Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 35974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
“Wait.” I tried to sit up but couldn’t manage to do more than push away from Knuckles’s chest slightly. My head pounded and I couldn’t focus properly, but I was becoming more aware -- of way more than was good for me. “Where are we going?”
“To the compound. Pain’s gonna check you over. Remember?”
“No, Knuckles. I want to go home.”
“Honey, Kiss of Death is your home. Gunnar is gonna be pissed as shit when he finds this out. What the fuck, Hannah?”
“Stop the truck.” I pushed away from Knuckles with more effort this time. “I’m not going back to the compound. And you’re not saying shit to Gunnar.”
“Stop it! Hold still. You’ll make yourself sick.”
“Stop the fucking truck. I want out.” I continued to struggle. It didn’t take much for Knuckles to hold me still. I could tell he was trying to be careful not to hurt me or let me hurt myself, but I was not going to that compound. I wasn’t getting anywhere near Gunnar until any damage Dillon had done was healed. If that meant I took a vacation for a couple weeks, I’d get out of town.
“Christ, Hannah.” Knuckles sounded alarmed but irritated. “Quit squirmin’. You can’t get up with the truck movin’.”
“I told you to stop the vehicle, Knuckles. Either let me out or take me to my house. I’m not going to Kiss of Death.” Thankfully, the vehicle slowed and we pulled off on the side of the road. Knuckles was right. Moving so much, struggling after being knocked silly while in a moving vehicle made me nauseous as hell.
“She OK?” The man driving spoke softly, as if he knew my head was hurting and was trying to keep it down.
“I’m fine. I just want to go home.”
“If you don’t want to go to Gunnar, that’s fine. I’ll take you to mine.”
“Either take me to my house or let me out of the fucking truck, Knuckles.” I put every ounce of demand in my voice I could. I still sounded weak, but I thought I finally got my point across to him.
“Fine. But just so you understand, there is no version of events where I leave you alone tonight. Understand?”
“Probably the best I’m gonna get,” I muttered. “Fine. Take me home.” My stomach chose that moment to rebel. I reached for the door handle. “Right after I throw up.” I fumbled until I managed to get the door open, and tumbled out onto the pavement on the shoulder of the road.
“Christ, Hannah! Be careful!”
I heaved and heaved. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d thrown up my shoes. When I finished, I fell back on my ass against a solid body. I was pinned in the V of his thighs as he supported me. Thank God too, because I’d have fallen in my own puke if he hadn’t.
“She’s gonna have to have medical care, Knuckles. If she’s hurt bad, Gunnar’s gonna go nuclear even more than he’s already gonna.”
“You’re such a dumb shit, Knight. And I’m tellin’ Gunnar you said that.” Hawk, one of the guys with Knuckles smacked the other man in the back of the head.
“What? I mean, I’d want to get her help even if it wouldn’t throw Gunnar into a homicidal rage.” Knight shrugged. “No offense.” If I hadn’t been so sick and in pain, I might have laughed. I’d liked Knight from the first moment I met him. He was like that annoying younger brother you wanted to grab by the ear and drag around just because you could. But that wasn’t the takeaway from the exchange. It would be much easier for me to go to Pain, Kiss of Death’s club safety officer, than for him to come to me.
“I’m not… going to… the compound.” I was still nauseous as fuck, but the vomiting seemed to have stopped for the moment.
“Fuck.” Knuckles held me for several moments, letting me catch my breath. “Get her a bottle of water.” He didn’t address my concerns, and I knew he’d do everything he could to bully me into doing what he wanted.
“Look. I’ll let Pain look me over, but he has to come to my house. I’m not going back to the club for a while.”
“Gunnar’s gonna want to know why.”
“I’m a grown-ass woman, Knuckles. I can go where I want, when I want.”
He helped me to my feet, keeping an arm around me. I wasn’t too ashamed to admit I needed his help staying on my feet. My knees felt like Jell-O. “Yeah, honey. You can. But I don’t keep secrets from Gunnar. Not about you.”
“Then make yourself be where he’s not. Don’t be around him for a few days.”
“Not splittin’ hairs with you, Hannah. I’ll take you home to your house and get Pain to meet us there. I’ll stay with you tonight but tomorrow, I’m telling Gunnar.”