Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Now Silas knew why Trent was itching.
He was offering inside information Silas shouldn’t have.
You didn’t know shit around here unless it was directly tied to you.
A job you were given.
It kept everyone in line and Cutter in control.
Trent roughed a tattooed hand through his black hair. “It fits, man.”
Silas could barely breathe, and his nod was jerky as he realized the gift Trent was giving.
He was finally going to catch up to them.
“Know you’ve been looking for these bastards for a long, long time.”
“Yeah, I have,” Silas finally managed, the words choked. “I appreciate you giving me the details.”
Trent inclined closer. “Going to have more for you. Names. Locations. And I’m fucking trusting that this doesn’t make it back to Cutter.”
“You know it won’t.”
“Good.” Trent wavered, glancing at the ground before his inky gaze was back on Silas. “Things are about to get twisted around here. Want you to be careful. Look out for yourself and for your family. And if things go south, pack up and get the fuck out of this city.”
Unease stirred through Silas’s spirit. “You about to flip on our Prez?”
“All I can say is I’m about to make a few fucking things right, and I’m hoping to allow you the same as I do it.”
FIFTY-THREE
SILAS
“How is it possible I got you in my life?” I lay playing my fingers through Brinley’s hair, her head nestled on my shoulder, the night long as we just…talked.
Staying mostly off the hard topics and instead whispering about her hopes and dreams.
Unfortunately, her dreams had amounted to basically the hope of bare survival since her mother had gotten sick when she was fourteen.
Her teen years every bit as rough as mine.
I was going to see to it that she finally had room to dream again. Give her room to chase after every single thing she’d ever wanted.
Crazy as fuck that a big part of what she wanted was me.
My mind was still struggling to come to terms with it.
To accept that this was true. That she was mine and she was always going to be.
I had to wonder if the draw toward each other was because we had so many similarities.
Losing our mothers and the burden of caring for our families falling onto our shoulders.
It had shaped our lives in different ways, but in the end, it’d made both of us fighters.
I watched through the shadows as a soft grin kissed her lush mouth. “I guess you’re just lucky like that.”
My chest expanded. “I guess I am just one lucky motherfucker, aren’t I?”
Her fingertips fluttered down my chest. “Oh, yeah. I’d say you are.”
My soul did that buzzing thing. Frantic and flailing, still not sure what I was supposed to do with the magnitude of what I was feeling.
The lightness bled into emphasis. “I was terrified of this, Brinley. Terrified of letting myself go. Of loving a single person again,” I admitted.
I’d spent so much time hating myself. The choices I’d made. Who I’d become.
Regret was Karma’s most powerful friend.
And I had so much of it that it’d stunted any growth or healing. But lying there with Brinley in my arms, I couldn’t regret what Crimson Crows had become.
It was fucking important.
I knew to my soul that it was.
Our means might have been criminal, but expunging the slime from the earth counted as something.
I needed to find a way to tell her. Convince my crew that she needed to be on the inside. I didn’t think I could keep it from her for long, even if they overruled me.
Not when she had become the most important part of my life.
She shifted so she could peek up at my face. “You’re amazing, Silas Mercer. I see the care you have over every person on this property. But more than that, for your family. There is no question of your love.”
“It’s always felt like my intentions end up hurting the ones that I love. I try to protect them from it, but…”
Her head shook, and her fingertips kept playing over the words tattooed over my heart. “They all adore you. I’m not sure if you realize the way they look at you with respect and adoration.”
“That’s when Elena doesn’t want to kick my ass.” I put as much lightness into it as I could.
Brinley’s smile was soft. “Well, you are kind of overbearing. You can’t blame her.”
“I just want her to be happy. To live a normal life.”
“And you think being here is stopping that?” she whispered.
“She’s right, it’s basically a prison.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
My insides coiled. “Once this job is finished, I’m going to try to make it right. Fix some of this fucked-up mess that I have us in.”
A frown pinched her brow, and she softly ran the pads of her fingers over my bottom lip. “Well, don’t fix it too much because there’s love here, Silas. There’s joy and safety and belief. Even if you have a hard time seeing it.”