Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“Gone?” I echoed softly, leaning against the doorframe while I stared up at him. “Where are you going? And I thought you didn’t want me staying at the clubhouse? Isn’t that why you booked us into the motel while I’m here? Because it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to be there without you.”
“I didn’t word it quite like that,” he grumbled, dropping his bag at my feet to shove his way past me and sit down on the chair in the corner of my room. Propping his feet up on the ottoman, he ignored my glare while he got comfortable. “It’s just that I didn’t want any of the guys to get the wrong idea about you hanging around the clubhouse.”
Flopping onto the corner of the mattress, I huffed, “I still don’t understand the problem. I thought you said I didn’t have to worry about stuff like club whores with the Iron Rogues.”
“Fucking A, El,” he groaned, shaking his head. “Club whores? You can’t say shit like that.”
I shrugged, flashing him a mischievous smile. “Sorry, but that’s what they call them on television. Should I have said club bunnies instead? Sweet butts? House mouses? Or would that be mice? I’m not sure what the plural would be when you’re talking about women instead of rodents.”
He grimaced, his eyes narrowing. “What kind of shit have you been watching?”
“Whatever I wanted,” I retorted with a smug grin. “It’s not as though Mom and Dad paid attention to anything I did.”
“Wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m not.” He looked pained at the reminder of my crappy childhood, which made me feel bad for bringing it up again. “I’m so damn sorry.”
Getting to my feet, I padded over to pat his hand. “You don’t need to apologize for our crappy parents. You had it just as bad with them as I did.”
“Yeah, but that’s why I should’ve done a better job of protecting you from them.” He flipped his hand over to squeeze mine. “Because I know just how detached they were with me.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you have nothing to apologize for. And they can be as hands-off as they’d like now because I have no intention of staying in contact with them. Not that they’ll even notice since they didn’t have a peep to say about me not showing up for Christmas break.” Not wanting to talk—or think—about our parents anymore, I changed the subject. “You still haven’t answered my original question. Where are you going?”
“Out of town for a few days. Maybe a week.” He heaved a deep sigh, his eyes filled with regret. “I can’t give you too many details, club business.”
I’d seen enough motorcycle club shows to know that meant I wasn’t going to get any more information out of him. “And you want me to stay at the clubhouse. By myself? For however long you’re gone?”
“No, I need you to stay there so I’ll know you’re safe. Or else, I’m gonna worry about you the whole time, and that’ll be bad for me.”
I didn’t know what Gideon would be doing for the club, but I didn’t want him to risk himself because he was scared something would happen to me. “Then I guess I’d better go pack so we can hit the road, or else you’ll be late.”
“That’d be great, Els.” He beamed me a grateful smile and got to his feet. “And don’t worry, Tank told me that Sheila said she would make sure my room was clean before we got there, so you won’t have to deal with my mess while you stay there.”
Just thinking about the kind of things I would’ve found in there—or on the sheets—made me gag. Shooing him out of my room as he chuckled over my reaction, I headed into the bathroom to get cleaned up and changed into my favorite pairs of jeans and a cute sweater. Then I quickly shoved my stuff into my bag so we could check out of our rooms early. Since the club owned the motel, we didn’t run into any issues and were on our way to the clubhouse in the truck he rarely drove only fifteen minutes later.
After we dropped my stuff off in his room—which was thankfully clean as promised—we headed down to the kitchen. Sheila stood at the stove, so I hurried over to her. “Thank you so much for making sure I didn’t need a hazmat suit.”
“No worries,” she assured me with a soft laugh. “I was happy to help.”
“It was very much appreciated.” Breathing in the delicious aroma from the pan in front of her, I added, “And so would a few pieces of bacon. We didn’t have time for breakfast since my brother was in a rush to get here.”
“Have as much as you’d like,” she offered, plopping several strips onto the paper-towel lined plate stacked high with bacon. “I always make plenty since the guys put away food as if they think it will be their last meal.”