Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“It’s not that easy, Kendric,” she whispers.
“It is that fuckin’ easy. You let them abuse everyone and stand back and watch? I’m a fuckin’ human being, you bitch.”
She makes a shocked sound in her throat but doesn’t say anything else as she pushes me toward the large group of cops who are currently searching Dax’s property.
With every step, my anger builds.
My rage turns into a fucking bomb inside my chest, ready to explode.
I want to turn around and throttle her.
I want to fucking take back my words.
But I’m a member of a club, a club I’m fucking loyal to.
I will go down for this, but one thing is for fucking certain.
I’m taking her down with me.
1
ZARIAH
“Hi, baby,” I croon, kneeling down to watch my two-year-old son run toward me as I pick him up from daycare after my long day at work.
Seeing his face and the way it lights up when I walk into that room makes everything worth it. Every god damned broken thing inside me feels a little better when my son is around. He’s the best thing to ever happen to me in my life and without him, I’m certain I wouldn’t have gotten through some of the hardest things I’ve ever had to endure.
Including everything I’m going through right now.
A club that doesn’t trust me.
A man that hates me.
A piece of scum on the loose because we didn’t get him in time.
Too fucking much.
“He had a wonderful day,” Sara, a daycare worker, tells me as I pick up my son. “He is such a happy child.”
He is.
He really is.
He’s the kind of child you want to have over and over again.
If you knew you were having four of him, you’d make it happen.
I bring his little face close to mine and breathe him in. He looks just like his father, and sometimes, that hurts. It hurts because his father ... he’s broken. Jayden gives my life meaning, and even though our family isn’t together, he makes me believe every single day. Just believe. In what, I don’t know, but it’s something.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, thank you.” I smile, waving to Sara as I collect Jayden’s things and leave the daycare.
The entire drive home, he babbles in the car.
I go over my day in my head. I think about what’s ahead for the club, for Kendric, for my sister, Waverly. I think about how I’m going to make all of this go away, but mostly I think about where the hell we’re going to find Dax. I don’t trust anyone in my department, and with good reason. Constable Bennett was working with Dax, doing highly illegal things and covering it up.
Am I to truly believe nobody else is in on that?
Bennett was close to a lot of people.
Everyone really, except me.
He hated me.
They all do.
They don’t think I’m capable.
I grit my teeth and grind them together a little as I pull into my two-bedroom apartment. I try not to let it bother me, you know, that I work with a bunch of sexist assholes. Sometimes, though, it does bother me. It makes me feel like maybe I am reaching just a little too high.
But I’m also strong and stubborn, and there’s no way a bunch of men are ever going to push me away from doing what I love.
Even if right now what I love is a little skewed.
I exhale and look back at Jayden, who is waving his toy fire truck around.
I do it for him.
All of it.
I get out of the car and get him from his seat before heading inside. It’s already nearing six o’clock at night, and some days, I don’t get nearly enough time with my son. My life is all work and no play. I haven’t been on a date in god knows how long, and we won’t even get into the last time I had sex.
That’s mostly because my relationship with Jayden’s father, Reece, is complicated.
He’s complicated.
And dangerous.
And a little scary.
He also seems to think we’re not over and if I do manage to get it through to him, he then becomes a jealous, enraged asshole, and I can’t have that around Jayden, so for the most part, I try to keep the peace.
I try to keep things calm and the atmosphere as best I can for our boy.
My phone rings just as I reach the kitchen, and I stare down to see Waverly’s name flashing across my screen. She and Mykel disappeared to New York yesterday. That’s the best idea for both of them at this point. Kendric has taken the blame, and Waverly has nothing against her at this point, so she’s free to go. The less time she spends here with the club, the better.
“Did you make it?” I ask her, answering the phone.
“I did. Have you been to this place? It’s huge! I seriously can’t get over it.”