Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Hey, sleepyhead. Are you all right? I don’t usually beat you here.”
“Um, yeah. Sure.” The last tendrils of biker fantasy floated away a while ago, and I’m ready to actually get some work done. At least I think so. “Are the guys still out there?”
“Sure are. Well, only one of them when I showed up. Alpha. The others weren’t there, so maybe they were getting some shuteye. Even badasses like them have to sleep sometimes, I guess.” She chews her lip and takes a look out the window. “I thought about taking him a coffee, but after yesterday…”
“It’s fine. How about you tackle the crime section? Mr. Ericsson was in yesterday and reorganized it for us again.”
“By publisher?”
“No, color this time.”
“That makes more sense than geographically.”
“I think he gave that up because he couldn’t decide what to do with the books that take place in multiple countries.”
She laughs. “At least he always buys something, so I guess we can’t complain too much.”
I stare out the window at Alpha doing his best to look non-threatening. He saved my life. But it also wasn’t in danger until they showed up… Argh. I stomp into the back and use the capsule machine to make him a coffee.
Nicky sees me on my way out. “Are you sure you want to encourage him?”
“It’s not encouraging. It’s just being polite.”
“Your mouth says one thing, but your eyes say something else entirely. I know you.”
“Then you know me better than I do, because this is just common courtesy.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Faith. I bet you’ll be daydreaming about them if you keep it up.”
Yikes, that hit a little too close to the truth. Maybe she does know me that well. “Never.”
“I’m just teasing.” Her tone goes from light to serious in a heartbeat. “I worry about you. Someone shot at you yesterday. If you won’t go to the police, at least keep them close to protect you. If those other guys come in here with guns, what are you going to do? At least these ones seem to be on your side.”
Maybe she’s right? I don’t even know. I hate feeling manipulated. Everything started with that stupid tape. I need to track down a working VHS player and see if there’s anything on it. I stick my head out the door and look back and forth, but before I can cross the road, Alpha darts across and meets me right on the sidewalk outside.
“Hey,” I say awkwardly, trying desperately not to think about the way his dream cock felt sliding into me.
“You okay? You sound funny this morning.”
“What? Yeah! Fine. Fine…” I cough and shove the paper cup between us. “I figured maybe you would like this.”
“Thanks,” he says with a tight nod, accepting the coffee.
“I didn’t know how you take your coffee, so I just put in a little milk and sugar. Was that all right? You probably like it black. I’ll go make a new one—” I reach to take it back, but he puts a hand on my arm.
“Relax, it’s fine. I’m not fussy.”
“I wanted to say…”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks, for yesterday, I mean. I don’t really know what’s going on, but you put yourself between me and the shooter, so…”
He licks his lips and runs a finger through his dark, cropped hair. Icy gray eyes evaluate me closely. “Prez woulda fucked me up if anything happened to you.”
Right. It’s all about the club. I step back and nod. “Still, thanks. Hopefully you won’t have to stick around long.” I don’t know what he reads in my body language, but he reaches out and runs a hand down my arm.
“It’s no hardship, honey.”
8
FAITH
I twirl the VHS tape in my hands, looking at it like it can answer all my questions. It remains silent for now, but Nicky’s borrowing an old TV/VHS player from her parents and we’re going to set it up tomorrow to find out the truth. Will it even play? I close up the panel in my closet ceiling that opens into the loft space where I hid the box, then shove it towards my bed with my foot. I have to admit, I take a little pleasure in the fact that the guys couldn’t find it.
I should go to sleep. It’s past midnight, and I’m opening the store at eight tomorrow, but my mind refuses to stop whirring. Sitting in bed, with Ollie snuggled up against my hip and the gun on my nightstand, I dump out the contents.
Who put this stupid box on my doorstep?
Dad wants the tape badly enough to send his men to break into my house and steal it. He obviously doesn’t want me to even know about it, or he would’ve just asked. There’s got to be something really incriminating here, but it’s ancient. What has he done? What could be so bad that it hasn’t come out yet?