Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
The voice I heard screaming from the old ladies’ room boomed again. I looked to the back of the bar to see Flame pacing up and down, hands hitting his head and wearing an expression of pure rage. Maddie was walking beside him, whispering things to calm him down. But I could see by her wide eyes and pale face that something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
Tanner was suddenly beside me, his thick arms wrapping around my waist. In the fog of the scene, I hadn’t seen him. For a minute I briefly felt relief in his arms . . .that was until I saw the dying man’s back. For me and Tanner, it was always going to be one of our families who had inflicted the wounds on this man. I wasn’t sure if Tanner had come to me to comfort me, or if it was to seek comfort himself. Because no matter how innocent one may be of one’s family’s misdeeds, the guilt, the pain and humiliation was a constant blinding light in one’s eyes when coming face to face with it.
My hands found Tanner’s. They were shaking, and I tried to breathe. I fought to get past the gutting vision of the wounded man’s slow breathing, his death rattle. And I watched him with a lump in my throat until his body went still.
“Shark,” Tanner whispered in my ear. “New Mexico chapter.”
“Where is he?!” Flame’s loud roar made me jump. He turned toward Styx. “He said he was with him. Didn’t he? Shark said Ash was with him!” If I thought the racking pain in my chest was as debilitating as it could get, I was wrong.
AK and the quiet Hangman—Smiler?—came rushing through the door and fixed their gaze on a man across the room, standing back near the bar. The man started backing away, his eyes wide and his arms held out. “You motherfucking cunt!” AK snarled and flew toward him. AK plowed his fist into the guy’s face. Smiler was next, and Flame, without any explanation, did the same. My eyes struggled to keep up with the carnage.
Ky, the Englishman, and Viking got between them, throwing the three men off the other. His face was bleeding.
“What the fuck is happening?” Ky shouted. “Somebody better start talking now or else I’ll fucking shoot the lot of you in your stupid fucking heads!”
“That fucking dick ordered them to go with Shark. He fucking ordered Ash, Zane, and Slash to leave the compound in the truck to go get food because we were low. The asshole sent kids to get fucking food because the cunt was hungry!”
Ky spun on his heel and rushed toward the man. He grabbed him by the collar. “Did you, Hick? Did you send the prospects out when everyone had orders that they were to stay in the fucking compound?”
Hick, as Ky called him, opened his mouth a few times before he actually spoke. “I sent Shark for food. The prospects were close, so I told them to go too.”
“They wouldn’t have gone without an order from Styx or Ky,” AK said, Viking still holding him back.
Hick froze, paling. “You told them Styx said so, didn’t you, asshole?” Ky spat. Tanner’s arms held mine tighter. I didn’t understand what was happening. “You told them it was an order from their prez?”
Ky kicked Hick’s feet, and Hick dropped to his knees. Ky pulled out his gun and held it to his head.
“Ky! Fucking wait!” An older man rushed to his side.
“Wrox, I don’t give a fuck if you’re his prez. The cunt lied to a bunch of kids. Y’all know the fucking rules. No prospect goes out in war. They stay here at the compound, protected. They are fucking kids. They are fucking mother-chapter kids! Ours! And now they’re missing because of this asshole!”
My heart fell. Missing? Kids were missing?
“Ky, let me take care of this,” Wrox tried to argue.
Suddenly, a loud whistle cut through the room, and Styx came walking over to Ky, Hick, and Wrox. The room was silent as he raised his hands and signed something.
“What?” Wrox said, clearly not knowing sign language. I had no idea what he was saying either.
“Take him to the shed, out back. Tie the fucker to the chair and leave him. I’ll decide what to do with him later.”
Ky stepped back from Hick. Styx pointed at Letti’s husband. He took the man from the room. Styx signed again. “Edge? Did you hear what Shark was saying before he died?” Ky spoke for Styx.
The man with strange hair nodded. “Said they were ambushed and taken to a warehouse somewhere. Said he was beaten and questioned.” Edge paused, then said, “The kids were taken too. All three of them.” My stomach crashed to the floor as Flame roared and started destroying the bar furniture around him.