Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
“Is this the behavior The Last Riders are teaching you? To curse at your sister?”
Arden winced at her mother’s shrill voice. “It’s okay, Mom,” she attempted to calm her mother.
“No, it’s not okay!” Her mother wailed. “You’ve been too good to Luc for him to speak to you this way.”
Luc’s face twisted in self-recrimination. “I need to get out of here. Tell Dad anything you want when he comes back, but I’m not going back to that school.” Luc agitatedly walked toward the door and jerked it open. “I’m going to work. I’ll find somewhere else to live if you can’t accept my decision,” he threatened over his shoulder as he went out the door.
Arden rose to try to stop him from leaving, but he slammed the door shut before she could reach him. Turning back to her mother, she hurried to kneel next to where she was sitting. “Catch your breath, Mom.” Arden checked the oxygen machine to see if it was positioned on the right setting.
“You have to change his mind, Arden. This will kill your father.”
“I’ll talk to him when he calms down.” Arden grabbed tissues from a side table and gently patted the tears coursing down her mother’s cheeks.
“Tonight. The headmaster is planning on expelling him tomorrow. Luc hasn’t been going to school like I thought he was. He lied to me… He’s never lied to me before. Those Last Riders are a bad influence on him. This is going to kill—”
“Don’t say anything to Dad. I’ll get Luc to change his mind, and I’ll straighten things out with the headmaster. There’s no need to get Dad upset.”
Her mom gave a sniffling nod. “I knew I could count on you. I’m going to take a nap. I don’t want Carter seeing me cry.”
Arden helped her mom stand up; it’s becoming more difficult each day. Carrying the oxygen tank to the bedroom, Arden then helped get her mother into bed and situated.
“I’m going to leave, Mom. I’ll call you in the morning after I talk to the headmaster.”
Her hand was caught in a frail grasp. “All I ever wanted was for Luc to be happy. I thought he was. What have The Last Riders done to him?”
“I don’t know, Mom, but I promise I’m going to find out.”
CHAPTER 2
THE CLUBHOUSE
Arden took a sip of her coffee, trying to stay awake as she watched Luc stand watch outside the motorcycle club, which was going to destroy her family if she didn’t find a way to convince him to go back to school.
It hadn’t taken her long to find The Last Riders’ clubhouse. Unfortunately, it had taken her longer to drive there, enabling Luc to get there first. She had planned to ask them nicely to discourage Luc from any further association with them. If that failed, she didn’t know what she would do, but she was sure something would come to her if that bridge had to be crossed.
Tired, she blinked her bleary eyes. She had been sitting in the parking garage catty-corner to the bar The Last Riders called home. To pass the time, she had counted the motorcycles sitting outside and stopped counting at thirty, feeling her nerves getting the best of her. She had never been in this older portion of Ohio, and she wasn’t thrilled at being there now. If she weren’t afraid Luc would hate her, she would drive over to the bar and demand he get his ass inside the car. Fear of hurting their relationship was the only thing holding her back.
“Damn, Luc, how long are you expected to stand there?” she muttered out loud. All she needed was for him to leave for a few minutes, just long enough so she could get inside without him seeing her.
“How is this better than staying home and studying?” she asked, as if her brother had a chance of hearing her from the distance separating them. “This is ridiculous,” she complained to the empty car.
Tempted to continue her search online about The Last Riders on her cell phone, she then decided against it. Most of the articles written about them were on their survival business.
The plastic coffee cup in her hand trembled when the club door opened and two men walked out, dressed in leather jackets. Arden was too far away to get a good look at their faces.
Placing her coffee in the cup holder, she saw Luc stride away with one of the men, getting on the back of a motorcycle and leaving the other man standing at the door. Pressing the ignition button, she started edging out of the parking garage after the motorcycle whizzed past. Her hands were sweating on the steering wheel when she pulled into the bar’s parking lot. The biker standing guard at the door had his eyes fixed on her before she even parked.