Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“You can stay if you don’t want to go home so late,” I managed. I was so tired my words were slurring.
“I’m stayin’,” he said, still stroking my hair in soothing movements of his hand. “I’ll be here if you need me. You’re not alone, Gina. I’m your protector. Always remember that.”
I blinked up at him, sleep already starting to claim me again. “Do you promise?”
“On my life, baby. Anyone who ever tries to hurt you again, I’ll kill ‘em myself. No matter who it is. Even me.”
His words should have unsettled me. There was so much to unwrap in that simple declaration. Instead, my entire body relaxed, almost like when alcohol starts to hit after you’ve already done a couple more shots than you probably should have. I nodded my head and smiled up at him. “OK.” It was the last thing I remember before sleep took me.
Chapter Three
Falcon
I needed to go home. Needed to get out of this place before I did something stupid. Like crawl in the bed with the broken little doll and hold her until the pieces fused back together. Gina was quite possibly the strongest person I’d ever met. Even stronger than Lemon, who regularly busted my balls.
This woman chose to stay in a place where she’d been terrorized for over a year. I get she’d had a shit life even before she came here, but I was surprised when she didn’t head out of the compound like the hounds of hell were after her once she knew she was free to leave.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I pulled it out and checked the message and nearly growled when I saw Dom’s name. I’d known this was coming, but I hadn’t anticipated that I’d be in Gina’s house with her most of the night. The need to tell him to fuck the hell off was making my jaw clench. Yeah. Not the best idea, especially since I hadn’t been a patched member of Grim Road long enough to go against the sergeant at arms. Which… yeah. I wasn’t a pussy by any means, but going against Dom without a better reason than, “I’m watching my woman sleep. Piss off,” would be stupid.
Dom: Need you at the clubhouse.
Me: Sunrise.
Dom: Now.
Fuck. I stood and pulled the quilt higher on her shoulder before leaving the room. I locked her door when I left the house. Leaving was so hard it was a physical ache in my chest. It felt wrong because I knew anything I’d managed to forge over the last several months could easily be undone if I disappeared on her now.
I hurried to my bike, which I’d parked in Rocket’s driveway when I’d gone to stand vigil. Rocket and Lemon both knew I did this, but neither had said a word about it to anyone, including me. I figured, by parking there on the regular, if Rocket or Lemon wanted to warn me off Gina, they would.
The ride to the main clubhouse took less than five minutes. I lined up with the other bikes in the lot before striding inside. The club members present sat at the various tables in groups, talking among themselves. A few nursed their beer, but most were quietly waiting for the meeting to start.
“Nice of you to join us, Falcon.” Dom crossed his arms over his chest while Ringo, the enforcer for Grim Road, gave me a knowing smirk. Yeah. They all knew what I was doing. Some approved, but there were a couple who were pretty pissed about it because they thought she needed to get away from all of us. Even if she didn’t want to.
“Bite me,” I shot back automatically. It got a few chuckles. Except for Dom.
The bigger man pointed his finger at me and raised an eyebrow. “I will beat your ass, you little punk.” Which got even more chuckles.
“All right, all right.” Rocket stood and got to business. “We got a heads-up from a paramilitary company called ExFil. Most of you know the place and the guy who owns it. His name’s Joe Gill. Used to be president of a club in Somerset, Kentucky called Bones MC.”
“Most of the guys at Salvation’s Bane MC work for ‘em too, right?” Jackhammer was a newer guy. He hadn’t started out as a prospect, like most of us. He’d been brought in as a favor to Boon. Boon had been in Grim Road the longest of anyone in the club. He was blunt and to the point and didn’t care who the fuck he offended. All traits Jackhammer tried to imitate. Only problem was, Jackhammer wasn’t Boon.
“They are.” Rocket glared at Jackhammer, no doubt knowing the other man was about to protest.
“Then what the fuck do they need us for?” Jackhammer snorted a laugh, like he’d gotten one over on… someone? Salvation’s Bane maybe? The man was as mean as he was stupid. I honestly had no idea what his thought processes were and had no desire to find out. I also think Boon was suckin’ some serious dick to get this dumb shit into Grim Road. We had all been black ops at one point in our service. Most of us had either outlived our usefulness or were on a government kill list somewhere. Not Jackhammer. He’d been good for a while, but once he decided to show his ass, he tended to go big.