Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“It was fun while it lasted,” I sighed, looking at Sariah with a ‘what can you do’ shrug.
She grinned. “I wish I’d recorded you dressing him down. Lost opportunity,” she sighed.
“You’re getting on the bike too.” Colby addressed Sariah, still not smiling.
Sariah’s eyes bugged out, and she put her hand on her hip. “You have ventured into a parallel universe, bless your soul,” she cooed sweetly. Then her eyes narrowed. “Oh, wait, actually no, there is no universe where you can order me around. There is no way in fuck I’m getting on that fucking bike.”
Colby’s jaw worked, and I really wanted to settle in to watch the duel, but Elden was too busy directing me to the bike.
“Hey!” I argued.
“We’re not stayin’ here a moment fuckin’ longer,” he hissed in my ear. “Get. On. The. Bike.” His tone told me there was no point in arguing.
So I got on the bike.
The good thing about the bike was that you couldn’t have a conversation during the ride. Elden’s body was taut the entire time, the ride doing nothing to calm him. He waited until we’d gotten off and into the door of the house before he started speaking.
“You’re pregnant,” he seethed the second the door had closed behind us.
“Thanks for the reminder,” I replied smarmily, folding my arms over my chest. “As if the radiating heartburn and constant morning sickness weren’t enough clues.”
Apparently, he did not find that funny, pacing the small living room. “You’re pregnant and you think that investigating a fucking serial killer is what you should be doing?”
“I’m not investigating. Sariah is doing most of it. I’m just along for the ride.”
I quickly learned that that was not the best thing to say.
Elden stopped pacing, and he looked like his head might just explode. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” he asked quietly, his tone a complete contradiction to the fury in his eyes.
I pursed my lips, not answering because it was most definitely a rhetorical question.
“I’m very mindful of the conversation we had the day Swiss found out about us.”
My throat constricted underneath his powerful glare.
Elden wasn’t done. He didn’t stop glowering. “I’m very aware of the promises I made you. But you’re making it really fucking hard to keep them when you are not only provoking someone who is trying to find a way to hurt the club at the same time as trying to get close to whoever is butchering women.”
He was wound so tight he was shaking.
“Tell me, Violet, how am I supposed to think about anything, do anything else but worry about you when you’re doin’ shit like that?” There was no longer any fury in his tone. Just naked fear.
“You want to hold assholes to account for their bullshit,” he continued in a soft tone. “I understand you want to bring about action, change and justice.” He stroked my face. “Hearing even the tail end of you going toe to toe with that fuck for the club made me proud as fuck that you’re my woman.” He placed his hand on the swell of my stomach. “Not asking you to change who you are. But I’m asking you to be mindful of the reality that you’re carrying my whole world around. That you’re fucking irreplaceable. That I wouldn’t function if any harm came to you.”
My eyes watered. I had been impulsive. And I had been operating like it was still just me. But it wasn’t.
Elden clasped the sides of my neck. “Will you promise me that you won’t try and go all vigilante justice on this? At least not without me by your side?”
“I promise,” I whispered.
Unfortunately, Sariah had not made the same promise.
“I’m going to date him,” Sariah declared.
“Date who?” I asked, frowning at the very disturbing image in my baby book. I was lying in our bed, Sariah helping herself to clothes from my closet that no longer fit.
“The sheriff.” She pulled her hair off the nape of her neck.
I put the book down.
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
Sariah did not look like she was joking. “Look, it’s the best way to get some info on what exactly is going on. Plus, he’s hot,” she shrugged.
“Sariah, he is literally looking for ways to bring my family down,” I reminded her.
Her brows furrowed. “Yes, I know that. Which is why I plan on breaking his heart so completely he’ll quit his job and go farm yaks or something.”
“You have not thought this through,” I groaned.
“I have not,” she agreed cheerfully.
“Colby will be pissed,” I added.
She scowled. “I don’t give a fuck what Colby thinks.”
“What is going on with you two, anyway?” I asked, abandoning my book. It only scared the shit out of me anyway.
“Nothing,” she snapped. “Absolutely nothing is going on.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want,” she huffed. “Nothing is going on. And I get that you’re pregnant, and you can’t really go undercover trying to catch a serial killer, but my womb is empty, and my heart is full of fury at men who think they can go around murdering women or men who don’t think they need to do anything about it.” She winked at me. “Don’t wait up.”