Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
The club enforcer wasn’t going to let the younger beauty out of his sight until he knew she was safe. And he claimed her as his own.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
ICE
“We’ll complete the last of the finishes in the next few days, and then it’ll be ready for the final walk-through.”
I scanned the space around me, satisfied with how my new house had turned out. “Thanks,” I murmured to Don, the owner of the company who’d built two homes for me, including the one a club brother bought from me since he’d needed it more than I did.
The house was big, too big for just me. But when I’d decided to build, I knew I wanted the place where I would hopefully raise my family one day. Not that it was very likely when I hadn’t been interested in a woman in more years than I wanted to admit.
Although, I hadn’t really made an effort either. During my career as a professional hockey player, I’d solely focused on my job. Then after my injury, I’d put all my energy into recovery.
I’d played the majority of my career for the Tennessee Trojans and had grown to love the state. So when I was forced into retirement, it made sense to put down roots there. Besides, moving back to Michigan, where I’d been raised, had been out of the question. I loved my parents, but they drove my brother and me batshit crazy with their eccentric ways. They were “free spirits” and were very open with…just about everything.
My mother made a lot of her decisions based on the cycles of the moon, and my father believed he was living his third life, having been rejected twice so far. But they had chosen not to force their lifestyle on their kids and hadn’t flaunted their beliefs or open relationship, which Nathan and I both appreciated. So we’d had a relatively normal childhood, but they’d moved into a “community house” after we left home.
While trying to decide exactly where to settle and what to do with my life—since real estate investment didn’t take up much of my time—I connected with a friend I’d grown close with after meeting him my first month with the Trojans. Wrecker was an officer in the Iron Rogues Motorcycle Club. Since I’d been riding since high school, he’d convinced me to prospect for the club. After so many years of being in a tight circle with my team, I liked the idea of being part of a brotherhood.
The Iron Rogues had given me a purpose. A family. It hadn’t taken me long to earn my patch, then to work my way into an enforcer position.
Although I’d enjoyed living the last couple of years in the clubhouse, as several of my brothers had found their old ladies and were starting families, I began to hope I’d find my own woman eventually. And since my other business was real estate, I knew that building a house was a good investment anyway.
However, just as I’d finished, Whiskey had become a parent overnight when his sister died and left his niece in his care. Then he met Ellery, and he needed a place to live immediately. I wasn’t in a rush, so I sold him the house and searched for a new place to start over.
Now, the new place was just about done, and while I was happy with the result, it also reminded me that I didn’t have anyone to share it with. I mentally sighed, wondering when I’d grown a pussy, and refocused on Don.
“We can walk the grounds now, though,” he said as he looked over some papers on a clipboard.
“Sounds good.”
We walked through the family room to the glass doors and out to an amazing deck that led down to a sparkling pool. I’d insisted that a child-proof fence surround it, but the wrought-iron structure was open enough to enjoy the view behind the house. It sat on over twenty acres of gorgeous Tennessee land. The area I would live in had been cleared, but otherwise, the plot was mostly wooded and even had a stream running through it.
“This really is a spectacular piece of land,” Don commented as we descended the steps of the deck. “I have to say, I was relieved when you managed to convince the owner to sell you the land.”
“The judge really made it happen,” I explained. “Decided that the zoning could go either way, so he was fine with me choosing to make it residential rather than commercial.”
There had been a few bids on the parcel, one of them being a commercial developer intent on turning it into a strip mall. I’d hated the thought of this beautiful, serene land being destroyed to make way for more retail.
And I’d known it would feel like home the second I saw it.
“My foreman mentioned that Keith is still pissed as hell.” Don rolled his eyes.
The developer, Keith Franks, was shady as fuck and acted like a petulant child when he didn’t get his way. The owner of the space hadn’t wanted to sell to him. However, it had been rezoned as commercial recently, so he wasn’t positive he could accept my bid. Keith had taken it to a judge, who’d ruled in my favor since one side of the land butted up to the beginning of a residentially zoned area that went on for several miles, while the other side was only twenty minutes from a growing downtown.