Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 132321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
I’d rather wale on him with a baseball bat. Replicate the same bruises on his face that he left on Laurel’s. But that would leave too many obvious clues. Police would be looking for a suspect. There’d be a chance I’d leave DNA behind. Hell, there’d be a chance he would’ve overpowered me and I’d be the one to die.
So, this way is smarter.
Cleaner.
And solves the problem. For good.
Vomit bubbles out of his mouth and his entire body spasms.
Almost time to go.
I pull a plastic baggie from my pocket and a small pair of scissors, then crouch next to him.
“Don’t mind me. I need a little souvenir for my collection.” I ruthlessly grab his thick, greasy black hair and clip a handful. “Be thankful I’m not taking one of your eyeballs. That’d be my preference, but it would raise too many questions.”
His eyes bulge, as if daring me to scoop one out. The temptation gnaws at me, but I resist the urge. A missing eyeball would scream murder, not accidental overdose.
He tries to twist away, his torso contorting weakly, but he’s too far gone to escape my grasp.
I sprinkle the hair into my bag. Without the root it’ll be hard to get DNA from it. Besides, by tomorrow night, it’ll be encased in a little resin ornament that I’ll hang next to my others.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Jigsaw
My obsession and need to see Margot fuels my ride home. We meet with Upstate outside and everyone goes through another recap of events. I’m antsy as fuck to get on the road.
“Before we go,” Rock says, holding out his hands to stop us from getting on our bikes, “I want to commend everyone for the way you handled today. No one expected to see Priest challenged. The situation could’ve quickly gone south.”
A smirk spreads across Murphy’s face. “I think we were all too stunned to speak.”
“Even so,” Z throws an appreciative look at every brother in our circle, “thanks for not making a bad situation worse.”
Finally, Rock gives us the all-clear to leave.
“Some of us are sticking around to have a few conversations,” he says. “Everyone else is free to stay, go home, or go wherever you want. No one rides alone, though.”
Hallelujah, praise Satan, let’s ride.
It takes another round of backslapping and goodbyes—as if we’re not all going to see each other at the clubhouse in a couple of days to discuss this fuckery again—before we actually leave.
“Let’s get the fuck outta here,” Sparky grumbles as he straps on his helmet. “I warned you this was gonna be nothing but dark energy.”
Dex bites his lip, trying not to laugh. “Yeah, you did, brother.”
I straddle my bike, so fucking happy to be heading home, and grin at Sparky. “Remember to air out your boys, brother!”
He shakes his head and laughs. Brother bitched all the way down that his balls ached.
Some of the brothers from our Virginia charter join our pack. Dex and I will take the lead. Murphy and the VP from Virginia are right behind us. Sparky, Stash, and Ravage fall somewhere in the middle. The road captain of Virginia pulls up the rear. When we split from Virginia, we’ll probably shuffle our positions.
I raise my fist in the air. “Tuck in your dicks and cushion your balls, boys!”
Dex shakes his head and fires up his bike to drown me out. I laugh and start mine. Everyone behind us revs their engines.
The first leg of our run is smooth. Around Philadelphia, we stop again.
“You still riding to see your sister?” Murphy asks.
“Not sure.” Somewhere along the way, she’d sent me a text saying she was fine and home.
“I wanna goooooo!” Sparky shouts.
“Jesus Christ, chill,” Dex mutters.
“Bro, go on ahead.” Distracted by searching my phone for an app, I wave my hand. “I’ll either head out to see Jezzie or I’ll catch up with you.”
Dex eyeballs Sparky’s fidgety ass. Stash keeps trying to calm him down, but it doesn’t seem to be helping. “You sure?” Dex asks.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll stick with Jiggy,” Murphy says.
“All right.” Dex gives me a fist bump. “Hope everything’s okay with Jezzie. You gonna bring her around to visit soon?”
“I was thinking of bringing her out to Zips since it’s closer to her place?”
“Yeah, that sounds like a plan.” Dex taps knuckles with Murphy, then the guys head north.
Once I finally pull up the “track my phone” app, I verify Jezzie’s at home.
She keeps saying she’s an adult and I don’t need to pester her. But she did ask for my help.
I’ll call her tomorrow. Maybe visit her this week.
Right now, I want to see Margot.
I’ve never wanted to get home to a woman before in my life. But my need to see her drowns out everything else.
Shame pops like bubbles over my skin as I fire up my bike and continue northwest. I can’t stop feeling like I’m choosing my own selfish desires over family again.