Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 77961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Kids live here?
That feels more shocking to me than almost anything else I’ve seen.
The front doors slams open, expelling a girl and a boy that are probably eight? Ten? Something like that. The boy yells something that I don't catch, and then the girl frowns and clenches her little fists. “That's fucking dumb!” she yells back. A little boy, not old enough to be school age, peeks out curiously from inside.
“Izzy, language!” A pretty woman in her late twenties opens the door and glares at the kids. She has thick black hair and an olive complexion. “Oh! You found her!”
Mila nods. “The brute squad has her penned up in one of the spare rooms. Alessa, this is Rory, Rory, Alessa.”
Alessa smiles. “I’m sure they mean well, they usually do. Do you have time to hang out? We have way too much food as usual, and everyone is dying for the latest gossip.” Her smile turns into a conspiratorial grin. “You can tell us about how things are going with your guys, and I promise you won’t find a better place to ask the really messy questions you might have.”
“She’s right. It’s really hard to find people on the outside who have any idea what it’s like to juggle that many men in the house, let alone when they’re bikers.” Mila leans in. “I swear, some people get so judgy when you bring up having a date night for four. It’s not like I’m asking them for advice on where to buy l-u-b-e in bulk.” She spells it out in a whisper, trying to keep small ears from hearing.
Alessa laughs. “Come on in. We don't bite.”
Before I know it, I’m being pulled into her house. It looks comfortably lived in, with a roomy kitchen and a living room that has enough couch space to seat a football team. Stairs lead up to the second floor, and down to the basement, littered with building blocks, like it's been booby trapped to keep the adults out. There's already a tray of little pastries on the coffee table.
“Matteo, why don't you go play downstairs? Dante is down there with Mia and Chloe. I'll call you up when there's ice cream.” Alessa shoos them towards the stairs, then turns to me. “Make yourself at home.”
“Anyone home?” A voice calls out from the door, which is partially open. Peeking in curiously is a woman with wavy brown hair and pink highlights. She's got a baby sling on her chest that's making little whimpering noises. “I'm coming in.”
“Kaylee! Get in here and hand Brooklyn over!” Alessa calls.
The woman with the baby enters and carefully pulls a sleeping baby out of the wrap. She passes the pink bundle to Alessa and sits down with a grateful sigh before smiling up at me. “Hi, I'm Kaylee. You're the new girl?”
“Does everyone know?”
Mila nods. “Pretty much, yeah. You know how they say gossip travels fast in a small town? It’s basically instant in a motorcycle club. And trust me, it’s not just the women. I could write a full time blind item column based on nothing but sitting at the bar in the common room and keeping my ears open.”
“I would pay to read that,” Kaylee says with a laugh.
“Thanks for inviting me” I sit down while eyeing them curiously. “You said it was okay to ask questions, right? Is it really normal around here to be with multiple guys? Nobody seems to even bat an eye.”
“It is now.” Alessa snuggles her nose into the baby’s little head and sniffs. “When I hooked up with the cleanup crew, it was just me and Emily. Back then I think Eagle-eye still had some hope that it wouldn’t be a trend, but I think he’s secretly getting worn down to the idea.”
Kaylee laughs. “That’s just because he’s dealing with a one year old.”
“Eagle-eye has a baby!?” I gasp.
“Oh, I love catching new people up on the club lore.” Alessa grins over the top of the baby’s head. “Trust me, it was a surprise to everyone. Including his old lady who is Emily’s mom and probably thought she was safe from having to start over.”
Mila nods. “Poor Miriam. I mean Damien is adorable, but oh my God, right? And don’t forget Eagle-eye’s daughter Faith, who’s with Alpha, Ripper and Blade. So that makes Faith and Emily step-sisters. Sorta. This is fun, I like not being the new girl anymore.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Not quite a year, I guess? It feels like forever. I used to live across the street over the Eagles’ Roost before it blew up.”
“It blew up?” Maybe Bull’s comment about the chances of explosions not being zero was more literal than I thought.
Mila shrugs. “Not to scare you off, but that sort of stuff does tend to happen around here.”