Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 59413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Idiot.
God damned idiot.
I leap up, pounding the window until Gage yanks open the door.
“You idiot!” I scream, my voice high and raw. “You said you weren’t in bed with them, you told me—”
Gage grabs my shoulders, shaking me so hard my head jerks back. “Do not fucking question me.”
“You honestly were willing to risk all of our lives for money. I thought you were smart, Gage, but tonight is proof you really aren’t.”
“Back down, now,” he roars.
But I’m past obeying. My voice climbs another octave, ugly and hysterical. “You are going to kill us all.”
I twist, swing an elbow, try to hit Gage in the face. It’s a stupid move; I know it even as it is happening. The last month of rage ... Tonight, everything just erupts inside me. The fury in me is so big, it makes my bones tremble, my jaw lock up. I want to hurt him.
I barely register his grip before Gage yanks me out of the cab. My spine snaps straight as he drags me into the open, hands locked around my arms so tight I know it will bruise.
“Let go of me,” I snarl, but all he does is shove, hard, slamming my back against the side of the truck. The breath is sucked out of me. The rage is white-hot now. I swing for his face and miss. Gage’s hand closes around my throat, not choking, just threatening, and his other hand pins my wrists together above my head, flush against icy steel.
“Back. Down.”
He bellows the words, but they seem almost distant. All I can hear is the ringing in my ears.
A cold voice pierces the static. “Enough!”
It’s another member.
He takes Gage by the shoulder, pulling him back, forcing him to release me. Gage throws him a look that says he’ll pay for that later, jaw set, breathing in hard steady bursts.
I twist out of his grip, knuckles aching, shoving past both of them. My legs barely work. Every part of me screams at me to stop, but I don’t. I bolt for the exit. Gage roars after me, a sound twisted up with something raw. “Don’t you dare fuckin’ leave.”
I don’t stop. I don’t even look back. I move my body as fast as it will allow, picking up into a run and charging out of the compound and into the night. I hear engines growling soon after, and I know it will be seconds before they come roaring into the night after me.
I take a turn to the left and disappear into the thick woods beside the road. I find a large tree and sit down in front of it, back against the trunk, my breath burning in my lungs as I hear the bikes roar past. I wait ... five minutes, then ten before pulling my phone out of my pocket.
I call Kael.
“Not goin’ to lie,” he answers after a minute, “I’m concerned as to why you’re callin’ me.”
“I need you to come and get me,” I croak, my voice strained as pain pulls at my insides.
“Where?”
He doesn’t hesitate. Not even for a second.
“I’ll walk to the 7-11, I’ll wait around back. Don’t bring your bike. They are everywhere.”
“I’ll be there.”
Of course he will.
I know I should go anywhere else.
But he’s the only person I want right now.
5
Kael doesn’t waste any time.
He shows up within an hour and a half, pulling around behind the 7-11 in a beat up old pick-up truck. The Son’s clubhouse is over an hour away, in a different town, and I knew it wouldn’t be as easy as him just appearing, so I found myself a comfortable spot and sat down while I waited.
He doesn’t even turn the truck off when he launches out, striding toward me and taking my face in both of his hands, eyes scanning over me as if he is checking I’m all in one piece. I hold my breath, just for a moment, and then the tears fall, hot and heavy down my cheeks.
“Fuck, darlin,” he murmurs, pulling me into his arms. He smells like leather, beer, and a scent all of his own. I crumble into him, letting my arms fall around his waist.
I can’t remember the last time someone held me like this.
Kael doesn’t ask questions, and for that, I’m grateful.
He just holds me until I stop crying, then he gets me the hell out of there. He pulls out of the parking lot, not caring about the speed limit, the traffic, the high-pitched complaints of the old engine. I stare out the window, my eyes scanning the road for bikes, but they don’t come.
We don’t talk.
There’s only the road and the radio murmuring softly, the hum of a world going on like nothing happened. My teeth are starting to chatter, but I don’t want to ask him to turn the heat up. I am already asking enough of him tonight. I must drift off, because when I wake, the truck is slowing down as it pulls into a pair of double gates.