Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
This can only be Diego Vega.
“Where’s Eagle?” he demands.
“He’s not here.” I grit my teeth. “Just take your fucking money and get out of here.”
He narrows his eyes at the two of us. “You must be Falcon and Hawk Bellamy.” He laughs mockingly. “Birds of prey, both of you. You think you can take me on, tough guys?”
Hawk is rigid next to me. He hates violence, and he hates people who break the law even more. What Vega is doing is illegal, and he’s doing it on our property.
He stalks toward me, but before I can brace myself to take whatever Diego thinks he’s going to do, something pulls at my back.
Fuck. It’s Eagle. He barrels through the doorway…and he’s got my gun.
“Just take your money,” Hawk says. “Take it and don’t ever come back.”
“I don’t think so,” Vega turns to Eagle. “This little shit and I have some unfinished business.”
“It was my brothers,” Eagle shouts. “They got rid of the stuff, man. It wasn’t me. But we got the money and then some.” His hand shakes.
“Oh, I’ll take the fucking money,” Diego says. “And then I’ll take it out of your ass, you fuck-up.”
Eagle raises his arm, trains the gun on Vega.
In a flash, both the minions have their pieces trained on Eagle.
“Eagle,” I say, willing my voice not to shake. “Put down the gun.”
“No, Fal.” His entire body quivers. “He doesn’t have any intention of letting me out of here alive. I tried to tell you guys. I tried to tell you.”
“Eagle”—this time Hawk speaks—“you’re going to be fine.” He retrieves his gun and trains it on Vega. “Because once you put your gun down, I’m putting a bullet through his fucking head.”
“Hawk doesn’t miss,” I say, as low and menacing as I can.
“He’ll never stop,” Eagle says. “He won’t stop until he kills me. So I’m going to kill him first.”
I gesture toward Vega’s minions. “You two should get the hell out of here. Now.”
I’m amazing even myself that my voice isn’t cracking. Inside I’m a trembling mass of nerves, but on the outside? I’m standing tall, remembering the words of my father that have been jammed into my head since the day my sisters were born.
You’re the oldest, Falcon. You must protect all your siblings.
And if my brothers—especially Eagle—ever needed protection, they need it now.
After I show Savannah how to exercise with the three-pound dumbbells, I join her in a half hour walk on the treadmill.
“We’re going to do this every day?” she asks.
“The walking, yes. The strength training will only be every other day. Your muscles need to rest between workouts.”
“What workouts do you do?”
“I do a lot of different ones. Different parts of my body each day, letting each part rest between days. Upper body one day, lower body the next.”
“What about my lower body?”
“We’re going stick with the walking for now. People don’t realize this, but walking is a weight-bearing activity. And as a woman, you can use your own body weight as resistance. I need more than that.”
“But you stayed in such great shape in…” She pauses and looks at her feet.
“Prison, Vannah. You can say the word. You were a parole officer, for God’s sake.”
“I just don’t like to think of you there.”
“I know you don’t, but I would go there again to save you.”
She doesn’t speak.
And damn, this woman is stronger than I give her credit for. She was raised to be traded. To be used as a bargaining chip.
That didn’t weaken her. Not by a longshot. And I know, if given the choice, she would do it again to save me.
I love her for it.
But I won’t allow it.
“I’m going to finish my workout now,” I say to her. “You go rest. Draw yourself a bath, add some Epsom bath salts.”
“There are Epsom salts here?”
“Savannah, there is everything we need here.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Are bath salts really a necessity?”
I shrug, “I would think so.”
A small smile creeps across her lips. “Did you request them specifically?
“I might have.”
She bursts into laughter.
“What is it?” I ask.
She looks me up and down. “I just…never took you for a bath guy.”
I smirk. “Because I’m a big burly manly man, I can’t enjoy a good bath now and then?”
She shakes her head quickly. “No, of course not. I just…” She looks into my eyes. “You surprise me more and more every day, Falcon. Thank you for taking care of me.”
I wrap her into a hug. “I always will, baby.” I grab her face. “And if you spent as much time on the inside as I did, you’d realize what a luxury a hot bath is. Spending every morning in the cold-ass prison gang shower with a dozen other guys isn’t the ideal way to get clean.”
“I suppose it isn’t.” She gets on her tiptoes and kisses me on the cheek. “All right. I’ll take a bath, soak my muscles. Then I’ll make us some lunch.”