Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Guess she got you to deal with the drain now then,” he said, reaching into his pocket to produce a key. “To my place,” he said, looking torn, but seeming to know that we’d get to him one way or another, and not wanting to be collateral damage in the process.
With that, the three of us made our way to the stairs.
“What’s with the drain comment?” I asked aloud.
To that, Seeley smirked. “Clearly never lived with a woman,” Seeley said, shaking his head.
“Got special drain covers,” Cato piped in as we made our way to the lower level.
We knew our way around the place like the backs of our hands.
It was a sprawling, mostly-dark space full of tools and cleaning supplies with the super’s apartment far to one side.
On nights where our homes were miserable in unison, we’d sometimes sneak with some blankets and pillows and have a sleepover down there to get a break from it all.
Sure, it was filthy and musty and there was the telltale scratching and shrieking of rats existing down there with us, but that was still better than our families most of the time.
“Fan out,” Seeley said, nodding us each in different directions.
It was surprisingly noisy for a lower level, even in the middle of the night. Floors of TVs, music, conversation, fighting, footsteps.
After a few dozen feet, I couldn’t hear Seeley or Cato any longer.
Adrenaline surged through my system as I inched closer toward the apartment, not sure if he knew we were coming, if he was going to react like a caged animal.
But just as I was about to reach for the door, it swung open.
And out walked 7D.
Completely fucking oblivious until my gun cracked across his cheek, making him stagger back and curse.
I was on him then, rushing him back into his uncle’s apartment as my fists crashed into him again and again.
My knuckles hit his nose, making a crunching sound, and covering my fist in blood as it poured.
Somehow, though, that only made visions of Jade with her bloody nose flash through my mind, reigniting my rage as I kept pummeling the fucker.
Even as he fell to the ground.
My hand went to his throat, wanting him to know the fear and helplessness that Jade had felt when he’d been on her exactly like this. His head getting fuzzy. His chest getting tight. Knowing this was the end.
In the end, though, someone saved him just like someone saved her.
Two sets of hands grabbed me, pulling me off of Harvey, dragging me backward until I stopped struggling.
“Couldn’t let you kill him,” Seeley said as I tried to slow my frantic breathing. “Prez doesn’t even know what the fuck is going on,” he added.
“You made your point,” Cato added. “He’s not gonna go near Jade again.”
Seeley shoved me out of the apartment and kicked the door closed.
“I want him out of here,” I insisted, wiping his blood off on my shirt.
“Between this ass-kicking and T, I think he’s outta here. One way or another,” Cato assured me. “And you can be with Jade for the time being to make sure of that.”
That was true.
I could be at her place or she could come to the clubhouse. I didn’t care if I had to put up a fucking tank for her fish in my room.
As we walked back out of the lower level, my mind was suddenly on more permanent things than who was staying where to make sure she was safe.
Like browsing around the local listings for that bungalow she’d once mentioned.
An investment for all the money I had lying around. A place I could slowly over time move her into. Until it wasn’t just mine anymore, but ours.
“You can’t go get Jade looking like this,” Seeley said as we moved outside under a streetlamp. “And we have to talk to Huck now.”
As much as I wanted to run back to Jade, to pull her into my arms again, to tell her nothing was going to happen to her ever again, I knew Seeley was right.
First, because Jade was not the kind of woman who was going to enjoy the proof of my violence all over me.
Second, because we didn’t operate alone. Not anymore. We knew what it meant when we joined the club. We no longer had the complete freedom to do whatever the hell we wanted. We were supposed to get permission before we did shit. If shit got too crazy too fast for that, then we definitely needed to have a sit-down with the president to fill him in on all the details, so he could decide if there would be any blowback on the club.
“Besides,” Cato said as we all made our way toward the street where our bikes were waiting for us, “you gotta let the girl enjoy Teddy’s penthouse for a while.”