Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
This time, though, Leo fired right back. “Maybe you should go for Arden after all, give him head, and then ask him. But as I’ve heard, the boy won’t let you anywhere near him.”
Kane downed his beer and grinned with the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, which was surely what had landed him Shay. “Fifty bucks you can’t get the boy to admit he likes you.”
Hell yeah. Of course he could do that. He so loved a challenge.
Mike walked up to Kane and grabbed his hand, shaking it. “Fifty that I can.”
Leo rolled his eyes. “This is gonna end up so badly,” he grumbled, put down his beer, and got back to the work at hand. Just because he resented fun didn’t mean Mike couldn’t have any. Hell, he’d be the gayest straight guy the world has ever seen.
Chapter 2 - Arden
“I’m dying here, Kaley. Withering away.” Arden slurped on his milkshake, enjoying the cool drink not far from the gas station, yet far away enough to be alone. “Next time we meet, I’ll be just a shadow…”
“Wow. That’s a dramatic way to say you’re not fucking anyone. You know you’re supposed to lay low, right? Living in Hawk Springs, the boring shithole, is still better than rotting in prison.”
Arden scowled. Couldn’t he just forget what happened and start a new life? Wasn’t that why he’d come here in the first place?
Only what kind of new life could he hope for in Hawk Springs? There was nothing going on here. Its closeness to Reno, and his sister, Kaley, was this place’s one advantage, because the town itself was a maze of streets with stand-alone houses that looked as if they’d come from the very same factory. Their lawns were dried out, dust spiraled everywhere, and the lone tree within sight had yellowish leaves despite it not yet being time for a change of color. But worst of all, once Arden was done working for the day, he either went back to his tiny room with a mattress for furniture or walked around aimlessly. Maybe he should have crossed state lines after all and hidden somewhere far away instead of relying on a biker club for protection?
“So what? I’m supposed to never get my roots done?”
“Who do you want to beautify yourself for, huh? You’re with an MC, in a town that’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere,” Kaley said, chewing something on her end of the line.
On his trek along the road, Arden got to a lone bus stop with a rusted bench facing the local bank and some industrial buildings obscuring the hills surrounding the town, but it would have to do, since its single park—if the bit of grass could be called that—in Hawk Springs was three miles away. He wished he’d taken his sketchbook so that he could pour all his stifled arousal onto its pages, because the light here was much better than in his tiny room.
“I mean… there’s people. I just want to be presentable.”
People like the stupidly hot biker with a patch announcing to the world his name was Mike. Arden had been replaying their encounter in his head for hours now despite knowing Mike was the kind of man Arden should stay away from. And yet, here he was, trying to distract himself because all he could think of was Mike’s dick spurting cum at the back of his throat.
Which couldn’t happen. Because Arden was done with sex, men, and especially sex with men like Mike. He’d been burned too many times to count.
“Handsome people?” Kaley asked in a low tone. “Much older than you and charming? Is that what this is about?”
Arden sighed, wiggling his feet in the gravel under the bench while the sun scorched his head. He should have worn a hat, but he’d put too much effort into the buns to ruin them.
“It’s not like that. There’s this one guy I met today, Mike, and I don’t want him. It’s just that he was so full of himself, showing off. I know he’s straight and posturing in front of his buddies, but I…”
What? What am I trying to do?
“Oh, Ardy,” Kaley said, and Arden could almost see her shaking her head. “I know Mike. Charming, hot, good in bed. But he’ll squeeze you for all you’re worth and leave. He’s a player, Arden. Don’t fall for his pretty smile. He actually bet Rain over which one of them would get in my pants. Can you believe that?”
Arden sat up straighter. “What? You slept with him? Who won? When was this?”
“Excuse me? What does it matter? Just believe me when I say he’s bad news! Keep your head down until you can safely leave,” she said just as a bus rolled into the stop, its wheels sending a gray cloud into the air. No one got off, and Arden had to wave the driver to signal he wasn’t waiting for transportation.