Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Ethel swung the poker, hitting Sandy over the head. The other woman fell to the ground. The gun fell out of her grip, and Nikki reached for it, only she didn’t need it.
“What the fuck?” Sandy asked.
“You don’t get to be a whore for as long as I was, without learning the value of lying still, playing dead, and then sneaking the fuck around.” Ethel swung the poker. “You’re not taking my miracle away from me. You’re not taking my daughter away from me.”
Each time she spoke, she swung that poker, connecting with Sandy. Ethel didn’t stop until the door was thrown open, and Hawk burst in, along with several members of the club, including a very crazed-looking Melanie.
Sandy was on the floor, passed out but still breathing.
Her mother stumbled back, dropped the poker, and glared at Hawk. “Take care of your mess.” She then rushed toward her. “Baby, are you okay?”
“Mom? You saved my life!”
“I was not going to let anything happen to you. I couldn’t believe when I heard you come home. Bitch hit me from behind, but I wasn’t knocked out. I just let her carry my dead weight to the sofa. I waited, but she was a madwoman.”
“I know. I know.” She held onto her mother and saw Hawk was right there. “You’ve been shot.”
“Yeah.” And she was starting to feel a little sick, and a little dizzy.
“We need to call the ambulance,” Ethel said. “If you want your club to deal with that mess, then take her before I call them.”
Hawk snapped his fingers, and his men were already picking a knocked-out Sandy off the floor.
“She did it, Hawk. She killed your mom, your dad, Diana, and she also lied about Greg, a guy from your club.”
“I know,” Hawk said. “We found everything in her bedroom at the club. Including a diary, and her plans. No one ever went in her room, so no one saw what she was really like. I’m so sorry.”
“I love you,” Nikki said.
“What?”
“I know now is not the time, but I love you.”
“Nikki, you’re going to be fine.”
“I know, but there was a second before Mom kicked her ass, and I just thought I was never going to get to tell you I loved you. I’m so sorry.”
He knelt on the floor and cupped her face. “I love you.”
“I … I need to go to the hospital.”
“The ambulance is already on the way.”
“Marry me,” Hawk said.
“What?”
“Marry me, and make me the luckiest man in the world.”
“Wait, your crazy club whore just shot my daughter, and now you’re proposing to her?” Ethel asked. “I have an overwhelming need to cook.”
Nikki laughed.
Hawk looked back at her mother. “If Nikki will have me, I’m sure all the guys and the women would love your cooking.”
Ethel looked at him and shrugged. “No booze, though. I don’t want anything but tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and water.”
“We’ll take care of you, Ethel,” he said.
He turned to Nikki. “I love you, Nikki. I had no idea what Sandy was capable of.”
“I love you,” Nikki said.
“Marry me?”
She smiled and in the distance she heard the ambulance on its way. “I’ll marry you.” It was so strange. Within a short time, she’d been shot, terrified, looked death in the eye, realized she loved this man more than anything, and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
Miracles might just exist after all.
Epilogue
Ten Years Later
Hawk stood at the barbeque and watched as Ethel had all four of his kids helping to bring out the food. The sun was beaming, and he’d already taken off his jacket and shirt. The summer was proving to be one of the hottest in years, and he, for one, was getting tired of sweating his balls off.
Still, the club was loving it. They had not long gotten back from an intense two-week run, and they were all ready to kick back and relax.
He watched as his wife, heavily pregnant with their fifth child, came out with Darlene. They were talking about changing up the shop’s window display. Since his wife had passed her beautician courses, she and Darlene had worked their asses off to make the salon an even bigger success. Hawk was so damn proud of her. Even though she was a full-time mom and beautician, she balanced everything. Not that he expected anything less.
Even Ethel had become a beloved member of the club. The guys worked to keep their shit together, but in the last ten years, Ethel hadn’t fallen off the wagon even once. She had also gotten a couple of the brothers to go to church with her and reintroduced them to their faith. Hawk didn’t have a problem with that.
As for Sandy, well, the club had been pissed to have missed the evil that was lurking. They couldn’t believe Greg had paid the price, as well as his mother and father. They arranged a final resting place for Greg and Diana as well. For the price Diana paid, in death, she got a patch. It was the least he could do.