Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“Would you wear a dress or a suit to your wedding?” she asked, about to look back, when Arden wrapped his arm around her and put the knife against her throat.
“I’m small, but I will slit your fucking neck open if you try to fight me, understood?” He didn’t know where such harsh words came from, but he was high on adrenaline and her bubblegum perfume.
Harlyn stiffened, and when Arden came closer, twisting back her arm, it became clear that they were very similar in size. Which made this whole thing that much easier.
She choked and grabbed his wrist, trying to push his hand away, but when Arden reflexivity pulled it back, and the blade met resistance, she gave a frantic yelp and sobbed. “Oh God… oh God…”
Arden’s heart froze, and for a moment he feared he might have hurt her, but she kept mewling, so her windpipe was clearly fine. The fact that he’d managed to overpower another person like this gave him no satisfaction, but he did think she deserved those moments of uncertainty for being so callous when it came to other people’s lives.
“Forward. And stay quiet,” Arden said as the engines died down, and she gave a nod, stepping into the scorch outside, into a sandy path between small buildings of wood and metal. Arden blinked, noting they were in some kind of valley surrounded by barren hills. Dust was everywhere, and the air carried a sharp scent of farm animals, but the voice Arden knew well, Mike’s voice, made him urge Harlyn in the right direction, toward a metal structure dwarfing the settlement. Its sheet metal roof reflected the bright sunlight, forcing Arden to squint and turn his head away. A cat stared at him from the nearest window, but before he could have worried that it might alarm its human, Mike’s voice made him walk faster, to where the alleyway opened into open space
“Where. Is. The boy?” A roar worthy of a lion. It made Arden choke with emotion, but as he pushed Harlyn toward the sandy yard and walked alongside a large truck toward a barrier of cement blocks and tyres, he wanted to shout. To reassure Mike he was fine.
“Nobody move!” Arden yelled, and the group of strangers—the Jarens, he presumed—turned to face him, shotguns ready to fire.
His instinct was to freeze, but he fought through it when he saw Mike among the other Smokeys, standing in line like the alpha wolf leading his pack. Their eyes met, and Arden’s heart rose in his throat. He’d known Mike would come for him, yet his presence, from the heavy boots to the blond hair messed up by the helmet meant more to Arden than he could ever express. He’d be important to Mike forever, regardless of the past trauma dividing them.
“This whole bullshit marriage thing ends today!” Arden yelled at the top of his lungs, so intensely angry his throat ached, making the last syllable barely a rasp.
Everyone was here. The whole club, with the exception of Kane, who still nursed his broken leg, and they’d all come here for him. Warmth soaked through his chest when Mike waved at him, his mouth opening in a small smile, but as the Jarens melted into blurry figures, Harlyn let out a high-pitched screech, making Arden’s ear bleed.
“You can’t stop me, Dad! And neither can he! I’m gonna get married. This month. I’m gonna ride out of here on a bike, and have so many babies!” she rambled, digging her nails into Arden’s forearm. She must have gotten more confident of her position with her family within sight.
Arden’s chest filled with fury and he pushed the knife harder against her neck. “You sure as hell won’t be having Mike’s babies, because he’s had a vasectomy, dumbass!”
Everyone went so silent they could hear birds singing nearby, and even Harlyn stilled, though Arden stayed alert as if he were restraining a human-sized porcupine.
Axel cleared his throat and raised his hand as if he were a student wanting to ask the teacher a question. “I have a bike and a working penis,” he said, and in that moment Arden knew exactly why his Tinder dates weren’t going well.
Mike slapped the back of Axel’s head, his mouth twisted. “Hey, my dick works!”
“It’s just the pipes that don’t,” Mike’s dad said with a grin worthy of a ten-year-old hearing an adult joke. His face twitched when he looked toward Arden and Harlyn, as if he were trying not to laugh into her face. “Always wanted you as a daughter-in-law, Harlyn, I like a girl who knows what she wants, but I think you bet on the wrong Heller.”
One of the strangers took a deep breath of air, showing his teeth as if he were ready to jump across the fence and go for the club president’s throat. “Are you mocking my daughter?”