Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“We want to have a life outside of the bubble everyone’s put us in. Is that so hard to imagine? While I love everyone at Bane and Reign, they’re severely overprotective. Some of them saw the condition we were in when El Diablo rescued us and can’t get past it. Because they can’t get past it, it makes it harder for us to get past it. They don’t even let the club girls anywhere near us for fear some of them will say something upsetting. I mean, they still do, sometimes, but we need to fend for ourselves. To function in society without being put in bubble wrap and being protected from harsh language.”
“You and Serelda need this? Or you do?”
I opened my mouth to tell him to go to hell, then snapped it shut. Fuck, the man asked hard questions! “We both do,” I said decisively. “She would never take this step on her own. But yes. I need it and acknowledge it while she would never. She’d stay in the background and be sheltered for the rest of her life. If she does, that means that motherfucker beat her. And I’ll never allow that.”
Roman held my gaze for long, long moments. It was like he was trying to figure me out. Like I was a science experiment he didn’t know how to go about performing.
“You sure this is the best idea?” I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind again when he held up a hand. “Ain’t criticizin’ you. Just asking a question. Are you sure she’s ready?”
“It’s been more than a decade, Roman. If she’s not ready now, she’ll never be.”
I turned away from him and followed Serelda and Brick into the clubhouse. This was truly a baptism by fire. If this club was anything like the clubs we’d been around before, the inside would be one big orgy in the main room this time of evening. I hoped it didn’t give Serelda nightmares.
I hoped it didn’t give me nightmares.
Chapter Two
Roman
This was fucking insane. No way these women were ready for this. Even if they’d been part of the club life for years, it was obvious they had more than a few issues. Serelda more than Winter, but I suspected Winter held hers inside better than her sister. It wasn’t the parties and the sex going on at the parties and shit. I suspected they would struggle being around strange men in general. I needed to have a word with Sting if they were staying.
The party going on wasn’t as wild as it normally was, but there were still more women undressed than dressed. Thus far, the only man who’d taken an ol’ lady was Sting. This would be Iris’s first time at a Tzars’ party, and we were all anxious to see how she dealt with it.
I found Sting and Iris sitting at Sting’s usual table with Iris sitting sideways in his lap. He had his arms around her securely as he talked to the other men at the table. I had no idea where Jerrica, Iris’s sister, was, but suspected she’d passed out on the way up here and was in bed asleep. Likely, Sting had someone outside her door to let him and Iris know if she woke and needed them.
“Roman!” Sting lifted a hand to me, beckoning me to join them. “Fill me in on what’s going on from your end.”
I shrugged as I toed a chair around and straddled it, bracing my arms on the back. “Winter says they’re looking for a fresh start. One where no one knows their story.” I shook my head. “Not a good idea. Serelda seems like she’s so fragile she’ll break at the first cross word. Winter isn’t really much better, though she hides it well.”
“Well, I got the story from Rycks on the way up here. Ain’t pretty. Even he doesn’t know all of it, though. He’s sure there’s more, and the girls had it harder than they let on, but they’ve never told anyone at the club. And they’ve been there more than a decade.” Sting rubbed a hand up and down his woman’s arm like he was soothing her. I thought he might be soothing himself.
“They don’t want to be coddled and wrapped in bubble wrap, but I’m not so sure they don’t need it.”
“They ain’t girls, you know.” Brick pushed his way through a group of club whores to get to the table. Big as he was, the man was always popular with the whores. When a couple of them would have followed him, Sting gave them hard, scathing looks, and they backed off. Brick ignored them completely. “They’re in their thirties. I say they know their own minds. They get overwhelmed, it’s up to them to say so.”