Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“That’s why they’re called secrets. You don’t tell, he won’t know, and he won’t get hurt. Unless he’s in danger, of course…” She pauses, then straightens and raises an eyebrow. A sharp edge enters her tone. “Is that it, Rory? Is Ares in danger?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
I drink my shot, stalling.
Dolly’s tone is still sharp. “Honey, you tell me what the hell is going on. If that boy is in danger, you need to start hollering.”
Before I can reply, Dakota Joe, Bam, Loki, and Merrick walk into the club, stirring up the atmosphere in the room with the frenzied energy of a tornado. Too busy giving Merrick a hard time for the three hickeys on his neck, they don’t notice the tension that crackles in the air between Dolly and me.
It feels like the walls are closing in on me.
She knows I’m a terrible person.
Suddenly, everyone’s cells start to ring.
Everyone’s except mine.
Dolly answers hers, “What the hell? Slow down, Earl. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
I feel a shiver run down my spine.
Something is wrong.
Very wrong.
And everyone is talking at once, and I can’t make out what is being said to who, about what.
Just then, Venom runs into the clubhouse from one of the bedrooms, throwing on his cut as he races for the door. “Someone set fire to the grow shed.”
Fear prickles along my skin.
Ares is at the grow shed.
I turn to Dakota Joe. “I’m coming with you.”
“Like hell you are, lady. Jack would fucking kill me. And that’s not even half of what Ares would do.”
“But—”
“Stay here,” he growls.
I turn to Dolly for help, but she clearly agrees with them, and I watch them all walk out of the clubhouse.
Clearly, there are rules when you belong to a motorcycle club.
But right now I don’t give a damn about their rules.
Not when Ares’ life is in danger.
I grab my car keys off the bar and race out of the clubhouse. By the time I peel out of the parking lot, I can only just see Dakota Joe’s taillight up ahead.
It’s a perfect summer evening. The stars are out, and there’s a warm breeze in the air. But as I near the part of town where they keep the cannabis fields, the sweet tang of burning marijuana hangs heavy in the air.
In the distance, an orange glow cuts into the fading light. As it gets closer, a new wave of fear washes through me when I see the bellowing smoke and ferocious fire. The barn is completely engulfed. Flames flare into the evening sky, and a rain of glowing embers falls onto the field below, catching trees and plants alight.
Dakota Joe pulls up next to Venom and Ghoul. They’re off their bikes by the time I come to a skid beside them.
Doc is already on the scene and treating Gambit who is bleeding from bullet wounds. Further along, two men who I have never seen before lie still in the grass.
My stomach rolls and I can’t breathe.
“Is there anyone still inside?” Dakota Joe asks Venom and Ghoul.
“Jack and Ares,” Venom replies.
Just as he says it, the barn roof collapses, sending ferocious flames high into the sky.
Ares.
My heart screams his name.
There is no way anyone can survive a fire like this.
“Fuck this,” Ghoul growls.
He tries to run toward the barn, but Dakota Joe thrusts out an arm, and Ghoul slams into it. “You go in there, and it’s suicide.”
“Our sergeant-at-arms and our president are in there.”
“You’ve got an old lady now and a kid on the way. You stay out here.”
“I’ll go,” Venom says.
“No one goes,” Dakota Joe growls.
As the fire rages, the embers rain onto the cornfields, and they catch alight too. Within seconds, the dry crop is fully ablaze.
I watch on helplessly.
I want to be sick.
The sound of approaching fire trucks wail in the distance, but they’re too far away.
I can’t watch this happen and not do anything.
Without thinking, I take off toward the burning barn. Dakota Joe reaches out to stop me, but all he manages to grab onto is my shirt which I leave behind in my wake as I run through the scrub. I don’t have a plan. At this stage, I’m running on pure adrenaline. All I know is the man I love is inside that burning barn, and I can’t stand around and watch it consume him.
The heat of the fire licks at my skin as I get closer, and I can hear the groan of timber as it succumbs to the intense temperature and collapses into the raging inferno. My lungs burn. My heart aches. But I have to do something.
God, if you let him live, I promise I will do better. I’ll become a nun. I’ll repent my sins. I’ll do whatever you want me to. Just please don’t let him die.