up instantly. “Livy.” He hugs me tightly and I smile. I’ve always liked Hangman. I was friends with his sister, and their family was special to me.
“Hey,” I whisper.
He places a kiss on the top of my head. “Missed you, girl.”
“Missed you, too,” I respond.
He turns his gaze to Blade. “You’re not going to—”
“Olivia is under our protection. She’s family,” Blade says at once, and I let those words slide over me. It feels good.
“The fuck she is!” Ayita screeches coming from the hall. “How the hell could you let that bitch in our clubhouse?”
“She belongs here,” Blade says, his voice hardening.
“Maybe you forgot how she set your brother up to die—or the way her brother took his life, but I sure as hell haven’t! Damn it, Blade, are you so weak that you would let this whore lead you around by her dick?”
“That’s rich. You calling me a whore,” I growl, all the hate I have for this woman rising inside of me.
“Are you going to deny that most of the Feral Kings hasn’t had you? You were nothing more than their plaything.”
“I can’t deny it,” I answer, beating down the shame I feel. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. “Especially since you helped my brother order them to rape me.”
The room goes completely silent.
“What the hell is wrong with you? What game are you playing now?” Ayita gripes, but I see the fear in her eyes. She should be afraid.
“What’s wrong, Ayita? You don’t want Bear’s brothers to know how you fucked my brother as a thank you for hurting Bear. How you ordered Bear beaten despite the fact he was slowly dying? How you told Douglas’s men to rape me and mock me while they were doing it?”
If I weren’t reliving the past, stuck in it with snatched memories of that day playing in my head, I would have died of embarrassment. Thankfully, none of that occurs to me as I advance on her. My hand slides under the cut and into the pocket of my blazer. I grip the gun tightly as I stare her down.
“You’re lying!” She looks around the room and screams at everyone. “She’s lying! You all know me. I would never do that to Bear. Never!”
“Ask her how Ranger knew to approach Bear and why he was with Bear that night at the garage,” I call out. “It’s not like Bear trusted Ranger over his own brother, or Hangman, Viper, any of you guys. In fact, Ranger would have been pretty low down on Bear’s list—except he had been talking in Bear’s ears for weeks. Feeding him just enough information to make him believe. It helped that you were in his ear, too, wasn’t it, bitch? Telling him how much Ranger missed having Bear in his life. How he had been talking to you and wanting to mend fences, all that poison came from you, Ayita.”