Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Don’t be long. Don’t want Slash pissed at us,” Colter demanded.
“Got it.”
He’d barely left the room when there was a knock at the front door.
Gazes shot all around, all of us sitting up, stiffening.
“Dunno. My experience with cops is they don’t politely knock and wait,” Saint said, shrugging.
“I’ll go,” I said, since Colter and Saint were still on parole, and Syn was laying low.
We got the occasional drop-in from one of the club girls who wanted some fun or were fresh off a bad date and wanted someone to roll around with for a while.
Then there were the Murphys, who, when shit went down in the area, came by to talk shop.
I’d been expecting one of them.
Not Este.
With Trix eyeing the clubhouse dubiously.
“Hey, honey. Everything alright?”
It didn’t look alright.
She looked like she hadn’t slept in a week. The purple smudges under her eyes were dark enough to look like makeup. The whites of her eyes were red. She was pale.
“Um, can we come in?”
“Yeah, of course.”
I took a step back, reaching for Trix’s leash in case she got any ideas about the men gathered around. Or the cat.
“Uh, hi again,” Este said with an adorably awkward wave toward the guys. “This is Trix. Please don’t be offended if she doesn’t like you.”
“It’s okay, buddy,” Rafe said, coming in too quickly for any of us to warn him off. “The wolves are scare… oh.”
“Oh, uh, hi,” Este said, shooting him an uncertain smile.
I didn’t see any recognition on her face, though. It seemed absurd. Rafe’s face was all over the local news.
“Hey, Steve!” she greeted the dog, immediately brightening as she moved forward to greet the dog who was happy to see the woman who sprung him again. “Are you so happy to be home? Yes, you are. You have the sparkle back in your eye.”
My gaze slid to Colter, and the two of us shared a smirk as Rafe’s shoulders relaxed.
“You think so?” he asked.
“Absolutely. He looks so much more relaxed and happy. I remember that when I brought my sweet Trix home.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t she? She keeps me sane.”
“Know that feeling,” Rafe agreed, patting Steve’s head.
“I’m so glad we could get him for you. It’s good to see him back where he belongs.”
Trix chose that moment to let out a little rumble.
“Can we take her upstairs to your workroom? I don’t know how she does with other dogs up close.”
“Sure.”
“Nice seeing you guys,” she said to the guys before following me down the hall. “No, huh?” she asked when Trix grumbled and pulled back away from the elevator.
“Stairs it is,” I said. “I might be able to calm you down, but something tells me that dogs don’t do mindful breathing.”
The second we were inside the workroom, I unclipped Trix’s leash and Este closed the door.
“Okay. What the hell is going on in this town?”
Fuck.
I forced myself to turn slowly, face schooled in indifferent lines even as my heart started to race.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, come on,” she said, brows raising. “Seriously?” she went on, crossing her arms. “That’s Rafe Marsters down there. Escaped convict.”
Not wanting to lie, I said nothing.
“I mean, had I come here a few days ago, I would have been completely clueless. I’ve been kind of deliberately out of touch with the local news.”
“What changed?”
“I got looped in.”
“On purpose?”
“In a way.”
I wasn’t the only one being evasive.
The difference was that I knew what was at risk for me. What was at risk for her?
“Are you planning on going to the cops?”
“About Rafe?”
“Yes.”
She leaned back against the door, exhaling hard, seeming to grow smaller by the second.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Honestly? Because Steve doesn’t deserve that.”
“That’s fair.”
“And also… I don’t think I had any idea what kind of town I was moving into.”
“What kind of town is that?”
Her gaze cut away, her jaw working. “Did you know the area used to feature a prominent Bulgarian crime syndicate?”
“I did.”
She glanced back at me, her eyes landing on the badge on my chest.
“You know, that came up in my research.”
“What did?”
“The patch on your cut.”
“What did you read?”
“That it means one percent of bikers are criminals.” She paused, watching me. “Are you going to deny it?”
“No.”
“So you’re a criminal.”
“Spent a few years of my life in the prison right over there.” I nodded in the direction of the building that loomed over Shady Valley.
“Wait… really?”
I could see her gears turning, trying to reconcile that new fact with the idea she had already formed about me.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“What’d I go to jail for?”
“Yeah.”
“My sister had a man who was beating on her. I showed him what that was like.”
“Oh.”
“Disappointed?”
“In you?”
“Yeah.”
“No. I mean… I think the world needs more people who stand up to abusers. I think I’m just having a hard time imagining you putting your hands on someone like that.”
“The meditation and yoga… it’s a part of me because that other side is in me too. And I wanted to make sure I never became someone who would use it against an innocent.”