Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
I hung up the phone and finished packing before I snatched my duffel off my bed and carried it out of the room. Jessie wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but Joey was sitting at one of the tables with Whiler, holding Antonio in his arms. He looked up at me.
A dark look passed over his face. “Need time?” he asked.
I nodded once. “Your sister and I—” I shook my head. “Shit’s going sideways,” I told him. “She needs time to think about what the fuck she really wants. Alejandro has some shit I can do until I’m ready to come back.”
Joey stood up and handed Antonio over to Whiler before he clapped me on the back, drawing me into a hug. “Be careful, brother, and check in.”
I nodded. “Keep an eye on your sister, man.” My voice was rough with sadness. I didn’t want to leave her, but she and I were killing each other. “She doesn’t know I’m leaving.”
He nodded. “I’ll keep you updated,” he promised.
I nodded once and strode out of the clubhouse, heading straight for my bike. I glanced behind me one more time, my heart stopping in my chest at the sight that greeted me. Jessie was standing outside with Joey’s hand on her shoulder. She was crying, so much emotional pain in her eyes. I just swallowed thickly and shook my head, revving my engine before I peeled off of the gravel lot, heading for the road.
She needed to know what she wanted, and I didn’t need to be around while she figured it out. I was too much of a distraction for her, too much of an influence on her decision. She needed to be on her own to figure out what she really wanted, to figure out if I was really what she wanted.
Alejandro watched me as I gripped the man’s head with my gloved hands and snapped his neck, letting him slump forward in the chair afterward. “There. You got your information.” I pulled my gloves off. “What’s the plan?” I asked.
“Need to be down at the square at midnight,” Alejandro said as he strode up the basement stairs. I followed behind him, moving aside slightly as his clean-up man came down to dispose of the body. “They think they can fuck with me—fuck with what I’ve built? They’re about to realize just how fucking quick they can die,” he said, his voice eerily calm.
That was the thing about Alejandro. He never raised his voice when he was angry. He was always so fucking calm. And that’s one of the things that made him the most dangerous, lethal man I’d ever known.
Three months had passed since I’d ridden down to Mexico, and in that time, I’d become a bit more acquainted with Alejandro.
Joey kept me updated about Jessie, letting me know that she was actually eating like she was supposed to be, but he told her not to contact me until she was absolutely sure of what the hell she wanted.
He actually admitted to her that from the very beginning, he was worried I would be the one to twist her all around, but in the end, she was the one that did it to me.
I don’t know how many times I stared at her picture on my phone, how many times I looked at her name on the back of my hand.
One night, I’d gotten piss drunk, and one of Alejandro’s men had made a snide comment about her name on my hand, and I’d knocked him unconscious. Alejandro had stopped me from doing worse damage.
Pussy bitch. Got a woman’s name tatted on him that he can’t even fucking control.
That wasn’t my fucking goal with Jessie. My goal with Jessie was to get her to completely trust me—to get her to realize that it was okay to lean on someone else, to sometimes give someone else the reins so she had time to rest. My goal was to get her healthy again—both mentally and physically.
But she fucking always fought me every damn step of the way.
I dragged myself out of my head, focusing back on Alejandro. He was staring at me. “Lost you for a minute, Ink. Where’s your head at?”
I sighed and just shook my head at him as I moved to his kitchen to grab a beer out of the fridge. Alejandro leaned on the bar. “Why don’t you just fucking call her, dimwit?”
I glared at him. “She needs to sort her own shit out, Alejandro. I’ve tried every damn way I can think of to get through to her. We’ve been going back and forth like this for years. She needs to decide this time what step we’re taking. I’m tired of giving in just because she’s lost and confused. I have no goddamn willpower where she’s concerned. So, I need to be away while she takes all the time she needs to figure her head out.”