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)
“Who was it?” Mike asked, holding Arden closer and closer to his chest, finally able to look at him without outright discomfort. His eyes and throat were itchy, sore, but no longer kept him incapacitated.
Arden shivered under the cold water, but he pushed into Mike’s arms as if he wanted to crawl under his skin for protection. With the pink leggings and the workout top gone, his face red, hair unfolded from the bun he’d worn, the one feminine thing left on him were the painted nails.
Mike had seen him without makeup many times, since Arden didn’t sleep in it, but then he’d still wear cute pyjamas or the like. Right now, he stood in front of Mike the way he was—a scared naked boy—yet Mike’s feelings for him wouldn’t change because of such details. The vulnerability with which Arden sought shelter in Mike’s arms only made Mike’s heart pump faster, and with more fury.
He’d break the arms and legs of whoever thought it was a good idea to fuck with them.
“The Jarens,” Axel said through clenched teeth, still holding the hose over them.
The fucking Jarens. Words couldn’t describe the extent of Mike’s hate. But as he held Arden, gently petting him with soapy hands, Memories of Leah’s final moments passed through his brain over and over, leaving burning tyre marks at the backs of Mike’s eyeballs.
“We’ll pay them a visit. Call everyone,” he rasped as Mom approached and wrapped Arden’s slender body with a sheet to preserve his modesty. He loved her so much for this unexpected gesture. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Arden tried to speak too, but coughed instead. He held the sheet around him like a shield, clutching the front so nobody could have an uninvited peek at his body.
Axel nodded, rubbing his hand over his short hair. “They’ll regret it.”
“Arden? Are you fine staying with my mom?” Mike asked, only now realizing he stood naked in a puddle of soapy water in the middle of town. Oh well, nothing the people hadn’t at least heard of.
Arden’s red eyes darted from Mike to his mom as he wheezed trying to say something, but eventually nodded and kneeled on the ground.
Every fibre in Mike’s body wanted to stay here and comfort him, but if this was to never happen again, retribution needed to be swift and painful. “I’ll be back soon, okay baby? Mom will take care of you,” he said but was already tying a towel around his hips when Axel handed him one.
Arden stared up at him, red-faced and with his nose swelled up. Mike didn’t want to imagine how much worse this could have been.
“Take one more soapy shower. We know where they live,” Mom said, stroking Arden’s back when he gagged, bending over.
Mike bit his lip, stuck on the crossroads, but she nodded at him and led Arden toward her SUV. She’d be taking him home.
“Fuck,” Mike rumbled and spun around to have a look at the broken windows of the gym. “Who’s gonna talk to the police?” he asked, walking barefoot on the hot asphalt that burned the soles of his feet.
“Jack. He’s got a kid in the same nursery as one of the cops,” Axel said. He’d been at the back of the building when the tear gas had been thrown inside, but his eyes were still red, and he coughed every now and then.
People peeked at them through windows as they hurried along the empty road with single-family bungalows on one side and the desert on the other, but he ignored them, feeding off his anger until he and Axel reached the clubhouse
The gates were shut to protect those inside, but all the MC members present already knew what had happened and were ready for action, waiting on their bikes while Dad barked orders. His blue eyes, so similar to Mike’s, focused on them the moment they stepped through the gate.
“This has gone too far! Customers were affected.”
“Maybe we should send all of their green figurines flying?” Kane barked and held up a bundle of explosives in his hand, prompting grunts of approval.
“There’s kids in that compound,” Rain noted, and that curbed everyone's initial enthusiasm. Nobody wanted children injured, no matter how detestable their parents were.
“All the women and kids will hide in that bunker of theirs once we get there anyway. Though maybe if Harlyn got caught in the crossfire, Mike would finally breathe freely,” Uncle Kurt noted, patting Kane’s back.
Jesus.
“Fuck you,” Mike said, pulling off the towel protecting his modesty, only to toss it into Uncle Kurt’s face. “We don’t do that.”
Kane spread his arms. “I say we go and take whatever opportunity arises.”
“Three minutes,” Mike said and ran into the clubhouse, straight for his room. Dressed in fresh clothes and armed with his favorite guns, he shot outside and hopped onto his bike, joining Dad at the front of the group.