Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 13411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 67(@200wpm)___ 54(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 67(@200wpm)___ 54(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
I nodded, my throat suddenly too tight. “You’re free, Mom,” I rasped.
She started laughing and crying again, but this time, I didn’t fear she would snap. This was a woman who’d been living on a knife’s edge for almost my entire life, and now, her abuser was dead. He was no longer walking the earth. He could no longer hurt her. He no longer held any power over her.
Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I looked to Claudia. “Can you plate Mom’s breakfast?”
She smiled at me. “Sure thing, honey.”
I headed toward my room, dialing Alex’s number as I did so. He’d given me his digits before dropping me off late last night. And apart from going to the clubhouse, this was the quickest way to get in touch with Julian.
If my mom wanted to meet him and thank him, I would do my damnest to make it happen.
“Hello?” a sweet woman’s voice answered.
“Um…” I frowned, pulling my phone from my ear to make sure I’d dialed Alex. I definitely had. “I’m looking for Alex. Do I have the wrong number?” I asked once I put the phone back to my ear.
“Not at all,” the woman said. “I’m his wife.” Well, that made sense. “Can I ask who’s calling?”
“Solace. Please let him know Solace is calling.”
“Sure.” A moment later, I heard low murmurs, and then, the phone was clearly passed off.
“Little early for phone calls,” Alex drawled. “What can I help you with, Solace?” I heard a kid yelling in the background, and then another kid yelled back. Alex sighed. “Make it quick. My kids are re-enacting the world war.”
I snorted. “I need Julian’s number.”
“For?” A kid screamed, and he growled. “Goddammit. Never mind. I don’t care. I’ll text it to you.”
With that, he hung up the phone. A moment later, my phone pinged with Julian’s contact information. After saving it to my contacts, I called him. He answered on the fourth ring sounding more asleep than he was awake, and the sound was sexy enough that my belly clenched.
Christ. Not only was he the finest man to walk the earth, but he also had to sound like pure sex? It wasn’t fair.
Fuck knew I’d bang him like a screen door the first opportunity I got.
“This better be life or death,” he growled.
“Julian?” He grunted. “It’s Solace. I… I have a favor to ask of you.”
He groaned overdramatically. “This couldn’t wait? It’s not even seven in the fucking morning yet, and I got bitched out for two hours last night because of you. Let a man get some sleep, doll.”
“You should have been on your Ps and Qs,” I retorted. He snorted, not even the least bit offended. “My mom would like to meet you. Stewart’s death has hit the news, and she saw it this morning.”
He made a small noise, something akin to a grunt but not quite. “Why me? Shouldn’t she hate me?”
“No,” I said quietly. “She’d like to thank you.”
He huffed a laugh. “That’s a fucking first.” My lips twitched. I knew as well as he did that in this business, we usually weren’t thanked for what we did. “But yeah, doll. I’ll meet her. Just shoot me a text with the time and your address, since I assume dinner will be at your place. And for the love of God,” he added before I could say anything in response, “do not call me before ten A.M. again unless you or someone else is dying, ‘kay?”
I scoffed. “You can be a real douchebag. You know that?”
He hummed. “One of a kind, doll.”
He hung up the phone before I could even open my mouth. I glared down at the screen.
“Asshole,” I muttered. But at least he’d agreed. That was about the only thing Julian Fine-as-Fuck-Asshole McKenzie had working in his favor.
CHAPTER 7
Julian
“Where are you headed?” Grave asked from where he was lounging back against the bar. Bones, his wife, was pouring two fingers of whiskey into a glass. Their daughter and her dog were MIA, probably somewhere playing with the other kids. School was out for the day for some random student holiday, so the clubhouse was a bustle of wives and children, a stark contrast to how calm it usually was when the kids were in school.
“Yeah—thought you were on punishment,” Bones teased.
I flipped her the middle finger. She pretended to catch it and shove it down between her tits where she tended to store everything else because God forbid she carry a purse. I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to Solace’s.”
“Oooh,” Grave said, drawing out the sound as he stood a little straighter, his interest definitely more piqued that it’d been a moment before. “Spill the beans. Because from what I heard, that girl walked out of here hating your fucking guts last night.”
“Christ, you all gossip like old women,” I griped. “She called and asked me to dinner with her mom because her mom wanted to thank me.” I smirked. “Some people in this world appreciate the hard work I do.”