Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
And everyone here tonight knew the Redline Kings owned this pavement.
I parked the Harley at the edge of the lot and let the engine tick down. Jana swung her leg off the back, boots hitting the ground with a sound that cut straight through the chaos in my head. She wore cutoffs that left too much pale skin for my peace of mind and a black tank top smeared with grease from earlier at The Pit. Hair tied up, fire-red strands still falling loose, freckles catching the light like they wanted to be counted one by one. She looked like temptation with oil under her nails.
She also looked like she belonged here.
“Crowd’s bigger than I expected,” she muttered, scanning the rows of cars, the clusters of drivers and their crews.
“They heard about you,” I explained, my voice low, and my eyes never leaving her. “Girl shows up and smokes half my rookies and a couple of veterans? Then does it again, over and over? Word spreads.”
Her mouth twitched, half pride, half nerves. “Good.”
Good. She was hungry for it. That was the piece of her I recognized right off the bat—the obsession, the way the noise of the crowd faded when you slid behind the wheel or gripped a set of handlebars. That tunnel vision meant nothing else mattered but speed.
I slung an arm over her shoulders and steered her toward the line where Gauge was checking tires and Drift was leaning against the hood of Jana’s car like he owned it.
“You break it, she’ll break you,” Drift warned me with a grin.
She shot him a look sharp enough to peel paint. “If you don’t move your ass off my car, I’m pretty sure he’ll be the one breaking you.”
The brothers laughed. I didn’t. I was too focused on her as she slid behind the wheel, helmet loose in her lap, eyes fixed down the strip of road like it was hers already.
When the starter dropped the rag, she launched. Smooth. Clean. Like the car was an extension of her body. She didn’t just drive fast—she dominated. Every gear shift was instinct, every line she took was perfect. She hit the end and came back grinning, fire in her cheeks, freckles glowing like embers.
Flawless. Again.
The crowd roared. She climbed out, tossing the helmet on the hood, hair spilling down, chest heaving from adrenaline. She looked alive in a way that made my chest ache.
That was when I felt it—the shift in the air.
Not from the crowd. From the car that eased up behind the line of parked rides, headlights cutting across the asphalt before shutting off. The driver’s door opened, and a man stepped out.
I knew him before Jana even turned.
Her brother.
The Skulls in his cut were faded but still there, stitched to the leather like a scar that wouldn’t heal.
“Jana,” he called, his voice rough with something that wasn’t just anger.
She froze. I saw her shoulders stiffen, her spine straighten, and every wall she’d ever built slammed back into place. Then she turned slowly, arms crossed, chin high.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Her tone was like acid.
He took a step closer, ignoring me. “I heard you’ve been running with the Redline Kings. I came to warn you about them. You don’t know who you’re really mixed up with. Let me take you home before it’s too late.”
Her laugh was sharp and cutting. “Home? You think I have a home with you? With them?” She jabbed a finger at his chest, fury blazing. “Where the fuck was my family when you tossed me out the second I wasn’t your responsibility anymore? When you stopped pretending I mattered?”
His jaw worked. He looked gutted, but he didn’t back down. “I loved you, Jana. I still do. But you know what I was born into. Everyone expected me to patch in. I had no choice.”
“No choice?” Her voice broke, then hardened again. “You had one. You used me as your excuse not to patch for years, made me believe that when the time came, you’d walk away from them. Then, the second I was old enough to be on my own, you put that cut on like it was all you ever wanted. Don’t tell me you didn’t know it would break us. You chose them over me.”
His voice cracked, low. “I hated it. But you’ve done better without me. Better than I ever could’ve given you.”
“Exactly,” I cut in, stepping forward, planting myself between them. “So leave her the fuck alone.”
His eyes snapped to me, narrowing as heat sparked. “You think you can stand there and tell me what she needs? She’s my blood.”
“She’s mine,” I said flatly. “You lost your chance when you left her behind.”
His lip curled. He looked at Jana again, desperation in his voice. “Come home with me. You’re strong enough now. If you’re ready to handle MC life, we can be family again.”