Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
While she was taking those, I reached for my phone, finding the right playlist of ‘Chill Taylor Swift songs’ and putting it on.
The sweet smile she shot me let me know it was the right thing to do, especially when that baby with a fever came into the office, screaming in the other room.
“Did they get him?” she asked three songs later.
“Yes,” I said, nodding. “He’s going to be going away for a long time. Drug charges, kidnapping, assault, attempted murder…”
“And Melissa?” she asked.
“An accessory to all of that, at least.”
“She has a son,” I heard her say. “I was in his bedroom.”
“I’m sure there’s family to take care of him,” I told her. “She has to go away too.”
“It was her idea,” she said, letting out a sighing breath. “To make it look like an accident or an overdose. It was her idea.”
All the more reason she had to go away.
“She was my pilates instructor,” she said, shaking her head. “How did I not know?”
“People are really good at putting on a front when they need to,” I said, shrugging. I knew plenty of criminals who went to parent-teacher meetings and Little League games. No one would know they were dealing drugs or working in extortion.
“I guess that’s true,” she said, leaning the side of her head into me. “It sounds like I’m going to be here a while. You don’t have to stay,” she said.
“Yes, I do.”
“You could—“
“Absolutely fucking not,” I cut her off. “I’m right where I need to be.”
There was a moment of silence before she sucked in a deep breath.
“Hey, Detroit?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I was kind of brave today,” she said. “I was going to throw myself out of the window.”
“Of course you were brave,” I said, confused.
“I mean, I know that I’m not, like, you know, a weapon designer or from a mafia family, or a poison expert…”
“Where are we going with this?” I asked, suddenly a little concerned about her head injury.
“But, you know, I’m braver than I thought. And I know it’s not the same as being badasses like they are, but—“
“Why are you comparing yourself to them?” I asked.
“Because I know they are who outlaw biker guys are supposed to be with,” she said. “And I’m not that. But, I, ah… I kind of love you. And I was thinking maybe you—“
She kind of loved me?
Loved me?
Fuck.
There was no way to prepare for the way my heart felt like it was trying to burst from my chest at those words.
This woman, this fucking amazing, beautiful, kind, sweet woman loved me. Wanted to be with me. And somehow fucking thought she wasn’t worthy?
“Ev,” I said, voice soft. “Think I fell for you the first day I met you,” I told her. “And have just kept falling ever since. I just… I never thought you’d want this.”
“Want what? You?” she asked.
“Me. This lifestyle…”
“Well, I do,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anyone like I want you. And I’m the club electrolyte-pusher and lost-clothes-finder now. I belong there,” she said with a wobbly little smile, still uncertain.
“Fuck yeah you do,” I said, leaning down to brush my lips over hers. “And you’re coming home with me tonight,” I told her.
“And every other night?” she asked, pressing her cheek to mine.
“Absolutely.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Everleigh
We didn’t get back to the clubhouse until almost eleven at night.
Dr. Price, my personal doctor since he’d come to Shady Valley after his residency, wanted—out of an abundance of caution—to keep me there until he was sure I wasn’t going to need any more meds or anything like that.
As much as I wanted to be out of the cold exam room, a part of me was terrified too.
I mean, from the sound of things, I could have very, very easily died if not for the fact that Dallas had those meds to shoot up my nose.
Apparently, Gray had been cutting his heroin with that stuff that was making people overdose like crazy. Even lifelong addicts who would have had a little more tolerance to drugs. For someone like me, who’d never taken any, it could have been so much dicier.
By the time Coach showed up with the SUV, and I was shuffled inside of it, I was freezing, starving, and desperately in need of some sleep.
“Raff ordered every kind of takeaway you can imagine,” Coach told us as we pulled into the driveway. “Even went a few towns over to get more options. So, basically anything you want is inside waiting for you.”
As if responding to that, my stomach let out a loud growl that had Detroit giving my thigh a little squeeze.
My legs felt kind of numb as we walked up the front path, but my mind was racing, and my soul was soaring.
Because he did love me.
Because I was going to get to call this place home.