Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“You’re the best. How’s my niece?”
“A little angel,” she said with obvious affection in her voice. “You know. Now that she’s asleep.”
I barked out a laugh. “Yeah, that one’s gonna be a hellion.”
“Be safe, Cliff. Promise me.”
“I promise. Let me know when you have something.”
“Love you, big brother!”
“Love you too, pipsqueak.”
I ended the call and took a deep breath. The next call I needed to make was probably going to get me killed, but I had to do it. Taking a deep breath, I made the call to El Diablo.
“Is my daughter OK?”
“Yes, sir. She’s safe. I’m keeping us in the rooms Ripper got for us and have hung a second layer of heavy drapes on the windows, but I’ll be putting mattresses over the windows as well. If it gets too bad, we’ll go to the hotel ballroom. They’ve set it up as a storm shelter. I’d prefer to keep her away from everyone if I can, though.”
There was a deep sigh on the other end. “Good. That’s good.” He sounded more like a worried father than an assassin at the moment, but I never forgot he was the latter. “You take care of my baby girl, Ice. You hear me?”
“I will. There’s something else I need to discuss with you. About Dawn.”
There was silence and I could almost feel the man putting two and two together. There was no way he could know my feelings for his daughter since even I hadn’t known, so hopefully what he came up with was way worse than me falling for Dawn.
“You said she was OK. Right?”
“She is. Safe in our rooms where I hope we can stay until the storm passes.”
“I see.” The man was making me nervous. He acted like he knew something, but there was no way he could. Or maybe it was just my guilty conscience. While I had every intention of making Dawn my woman, telling her father -- who was literally the Devil -- took every ounce of testicular fortitude inside me.
“Look. There’s no subtle way to bring this up, but it has to be done now. Dawn’s mine. I’m makin’ her my old lady the second we get back to Kentucky.”
There was a long silence. One I didn’t dare break. I might have just signed my own death warrant, but I could honestly say the words felt right. Dawn was going to be my woman. Which meant El Diablo was… going to be my fucking father-in-law. Great. Fucking fantastic.
“You sound pretty sure of yourself. Have you taken advantage of my daughter, you son of a bitch?”
I’d spoken with El Diablo many times over the years. He was always immaculate and fully in control. Even when he sounded mad, it was more to elicit a certain action from someone than to show real anger. Today, I’d heard two emotions from El Diablo. Fear when he asked Thorn for help. Now, I heard true, unadulterated anger. Yeah. El Diablo wasn’t happy at all that I’d set my sights on his eldest daughter.
“I think you know I’d never do anything to hurt her. And really. With a daddy named the Devil, why would I tell you this if I wasn’t sure of my feelings for her and her feelings for me?”
“We’ll talk about this later, Ice.” El Diablo’s voice was low and deadly. The assassin. “Right now, you concentrate on keeping Dawn safe. Then bring her home to me. Not to your club in Kentucky.”
“I’ll bring her home to get her things, but she’s coming back with me.”
“Like I said. Not. Now.” He ended the call.
“Well, that went well.” Christmas was gonna be a field day this year.
Chapter Eight
Dawn
The call with Mama was both comforting and uncomfortable. Given the attack had happened a couple of days prior and I wasn’t having increasing pain, she thought I’d be fine until the storm passed. She was not happy with the fact that David was still alive and able to hurt me or someone else.
While I had her there, I asked about Ice. “He saved me, Mama. He was patient and careful, but he got me out of a bad situation and to safety. Not only that, but he didn’t tell me how stupid I was to try to make it home during a hurricane. And that was before he knew why.”
“I can see you like him.” The older woman smiled at me. She had tanned, weathered skin and long, stark white hair. She was thin but fit, with eyes as hard as any MC president. She was a woman not to be fucked with. “Is it hero worship?”
“Maybe. I’m not going to deny that. Which is why I’m asking you about him. My dad always says you and Pops were the most honorable people he knows. Is Ice a good man?”