Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
“And you’ll get it,” Bull said calmly. “We’ll find our own justice. But first we need to piece this shit together. Work out who has the motive.”
“What about Freebird?” Elias said. “Is there a chance he’s involved?”
“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that,” Maverick said, giving Elias a murderous look. He and Freebird were tight. “Freebird is a brother.”
“But he is also missing,” Joker said, ignoring the look of wrath from Maverick. “You can’t dispute that.”
“And he’s ex-military,” Elias added.
“Half the goddamn club are ex-military.” Maverick’s nostrils flared. “Freebrid isn’t responsible for any of this.”
“Then where is he?” Joker asked.
Maverick stood up. “Asshole!”
Joker stood up and the situation spiraled out of control because tensions were high.
“Enough!” Bull demanded from his chair at the head of the table. “Sit the fuck down. Both of you.” He removed his dark glasses and his bright blue eyes narrowed against the light. “Cade is right. Someone has got a beef with this club. Now instead of puffing our chests and letting our emotions get the better of us, let’s work this fucking thing out!”
INDY
I was in shock. Devastated. I had seen people die in front of me many times, but watching Mirabella die knocked the wind out of me.
While Cade went to chapel, I went to the roof. It was out of bounds, but I needed the space because we were two hours into lockdown and already the walls were closing in on me. I needed to escape the other women and find some comfort in solitude.
I sat down on an old deck chair and stared up at a starless sky. The full moon was too bright for stars and it bathed the night in bright white light. I sank back into the chair and lit up the joint I’d scored off of the prospect. I closed my eyes and let my emotions rise to the surface. Today I watched a beautiful young woman, who was pregnant with her first baby, get assassinated by an invisible evil out to destroy the club.
“Indy?”
I opened my eyes and turned my head. It was Elias. He looked apologetic.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t be up here, ma’am.”
I didn’t say anything but instead offered him my lit joint. He shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
I shrugged and took a toke, dragging the sweet-scented smoke deep into my lungs. “Whatever floats your boat,” I said, slowly exhaling the funnel of smoke. “But for fuck’s sake, stop calling me ma’am.”
Elias looked uncomfortable. I liked him. He had gentle eyes and he was always very kind.
“I’m sorry to wreck your solitude, Indy. But you really can’t be up here. Cade won’t be pleased if he finds out. Chapel is over. He’ll be looking for you.”
Cade’s need to protect me was only going to ramp up after this. I would be lucky if I got to go anywhere without an armed escort again. I had seen the look on his face and the fear in his eyes when we had given our statements to the police. Only a few inches over and it would have been me dead and cold on the medical examiner’s slab. That fact hung silently between us during the car ride home, and I knew Cade’s fear had taken a sharp shove into terrified.
I rolled my head to face him.
“Have you ever lost anyone, Elias?” I asked.
He thought for a moment, hesitated, and then nodded. “Yes, I have.”
I took another drag on the joint. “Want to tell me about it?”
He shrugged a little. “Nothing really to tell. My sister died some years back. Then my mom and stepdad.”
I blew out the smoke. “It hurts.”
He nodded.
“I lost my brother when I was twelve. Then my daddy. Now Isaac. Tex. Irish. Mirabella . . .” I let my sentence slip away. The smoke was starting to take affect and I was feeling calmer. Numb.
“What gets me is that there are so many assholes out there who just float through life with all their fuckery and nothing happens to them. They just float on by doing whatever ghastly deeds they want. And nothing fucking happens to them.” I closed my eyes against the image of Mirabella being shot and collapsing in my arms. “But then you get an angel like Mirabella—” The words choked in my throat. The emotion rose up from deep within me and lodged in my windpipe.
Elias looked around us and then crouched down beside me. I offered him the joint again, and this time he accepted it.
“I heard you were with her when it happened,” he said, taking a drag and holding it in before letting it out in a cloud of sweet smoke.
I exhaled deeply and nodded, my body flooded with grief. “Yes.”
“Did she say anything?” he asked softly, handing the joint back to me.
I shook my head. “It happened too quick. We were just walking and then . . . the bullet went straight between her eyes. Killed her immediately.”