Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“Nice to meet you too.” Aires smiled at her. “I feel like I already know you.”
Her gaze shifted over to her husband. “Creed … we talked about this.”
“Pippin, we didn’t talk ’bout shit ’cuz there was nothin’ to talk about.”
“Bailey, let me handle your grandfather.”
“What exactly do you think you’re handlin’, Pippin?”
Uncle Luke grinned. He always admired the hell out of the barbarian who was his father. Knowing the man she married, my grandmother didn’t pay him any mind.
Uncle Luke stepped into Aires’s face, and I grabbed my grandma’s hand. For some reason, Uncle Luke was always very protective of me. Since my mom was a young mother, I spent a lot of time with my uncle Luke. He taught me how to drive my first dirt bike and was there for me when I found out who my real father was.
I was the product of too much whiskey between my mom and her best friend one night before he made it big. My stepdad was actually my mom’s childhood enemy, but he stepped up when my father couldn’t because he was trying to make a name for himself.
I used to spend the night at my uncle Luke’s, and he’d let me stay up all night and eat ice cream for dinner. He always had a different girl with him and taught me how to punch a mean right hook. He was partially the reason I could drop-kick Aires to the ground; he taught me that too.
I guess since he didn’t have any kids, he treated me like his. He and my mother were always close. Even as kids, my grandparents said they were.
“Now listen,” Uncle Luke drawled out. “Because I’m only going to say this once.”
Oh dear Jesus…
“Uncle Luke, is this really necessary?” I let out, shaking my head in disbelief.
I figured they might give him a hard time, but nothing like this. This was a scene right out of Sons of Anarchy, and I could see the gun just strapped to my uncle’s back.
Uncle Luke didn’t pay me any mind, adding, “If somethin’ happens to my favorite niece…”
“I’m your only niece.”
Again, he ignored me. “If you so much as lay one goddamn finger on her pretty little head, I will take this Glock.” He grabbed it through his suit jacket. “And shove is so far down your throat—”
“Uncle Luke! Are you for real?”
“Luke!” Grandma reprimanded. “Are you serious right now? I’m so sorry, Aires! He doesn’t mean it—”
“The fuck I don’t.”
My eyes widened.
“Luke!”
“Pippin,” Grandpa chimed in. “He’s just having a man-to-man chat with him. Mind your business.”
With an unshaken composure, Aires looked into my uncle’s eyes and promised, “You have my word that Bailey is safe with me. She’s the love of my life, and I take care of what’s mine.”
“That was the best shit I’ve seen all day.” My younger half brother by three years, Beau, laughed his ass off, clapping his hands before he threw his arm around my neck, tugging me toward him.
At least he lightened the mood.
“Looks like you finally brought home a man with some balls. I, for one, appreciate his steady composure. Because I’ve had friends shit their pants when it came to Grandpa and Uncle Luke, and let’s not forget Uncle Noah, who’s around here somewhere. Has he met him yet?”
I mumbled, “Thanks for the help, dickwad.”
“I was enjoying the show. Besides.” Beau nodded to Grandpa and Uncle Luke. “He passed the ‘I’m going to make you shit yourself’ test with flying colors, right?”
They neither agreed nor disagreed. Instead, they walked away and left us standing there, which was probably a good thing.
“Holy shit.” I grabbed Aires’s lapels and dragged him to the dance floor just to escape everyone. Throwing my arms around his neck, I stressed, “I’m so freaking sorry. I did not expect a showdown. I swear I would have warned you.”
He pulled me closer to him. “You’re precious cargo. I understand.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Compared to my family, yours is a piece of cake.”
“True… but still, I didn’t think they’d threaten you. At least not the first time they’re meeting you.”
We spun in a slow circle to the beat of the music.
“I don’t think my uncle will shove his gun down your throat, but he may put you in the hospital. You could decide which is worse.”
“Are you trying to scare me away?”
“If that didn’t scare you away, you must really love me.”
“I adore you, Bay. You have nothing to worry about. I have no plans to make them my enemies. If anything, maybe one day I’ll get to call them my family too.”
My heart soared. “You mean that?”
“I don’t say anything I don’t mean. You know that by now.”
“I do, and I love you for it.”
“Do you think I passed their test?”
“You’re still alive, so I’ll assume yes.”