Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 57341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
And then, he slammed his fist against Henry’s face, a sickening crunch sounding through the room. I sucked in a sharp breath, watching as River slammed his fists against Henry’s face over and over, well after the man was unconscious on the floor. I’d heard numerous bones break as River beat the fuck out of him.
He pointed a bloody finger at one of the men that had been arm wrestling. “Vern, when he wakes up, I want his fucking cut. He’s out of the fucking club. And I want him escorted out of my fucking territory.”
“Understood, Prez.” Vern, a tattooed man with black hair and eyes just as dark, nodded his head at River.
River disappeared down the back hallway, and I quickly followed after him, finding him in the bedroom at the very end. His room was mostly plain. He had a black fitted sheet and a plain black comforter on the bed with a few pillows. The club emblem hung above his bed, and a single nightstand sat on the left side of his bed with a plain, black lamp on it. There was a dresser against the wall near the door, and the open door to the side of the room revealed the bathroom, where River was currently washing the blood off of his hands.
“Never took the time to make this place feel like home, did you?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Don’t really have time to, darlin’,” he informed me as I leaned against the bathroom doorjamb to watch him. “Being a president consumes most of my time, and when I’m not doing that, I’m normally out in the garage.”
He turned the water off and dried his hands, turning to face me. “Feels a lot like home with you standing in the room, though,” he admitted, a small smile tilting his lips the slightest bit, making my nerve endings curl with warmth.
Fuck, he couldn’t just unleash his smile on me like that.
“Prez, you expecting company?” someone shouted from up the hall.
“Fuck no!” River called back. “Who the fuck is it?”
“Sons of Death!” the guy hollered back. “And ooh, boy, Tristan looks pissed.”
My breath lodged in my throat, and my heartrate went into overdrive. I hadn’t seen Tristan since I’d met him in another state to do a DNA test, not wanting him to know where I was staying at. The betrayal in his eyes that day had gutted me, and yet he still asked me to come back home to him.
River clenched his jaw, looking down at my face as it drained of color. “You going to be alright?” he quietly asked me, reaching up to caress the good side of my face, his eyes running over me as he did so.
I shrugged, not knowing how to respond. River drew me into his arms, pressing his lips to the top of my head. I closed all the distance between our bodies, leaning on him for that one precious moment before my world got flipped upside down, my sanctuary broken into. We both jerked our heads up when we heard shouting. “Grim, you can’t fucking go back there!” Sam barked.
“Fuck,” River cursed, releasing me as he quickly stepped out into the hallway. “Tristan, you can get the fuck out of my clubhouse right now if you’re only going to cause fucking trouble,” River growled in a warning.
“Where the fuck is she, River?” Tristan demanded to know.
I slowly stepped out into the hallway, nervously looking up at Tristan. There was so much pain in his eyes as he ran them between me and River. Instantly, River possessively wrapped an arm around my waist, tugging me against his side.
“You left my club just to jump to his?” Tristan angrily demanded.
“He’s the dad, Tristan,” I informed him, swallowing hard at the hurt in his eyes. My chest ached. Even after all Tristan had done to me, I still didn’t want him hurting like this. “And for your information, I’ve been supporting myself for the past three months. River just found me when he happened to come into the bar during one of my shifts,” I explained, though I knew I didn’t owe him any kind of explanation. But that hurt in his eyes was killing me.
“Yet, that quickly, you’re in his bed and in his clubhouse,” Tristan snarled at me. I flinched.
“Fucking lay off of her,” River warned, taking a threatening step forward as he pushed me slightly behind him.
I gripped River’s arm, his bicep flexing under my grip. He swung his gaze to me, his eyes softening immediately. “Please,” I whispered. “Not him.”
River clenched his jaw but nodded at me, taking a step back from Tristan. I breathed a sigh of relief. River silently reached up and brushed his thumb over my bottom lip, understanding in his gaze.
We were the reason Tristan was hurting so much.