Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 74022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Simple.
Straight to the point.
“Club was havin’ dramas, we were in lockdown. Malakai and Maverick had a group out, tryin’ to sort it out. Maverick was with a girl, Nerissa her name was. But she wasn’t a fan of the club life. It scared her, more than I’ve ever seen it scare a person. She was convinced it was going to be the end of Maverick, and she wanted him out. When we went into lockdown, she fell into a panic. She thought something was going to happen to him. Maverick told me to watch her, to guard her with my life. And I didn’t.”
Chantelle shuffles a little closer, crossing her legs and watching me, not a single ounce of judgement on her face.
“I tried to calm her down,” I say, hating re-living this, but also fuckin’ glad to be telling someone after keeping it locked in a cage for all this time. “But she was pregnant, and I think that made her more afraid. She was convinced if she could just get to Maverick, to talk to him, that she could change his mind and he’d leave with her and her unborn baby, and they’d be safe.”
“It sounds like she was pretty afraid,” Chantelle says, her voice soft. “That sucks.”
I nod. “She was afraid, but I thought she’d still follow instruction. Had her in the club, in Malakai’s office. Most of the members were out with them, but there were a few of us on lockdown, mostly for our protection, mostly families. A couple old ladies, a few bikers, a couple of their kids, off in their own rooms, just waiting. It was the safest place for any of us unless we were out ridin’.”
“How come you weren’t out with Malakai and the rest of the guys?”
I shrug. “Someone had to run the club while they were gone, make sure it stayed protected, stayed safe. That was my job, and I took it seriously. Some of those members, they had kids, and so I needed to make sure we were all safe until they dealt with the situation.”
“So what happened?” Chantelle asks, her eyes wide.
“Was late, probably a few hours after dusk. Most of the members had eaten and were retired for the night. I’d done my final checks and had tried hours before to get Nerissa to eat, but she refused. I couldn’t let her out of the room, I had it locked on the outside. Was a hard choice to make, but I didn’t trust her, and I’d promised I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
The fuckin’ memory of the moment she got out haunts me as I tell Chantelle. Like an open fucking wound being clawed at until it’s bleeding and raw all over again.
Club is good.
Everyone is safe.
Doors are locked.
Done the best I can for the night.
I move down the hall to the office to check on Nerissa before I sit on watch for the night. She refused to eat, and she’s refusing to come out. Ever since I locked the door, she’s frustrated, and angry. She needs to know Maverick is okay, and I fucking understand that, but I need to make sure she’s there, safe.
I unlock the door from the outside and step in.
A hard, loud crash sounds out.
And I’m falling.
It takes me a minute to realize I’ve been hit, fucking hard, with something. I hit my knees and my vision blurs, for a moment, I feel a sense of panic. Terrified someone has gotten in. My mind goes to Nerissa, and I want to call out her name but I’m hanging on the edge of darkness, trying not to black out.
“I’m sorry, Boston,” Nerissa hazy voices says, and it’s almost dreamlike in its delivery. “I have to stop him.”
Takes me longer than a minute to get my shit together, to stop the haze, to force myself to my feet. I sway, hands gripping the wall, and there is blood running down my head, warmth filling my vision. I glance around the room, swaying, trying to get myself together. She’s not in here. And a hard, solid lamp is on the floor beside me.
She hit me.
I turn quickly, stumbling, calling out her name in a hoarse voice. I stagger out of the room and down the hall, rushing past the rooms and banging my fists on the doors as I do. Waking everyone up. I can’t believe I didn’t consider that she was desperate enough to do something so stupid. Maybe letting her call Maverick would have stopped this.
I can’t think.
“What is it?” another club member says, poking his head out of the door, sleepy eyed.
“Nerissa hit me and bolted. We need to get her. Now. It’s fuckin’—”
Gunshot.
One.
Loud and clear.
My blood runs cold and I forget that I feel like I’m about to pass out. I run. I run like fucking hell toward the open front door and out into the cold night. I can’t see much, just the front flood light is on to hopefully avoid anyone getting in unnoticed. My head whips left, and right, and then I see her.