Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Here, honey.” I look to my left and see Rose standing beside me with a plate of food. I take it from her hand and thank her sincerely. “Go on over there and have a seat,” she says pointing in the direction of Shadow and the mind-reading biker.
My steps falter only briefly because I see the woman’s face light up with a beautiful smile, and she raises her hand and waves me toward her and the men. I hold my head high as if nothing in the world can bring me down and make my way across the room, grateful I didn’t have to take the bald guy in the corner up on his offer for a place to sit.
“Kid better have super powers. Without them, he’ll never be able to stay away from that,” I hear one of the guys from a nearby table mutter as I walk toward the smiling woman. I pretend I didn’t hear it and keep on to my destination.
“Snatch,” the mind-reading biker says in a stern voice to the man who just made the off-color comment.
“Sorry,” I hear him mumble as I sit down at the table.
For fuck’s sake. I feel like I’m in high school all over again, except I’m dealing with mean scary bikers, not oversexed teen boys, clearly not much changes as men age.
I keep my head down, thankful for the reprieve from the other people in the room, but still not in the mood to talk. New people think asking questions about my life is just common courtesy. They have no clue just how fucked up it’s been, and at the end of the day they want pleasantries not the hard, bitter truth of it.
“Khloe.” I hear a man at the table speak, and I know instantly that it’s Shadow. I recognize his southern twang I heard for the first time yesterday.
I look up and reflexively smile back at him as I see a grin spread on his face.
“This is Emmalyn,” he says directing his attention to the female I’m sitting beside. I shake her hand when she offers it to me. “And this is Kincaid. He’s the club’s President.” He nods at me but doesn’t offer his hand.
“Nice to meet you both.” I drop my eyes back to my plate before adding, “Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“Well,” Kincaid says gruffly. “Kid seems to think you’d be more comfortable here than the foster home you’ve been assigned to.” I nod my head at him. “I trust his instincts, but I won’t tolerate any trouble in my club. He told me you’re eighteen in a month and will no longer have an obligation to the state?”
“Twenty-eight days,” I clarify.
“The stunt y’all pulled leaving the hospital without being discharged could’ve brought some real hardship down on the club.” I frown, feeling thoroughly chastised by the pseudo-patriarch of this organization. “Thankfully,” he continues, “I know a couple of guys down at the police station. They know you’re here. They’re not exactly doing backflips over the fact that a ward of the state is holed up with a bunch of bikers, but they’ve agreed to leave it be unless someone calls the police looking for you.”
I shake my head back and forth. “They won’t,” I vow. No one ever bothers looking for me. As long as I leave the Stevens’ alone, they leave me alone.
“Well, you’re welcome here so long as you’re not wanted by the police,” Kincaid finishes.
“Thank you,” I say as he stands from the table. “I’ll pay you back for the hospitality.” I have no idea how, but I’ll think of a way. I don’t make promises lightly. Too many have been broken to me in my lifetime. I’d never want someone to feel the sting of that pain when I don’t follow through.
“I have no doubt about that,” he says.
I watch him make his way across the room to the man who made snide remarks twice to me this morning. He leans in really close, and I can’t hear what he says to him, but I have no doubt it has something to do with me. The guy looks up at me and then cuts his eyes away quickly as if he’s just sinned and is being judged by God himself.
“We’re glad that you’re here,” Emmalyn says beside me. “Don’t let the guys around here get you too riled up. Every one of them is honestly a big teddy bear at heart.” She gathers her things and stands from the table. “Besides, they’d never try to steal another one of the guys’ girls. You have nothing to worry about.” She pats my back as she walks away and follows Kincaid out of the room.
I don’t even have the energy to analyze her statement, so I look over at Shadow. “Where’s Kid?” I ask as he sets down his empty milk glass.