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)
“Right, baby,” I kissed her hand.
Kate looked at me uncertainly. With the same uncertain edge that had been there since she found out I impregnated her daughter.
But now there was something else. A trust. She might not like what I was to Violet, but she understood how it worked in this club. What we did for the women we loved. She knew come hell or high water, her daughter was safe with me. Even though I’d fucking failed them both with Violet in this hospital bed.
So she left, promising to be back the second she bathed and put her son to bed.
Violet had crashed not long after that, holding it together only for her mother’s sake, not wanting her to worry.
Boots thumped against the ground as Swiss sat beside me.
He’d been here beside his wife too, then he’d been at the club, trying to figure out who the fuck did this.
The piece of shit sheriff didn’t help. He was treating the fucking club like suspects. Apparently, he’d tried to come in here to interview Violet. Swiss had made sure that didn’t happen. I couldn’t be within five feet of the man. I might’ve ripped his head off.
He didn’t speak as soon as he sat down beside me.
“She’s going to be okay, brother,” he said finally, clapping me on the shoulder.
It was only the second time he’d called me brother since he’d found out Violet was carrying my baby. There was no violence in his tone now. No undertone that communicated he would kill me if he could.
I might’ve felt relief if the situation were different. If my woman wasn’t in a hospital bed with a fucking stab wound and trauma that would live in her bones.
“I can’t stop thinking about pulling into that parking lot,” I said, not taking my eyes off her. “Seeing her standing there, covered in blood. Covered in it.” I shuddered. “Can’t stop hearin’ her crying out in pain on the other side of the phone, hearing her fighting him off.”
My stomach turned at the memory that wasn’t a memory. I could hear it right now, clear as day. Could feel the bike underneath me, willing it to go faster when I knew I was already too late to save her.
Knowing that she was completely fucking alone. Pregnant with my baby, and it could all be taken away from me.
“Gonna be marryin’ her,” I said, still staring at Violet.
I took a breath, a long one, finding enough control to convince myself that if I took my eyes off her for a moment, she’d still be there, her chest would still rise and fall, and the heartbeat monitors would stay steady.
Not much would get me to look away from her at that point, but this was important to me and I was going to do it right… Well, as right as I could given the current circumstances.
My eyes found Swiss’s. They were hard with worry, but not with the borderline hatred he’d been directing at me since the news came out. Rightly so. I deserved it.
“Know this isn’t what Kate wanted for her,” I continued. “Know that this is not what you want for her. Know I did it in a fucked-up way. But I love her.”
The steady beeping of the monitors kept me calm. Or as calm as I could be.
“I’ll give her the life she deserves,” I told him. “Wherever that takes me. Even if I have to abandon the cut, I’ll do it. For her.” The thought wasn’t as terrifying as I thought it might be. The club, the cut, had quickly become a part of me when I had nothing else.
Now I had something else.
I had two heartbeats that I’d do anything for.
Swiss looked at me. I hoped he wouldn’t challenge me on this. Not because I wasn’t up for it, because Violet didn’t need that shit.
“Thought, very seriously, about burying you in the desert, up to your neck and letting the sun, the coyotes or the ants get you,” Swiss said coolly.
I nodded once, knowing that was not hyperbole. He was a sick fuck and would do anything for those he loved.
“Thought of about a hundred other ways to end you,” he said conversationally. His eyes shifted to Violet. “I knew Kate was mine the second I saw her. And when I heard her talk about Violet, knew she was mine too. Knew it was my job to do what her father didn’t. Couldn’t. Love her. Protect her. Make sure anyone in this world who thought about fucking with her wouldn’t be breathing for long.”
His eyes found mine again.
“Not crazy about the way this started,” he grumbled. “But having the time to figure it out, see what you’d do for her, the love you feel for her... The other bullshit falls away.”
His eyes trekked to Violet again, as if he too needed to remind himself that she was there, breathing, heart beating.