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)
“She ‘disappeared’ when Jezzie was four or five.”
“Your little sister?”
“Yeah.” My lips curve, remembering her as a kid. Always too serious for her age.
“What do you mean your mom disappeared?”
“My father said she died but we never had a burial or anything.” The more I talk, the easier it is for the words to come out. “As a kid, I accepted his word. Didn’t have much choice. But as I got older, I started to wonder if he killed her or she ran away.”
“Where is he now?” She shifts her body so she’s sitting next to me, one leg tucked under her. She winds her arms around my bicep, pressing her breasts against me, and rests her chin on my shoulder. As if she senses the physical contact helps me explain.
“He’ll never hurt another woman or kid again.” I flash what some have called my serial killer smile. “That’s all I can say for certain.”
Margot’s stare burns into the side of my face. I turn and her lips curve into a sinister smile. “Good.”
Her approval pushes me to confess something only Rooster and a handful of brothers know. “I scattered pieces of his body from Oregon to Maine. It would take years and a lot of people to put him back together. That’s how I got the road name Jigsaw.”
She blinks. “So when you joke that your name comes from collecting the body parts from your enemies, you’re not kidding.”
“Sometimes, if you say the unhinged stuff with a straight face people assume you’re fucking with them.”
“I’ll have to try that.” A pained expression crosses her face. “Is that why you didn’t want to take your shirt off the first couple of times we…”
I nod slowly and try to give her the truth. “I didn’t want to ruin the moment. Or have you ask me questions—”
“I’m sorry, I —”
“No, it’s fine. I’m glad you asked.” I rest my hand on her knee. Thoughts I can’t form into words bubble up.
I’ve never told all of that to anyone before…
…You’re not just some sex project to me…
But I can’t seem to line them up the right way.
Instead, I do what I’m good at. Crack a joke. “You think my clothes are dry yet? I don’t want to drape my balls all over your furniture while you’re feeding me.”
Margot doesn’t laugh. She leans in and presses the softest kiss to my cheek. “I’ll go check.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Margot
“So are you allowed to tell me about your trip?” I ask once we’re seated at the kitchen counter with steaming plates of rigatoni.
“Yeah, it was a shitshow from start to finish, really.” He stabs into the pasta and spears a chunk of sausage.
“Why?” I hesitate. Bikers are so damn secretive. “Am I allowed to ask?”
“You can ask. I might not share all the details, but I don’t care if you ask.” He pops more pasta in his mouth and chews slowly, closing his eyes. “This is so good. Thank you.”
“Thanks for having dinner with me.”
He rests his hand on my leg and flexes his fingers.
“So, the shitshow?” I prompt.
“Ah, yeah. The memorial was canceled before we even got there.”
“Why?”
“Long story. Nothing to do with us, really.” He pokes one tine of his fork into a piece of sausage over and over. “Before we left, we had a big meeting since brothers from all our charters were there.”
“Seems prudent.”
“Yeah. This asshole from my original charter tried to challenge our national prez. That was the shitshow part.”
“Oh wow. That sounds…rather daring. Kind of stupid if he didn’t shore up alliances beforehand.”
“Exactly!” He sets his fork down. “Well, he didn’t. I’m not even sure he ran it by his president before he opened his big yap.”
“So, what happened?”
He watches me for a few seconds before answering. “We voted it down.”
“Did he burn rubber out of there when the meeting was adjourned?” I snicker.
Jigsaw laughs with me. “Sure did.”
He finishes his plate and sips his ginger ale.
“So, that sounds exciting.”
“Yeah, real exciting.” He flashes a teasing smile. “Then before we left, my sister reached out. Said she needed me to pick her up somewhere she wasn’t even supposed to be.” His jaw clenches and he rolls his eyes. “So I split from the guys outside Philly. Then she calls to tell me everything’s fine and she’s home. So, I’m probably gonna ride out to her place this week to check on her.”
I swallow hard. His sister’s important to him. His only blood relative. But he still came to see me first? “Are you sure you don’t want to check on her now?”
He taps his phone, sitting on the counter next to his glass. “She was telling me the truth. Tracked her phone right back to her apartment.”
It takes me longer than it should to puzzle that out. “You track your sister’s phone?”
“Of course I do,” he scoffs.