Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 128812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
I pull out my phone, considering downloading some stupid game I'll never play again just to look busy on the off chance he'll take the hint and leave me alone.
I don't have to glance up from the device in my hand to know his eyes are still boring a hole into me.
"Frankie," he begins, but he says nothing else when Ace walks into the room.
"Good morning, gentlemen," Ace says before heading to the front.
I murmur a hello, eyes still locked on my phone, ignoring the increased chatter in the room until the conference room doors are closed.
When I finally look up, shoving my phone back into my pocket, my face heats.
Kincaid, the founder of Cerberus, is standing in the front of the room, looking like the imposing man that he is, despite the soft smile on his face. His vice president and second-in-command, Shadow, is beside him, along with Hound, a current and active member of the New Mexico Cerberus crew and Kincaid's son-in-law.
It's rumored that Hound is being groomed to take over as president of the New Mexico chapter, but I'm not exactly one to listen to gossip. I spent my entire childhood doing my best to ignore whispers, and as I've gotten older, I've found that I'll wait for information when it's fact rather than focusing on speculation.
"As you all know," Hemlock begins. "We have a new member today, and I thought it would be a good idea to go around the room and introduce ourselves and give a little background on who we are."
I barely keep the groan of annoyance from slipping past my lips.
"What the fuck?" Nyx mutters, clearly unable to hold back.
Hemlock frowns as he looks in Nyx's direction. That says a lot, because Hemlock can be a very surly bastard when he's in any sort of mood.
Nyx, on the other hand, is a very different breed of man. He's always angry, always pissed, and there are times I wonder why he has a job with Cerberus when it's more likely he just wants to set the entire world on fire, regardless of who it hurts, good or bad.
When Kincaid steps forward, his eyes also glued on Nyx, I get the distinct feeling that our angry teammate is going to be fired. I've thought he was out the door numerous times since I joined Cerberus because the man is like a raging bull in a China shop, always tearing shit up with a kill-now-and-ask-questions-later mentality.
Instead, I watch in awe as Kincaid's frustration fades away, a slow smile turning up the corners of his mouth before he speaks.
"Okay, Nyx, you can go first," Kincaid says.
Nyx shifts in his seat, drawing every eye in the room, and I know I can't be the only one waiting for him to tell Kincaid to go to hell.
I sense Jericho leaning forward in his seat because the two of them don't exactly get along after Nyx got in Aspen's face and screamed at her a while back, accusing her of knowing more about the bad shit her ex-husband was doing with his employees' missing kids than she was saying. It didn't go over very well, and there's clearly still some bad blood there.
"Nyx," the man says, not bothering to clear his throat, his voice coming out like he spent the morning chewing on glass. "Former Marine."
Silence grows for a few beats, but it becomes clear that the man isn't going to offer anything else.
"Lark," the man to Nyx's right says. "I hate people in masks, and clowns make my skin crawl."
A warm chuckle rolls through the room, and some of the tension cuts away.
"Echo. I'm from Dayton, Ohio."
"Jersey, former ICE."
"Jericho, also former ICE."
"Casper. IT. Come to me with anything you need. If I can't find it, I can find someone who can."
"Hemlock, president of the Tennessee chapter. Glad to have you here."
"Ace. Former Cerberus. Former ICE, now current Cerberus member."
I nod with each introduction until I feel everyone’s eyes on me, and my heart starts to race with so much attention.
"Zeus," I mutter. "Former Marine."
"With that out of the way," Hemlock says, his voice tinged with disappointment, telling me this little exercise didn't go as he had intended. "First order of business is seeing if anyone wants to move over to the new cabin before we bring others into the chapter."
"No offense," Lark says, looking in Zayne's direction. "The idea of moving all my shit exhausts me."
A murmur of agreement makes its way around the room.
"None taken," Zayne says.
"Next," Hemlock says. "We need to get into this next big project. We were going to have Fury and Zeus together for this one, but since Fury is out of pocket at the moment, I'm sending Zayne in. He's got the most experience with this sort of organization."
My blood runs cold, my hands sweating the second the words leave his mouth.