Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
“Hello,” I respond as I click it to speakerphone, so that I can keep my eyes on the road. My car is decent, but it has none of the bells and whistles. Sometimes I miss having Bluetooth capability—especially in times like this.
“Shelby, it’s Jay.” The deep voice of the cook from Grandmother’s diner blasting through the speaker fills me with confusion. “We’ve been trying to get a hold of you. We got this number off Billie’s phone. I hate to be the one to tell you this…” The sadness in his voice is alarming. My stomach knots up as I hold my breath.
Something about the way he’s talking to me tells me this isn’t about a shift needing covered—besides my grandmother would call me for that kind of thing. Why isn’t my grandmother the one calling?
I slam on my brakes coming to a stop in the middle of the road. A car behind me swerves as they lay on their horn, narrowly missing me. Adrenaline rolls through me to the point that even if they hit me, I likely wouldn’t even feel it. Something’s wrong.
“What’s wrong with my grandmother?” I ask, my heart thundering in my chest. My palms sweating as I grip the wheel until my knuckles are white.
“Someone broke into the diner early this morning. They destroyed the place and we found Billie unconscious. They’ve taken her to your hospital. They’re waiting for you there.”
I step on the gas frantic to get to the hospital. I don’t say anything else, I can’t. My heart feels like it’s in a vice. I’ve never driven so fast in my life, but it still feels like it takes me forever to get to the hospital. I need to be with my grandmother. I’m praying with everything I am over and over, scared to death of what I’m going to find when I get there. She needs to be okay.
I need her to be okay.
Chapter 18
King
Tired, sore and bruised, I know that the staged blow-up with Grunt went exactly as it needed to. But damn, Grunt wasn’t as nice as T. I know T pulled his punches. The same can’t be said for Grunt. The damn asshole could’ve made our fight look real, without the full power behind each punch. I have a feeling he did it for coming up with this stupid plan. Getting hit by that guy is like getting hit by a damned freight train.
That’s not what hurts the most though. That was seeing my brothers and how they looked at me differently. I knew going into this what would happen. I knew Grunt had to make it look legitimate and he did that for sure—my body can attest to it. My brothers just stood and gawked at me. Not a one came over to check if I was okay. It was expected, but it still burns in my gut. This club was the first place, I ever truly felt accepted, like someone gave a fuck about me. Now it feels like it has all been ripped away. I knew going under cover would be miserable, but feeling like I’ve been shunned by my brothers, is something indescribable.
Just the same, the progress that was made almost makes this shit worth it. Grunt had a prospect hide out to watch for members of the BMRR trespassing. The prospect doesn’t know about our plan, he thought he was just the look out for them crossing boundaries. Their VP Mongrel and some other members were in the same area when Grunt and I got into it. There’s no way the missed the show. They will likely take their information straight to their President, Apex. I hope like fuck this makes them reach out to me. If they don’t I need to figure something else out.
I’ll have to because common sense says I need to stay away from Shelby. The problem is that I just can’t do that. This whole thing feels fucking dirty. I need something that makes me feel clean. That’s my woman. I refuse to put a target on her back, but I think if I put distance between us, we both would hurt.
My mood gets worse when I get to the hospital and don’t see her at her usual station. I know she said she had to work today. I didn’t get to talk to her before I left though. I overslept and had to break records to get to the club on time to get the show started with Grunt.
I wait for one of the two nurses sitting in front of the counter to acknowledge me. I tap my fingers impatiently on the desk, feeling like an ass when one looks up incredulously.
“Can I help you?” she murmurs, looking at my tapping fingers before up at me. The other nurse doesn’t stop to acknowledge me.