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)
“You okay?” he asked, voice gentle.
He was always that way with me, actually.
Gentle.
I’d mused more than a few times that Detroit was a gentle giant. Because he was a massive man. Tall, broad, strong.
“No,” I admitted, finally looking over at him. “They think I’m a drug dealer,” I said, shaking my head.
“We both know that’s bullshit. And Simon will prove that. But, here’s the thing,” he said, voice taking on a careful edge that had me stiffening.
“What’s the thing?” I asked.
“Because we don’t know what is going on, and who might be involved,” he started, “the guys, girls, and I are all a little worried about your safety.”
“My… safety?” I asked, feeling like the ground had opened up underneath me, and I was falling.
That hadn’t even occurred to me.
That someone might want to hurt me over this.
That there was someone involved who was capable of that.
“Yeah. They arrested Gav too. But we don’t know what the fuck is going on. And until we do, we really think you should come and stay at the club where you’re safe.”
“The club?” I repeated dumbly, but it was like the information wasn’t penetrating unless I said it too.
“There will always be someone, several someones, around to make sure no one tries to mess with you.”
“Who would want to hurt me?” I asked, feeling my lower lip trembling again, and forcing it closed tight until it stopped. “I haven’t done anything.”
“No,” he agreed. “But if they planned for you to take the fall for them…”
“Oh,” I said, starting to understand just how out of my depths I was on this.
“I know I haven’t made the clubhouse sound like a place you would like, but if there is one thing I can promise you, it’s that no one can get to you there.”
And he, and likely his club brothers and their women, all seemed to know a lot more about this kind of thing than I did.
It made the most sense to go with him.
Besides, if this was what he wanted, I wasn’t really in a place to turn him down. With all he was doing for me.
“Okay,” I agreed, nodding.
“Okay? You’ll come?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Could we stop at my place to get some things, though?” I asked.
“Of course. We just won’t linger,” he added, a hint of warning there.
It became really clear to me right then that things were a lot more serious than I originally realized.
What the hell had just happened to my life?
And why was some part of me secretly really excited about being at the clubhouse?
CHAPTER FIVE
Detroit
I hadn’t expected her to look as good as she did when she walked out of the courthouse.
Simon’s assistant had chosen the perfect outfit for her if he was going for making her look sweet and, most of all, innocent.
She was both those things, but the judge wouldn’t have known that. But Simon had portrayed it perfectly with just clothes.
It wasn’t until she saw me that it happened.
The facade fell.
And she just… shattered.
My instinct had been to hold onto her lightly when she’d thrown herself at me, some part of me always thinking she was like glass—so delicate, easily broken.
But then she’d clung harder to me, and I wrapped her up as she sobbed into my chest, getting all that confusion and fear out of her, so she could think straight again.
I wasn’t someone who was used to feminine tears. But they didn’t bother me, either. Something about Everleigh’s tears, though, brought out something primal in me. Something that had me wanting to track down every last person who was involved in making her feel this way, and ripping their throats out. With my teeth.
She was silent as we drove back to Shady Valley, then in the direction of her apartment building, but she was drinking the coffee. And her stomach wasn’t growling as loudly anymore.
Didn’t they feed her inside?
Had someone not let the new girl eat?
I didn’t know how shit worked for women on the inside. But I did know the stories from Judge, Coach, and Rook about being inside, about the way the old timers treated the new bloods, how their food was stolen, and, well… other shit.
I guess I imagined that the women had been more civil.
That said, it was a completely different world for Everleigh. It could have just all been too much to take in at once, and she’d been too sick to her stomach to eat.
I would make her something when we got back to the clubhouse. I’d gone grocery shopping the night before, stocking up on damn near everything I could have possibly needed.
“You remembered,” she said as I parked near building A.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. I went ahead and didn’t tell her that I remembered exactly how she smelled that night I drove her home, too. Like caramel and vanilla. Sweet. Begging to be tasted.