Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
“Damned straight,” Knox muttered. He pulled me into his arms, and I let him. Right now, there was no other place I wanted to be than with Knox.
“You want me to have Lemon come get her?” Rocket spoke softly.
“Evie! What about the kids? They need their father!”
“You lost the right to call them that when you had someone try to kill me with the kids nearby.” I jerked, shoving away from Knox and moving closer to Danny. “You tried to kill me, Danny. With Luke and Aneshya right there.” My voice shook. Hell, my whole body trembled.
“Yeah, Evie, I heard you the first time,” he muttered. That was the Danny I knew. The one who talked down to me when he got drunk or was generally frustrated. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, I wanted to make him hurt the way he’d made me hurt. I thought that, now, maybe I could dish out what I should have years ago.
“You did, huh?” I wanted to hit him. To hurt him like he’d hurt Grover. Unfortunately, not only did I not have something to hit him with, I wasn’t that kind of person. I didn’t have it in me to really hurt someone unless it was in defense of my kids. It was the thought that they could have been hurt that brought me to this state of mind in the first place, but they were home safe with Lemon, Apple, and three of Grim Road’s men protecting them. So I did the only thing I could do. I spat in Danny’s face. “Did you hear that? No? That’s the sound of how many fucks I give about you. You disgust me!”
“Evelyn. Evie.” Danny gave me his best pleading face. “You know they’re gonna kill me unless you do something.”
“I’m not sure I could do anything to change the outcome for you even if I wanted to.” A hand rested on my shoulder gently. Without even looking I knew it was Knox. “You dug your own grave. Now, it’s time you lie in it.”
“Come on, Evie!”
I turned and buried my face in Knox’s chest. “I want to go home.”
“Then that’s where I’ll take you.”
“Evie? Please.” Danny actually sounded like he was going to cry. “You and the kids are all I’ve got left!”
I took a deep breath and turned back to him. “Goodbye, Danny.”
Chapter Thirteen
Knox
There was nothing in this world I wanted to do more than to see to Danny’s demise myself… except take care of Evelyn. She said she wanted to go home, so that’s where I was going to take her.
The second she told Danny goodbye I scooped her up and carried her out of the bunker. Rocket and Dom would do what needed to be done and let me know once it was all over.
I carried Evelyn to the truck and set her down beside it. “You gonna be all right?”
She looked up at me. Her eyes were shiny like she was struggling not to cry, but she nodded. “Yes.” She took a breath before leaning her head against my chest. “I’m not upset about Danny. Not really. At least, not for me. I think I knew there was nothing between us for a long time. There was a time when I might even have missed him. Maybe on some level I will.” She shook her head. “I think it’s more I’ll miss the man I thought he was.”
“You understand this has to be done. Right?”
“Of course.” She put her hand on my face and stood up on her tiptoes to brush a kiss on my cheek. “I only wish I was strong enough to do it myself, but I’m not.”
“You’ll never do anything violent as long as you have me, Evelyn. That’s what I’m here for.”
“To destroy my problems?”
I chuckled. “You got that right, honey. I get to destroy all your problems.”
“You know you can’t do that. Right?”
“I can and I will, baby.”
Evelyn’s lower lip trembled, then with a cry, she threw herself into my arms. I held her tightly while she cried, trying to soothe her but knowing this was probably cathartic for her.
I gave her a few minutes to get herself under control before helping her into the truck. I knew the guys wouldn’t do anything until they heard us leave. I really didn’t want Evelyn to be here when they killed Danny. It would likely be a clean bullet to the head, but she didn’t need to hear or be here when they disposed of his body.
Once we were settled inside the truck, I started it and left the area, moving back to the main section of our territory. I stopped just before we made it in sight of the walled-off family area and put the truck in park.
I shoved my seat back and reached for Evelyn where she sat next to me. “Come here, honey.” She didn’t resist as I urged her to straddle my lap. I wrapped my arms around her while she let her tears fall. I rubbed her back, not trying to quiet her, but hoping my touch could somehow help her release the emotions I knew she held back.