Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
But I guess time will tell. And after this is all over, Slate will have some serious explaining to do.
If he even survives.
9
SLATE
Pain tears through me with every breath, sawing at my lungs, splintering in my ribs, and the countless cuts and bruises that cover my body are slowly grinding me down. I’m gonna pass out soon if I don’t stop the bleeding.
I look down at Ivy, still sitting in the dirt, my hand out to her.
She hasn’t taken it. She still won’t. She won’t even meet my eyes.
Ivy.
The girl who walked into the lion’s den to find me, even when she thought I’d betrayed her. Of course she doesn’t know if she can trust me. I understand, but I fucking hate it.
I hate the sad, pained look on her face like she doesn’t know who I am anymore.
I can hear the sounds of the fight wrapping up inside the clubhouse, the Bastards cleaning up the Skulls and ransacking the place. We won, and we’ll never have to deal with those sons of bitches ever again.
“I told you I would fix this,” I tell Ivy. “Why did you come here? Why?”
Finally, she meets my eyes, which are glistening with the threat of tears.
“Why do you think, Slate?!” she snaps. “Are you really that stupid?”
Saxon steps up behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You hardly left us any work in there, champ.” He smiles. “We should start calling you Achilles from now on.”
I try to laugh, but what’s no doubt a broken rib holds me back.
“You all right?” he asks. “Get you to a hospital?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m fine. Just need to get home.”
“I’ll get one of the boys to take you–”
“No. I can ride.” I look down at Ivy. She hasn’t moved, but I need her with me. I need to fix this. So I reach down and grab her by the wrist and lift her to her feet. “Let’s go.”
She makes one half-hearted attempt to yank her arm away from me but says nothing as I lead her to my bike and force her to get on. My whole body aches as I slide into the saddle and kick the engine on.
It’s a struggle just to drive, but Ivy’s on the back, so I force myself to hold it together. Even her arms wrapped around my waist hurt, but the feelings it gives me overwhelms any physical pain.
When we pull into my driveway, I manage to park and get off, but my left leg gives out, and I fall to one knee.
“Slate!” Ivy cries out, unmistakable concern in her voice.
I look down and realize there’s a shard of wood embedded in my thigh, probably from one of the tables I smashed as I was tearing those guys apart.
“Shit,” I mutter as I struggle to stand. Ivy slides under my right arm and supports me as we walk to the door and I let us inside.
“Sit here,” she tells me, helping me onto the couch. “Do you have bandages? Alcohol?”
“Bathroom.” I point. “Kitchen.”
I hear her adorable, light footsteps as she races through the house before returning with every box of gauze I have and a bottle of vodka. She hands it to me. “Drink. This is gonna hurt.”
I take a sour shot and ask her, “What’s gonna hurt–?”
Without hesitation, she yanks the shard of wood from my thigh. I groan, and she grabs the bottle from me, douses the wound, presses, and begins wrapping it with gauze. The pain is killing me, but the look on her face hurts more than any wound ever could.
“So do you want to tell me what happened?” she asks as she goes over my body like a nurse, tending to me with precision and care. “Why were you there, Slate? And don’t dare fucking lie to me.”
Here it is. The moment I was hoping would never come.
“I was trying to fix my mistake, Ivy,” I tell her.
“What mistake?” Her hands are trembling.
I sigh, trying to meet her eye, but she keeps them fixed on her work. “Your dad’s shop…that was my fault, Ivy. I led the Smoke and Skulls right to you.”
She freezes for a second, goes tense, blinks, then looks at me. “What do you mean you led them to us? You did this on purpose, Slate? And then, what? You had a change of conscience and decided to go risk your life–?”
“No!” I growl, her words biting into me. Shit, I have to get this under control. I take her hand in mine, squeezing tightly. “As you must know by now, I was a member of the Skulls back when I was a teenager. Before I met Saxon. I had no idea about you or your mom back then.”
Her lip trembles as she looks at me with those vulnerable eyes. “And…?”