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)
Winnie stares at me for a minute and then cracks up. “You should have seen your face, Blade.”
“You little witch,” Blade growls as he walks over to her, pulling her into his arms and kissing the hell out of her. I smile as I watch them together.
Viper comes over to join me. “Blade is a fucking lucky bastard,” he grumps. I elbow him. He hugs me closely and I lean on him.
“Do you think they’ll find my brother?” I murmur to Viper as Blade and Winnie come up for air.
“That’s actually why we’re here. They’ve found Eyeball early this morning—or at least they think they have.”
Blade’s head whips around to look at Viper. “What the fuck does that mean and why has it taken so long for them to tell us?”
“I’m getting to that, man. The boys tracked him down to an old, abandoned house on the edge of Norris Lake. There were three of them. One was serving as a scout. He got off a warning shot before Sasa could take him out.”
“Why do I feel like this story is about to piss me off?” Blade huffs, pushing his hair out of his face.
“Because it probably will. There was a firefight. Our guys were concentrating on the windows. Two men were inside and they made it out before we could surround the place. They were in an old Ford Ranger—”
“I don’t give a fuck what truck they were in. I want to know what happened, damn it.”
“He’s getting there, Blade, calm down. You need to hear what he says,” Winnie responds, going on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek.
Blade exhales but nods his agreement.
“In the gunfire that followed, we think one of the guys hit the truck’s gas tank. It exploded with two dead bodies inside.”
“Motherfucker,” Blade hisses.
“So, there’s no way to make sure Eyeball was in the truck?” I ask, my heart running away with me. I’m imagining my life in the future—always being afraid my brother is going to jump out of the shadows to kill me … or worse.
“Well, the last stint in jail that Eyeball did, he had to have his appendix removed and his DNA is on file automatically. The Prez for the Savage Brothers called in a favor with the coroner. They were able to ensure that the DNA matched. Eyeball was one of the men, Livy.”
Relief hits me so strongly that my knees weaken. Viper tries to hold on to me, but I slip slowly to the ground. “It’s over,” I whisper, looking up at Winnie and Blade as tears trail down my face. “It’s really over.”
Winnie is the first to make it to me, wrapping me in her arms and getting down on the ground with me. “It’s over, Livy. He’s dead. He’ll never hurt you again.”
I hold on to her tightly, my gaze lifting to look at Blade. He’s smiling at me. “Bear can rest easy now, Livy. It’s finally over.”
I nod and bury my head into Winnie’s shoulder, with only one thought in my mind, so I send up a silent prayer.
We finished it, Bear. I’ll be safe until I’m with you again.
22 OLIVIA
“I really could have driven myself here,” I murmur.
“Humor an old man,” Cross laughs.
“Okay, well, you, I get—but is there a reason that Sasa, Money, Blade, and Arwen are following us?”
“You’re just lucky Hangman, Viper, and all the others didn’t come too. We all love you. You get that, right?”
“I get it, and I’m thankful. I just don’t want to be treated like I’m broken. I mean, I know I have issues, but I survived. I’ll be fine—especially now that Douglas is dead.”
“I think you proved you’re a badass when you killed Ayita. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, Ollie-girl. Bear would be prouder than hell of you.”
I smile because I think he’s right. I don’t have to tell Cross that I was a basket case when I took Ayita out. He was there with me. The point is that I did it and I would have faced my brother once more, too. I wasn’t going to let them get away with killing Bear.
“I hope I like it here,” I murmur, mostly to myself.
“At Black Stone?” Cross asks.
“Yeah. I mean, it was nice. I felt comfortable there, but what if I’m making a huge mistake?”
“You’re not. It’s just scary starting over. I happen to think you will thrive here. Although I wouldn’t mind if you took Blade up on his offer and became part of the club.”
I look down at Bear’s cut he had made for me. It took some work, but I got the bloodstains completely out. The guys told me they’d buy me a new one, but I didn’t want that. Bear gave me this one, and I’m keeping it.