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)
I took a couple slow steps toward Danny. Off in the distance I heard motorcycles rumbling toward us. I didn’t take my eyes from my target, but the others moved to give me room. Which meant the bikes had to be Grim Road MC.
“Evelyn is perfectly fine, and Luke and Aneshya could give two shits if you come home or not.”
Danny blinked up at me, shaking his head. “You’re lying. They told me -- uh, that is, I heard she’d been shot.”
“Well, whoever told you she was shot got it wrong.” I tilted my head. “Who was that, anyway? Happened fifteen minutes ago. We haven’t called anyone. No one came around the house when shots were fired. No neighbors in this area to come check things out.” Narrowing my eyes even more, I took another slow step toward Danny. “How’d you find out?”
I could tell the exact moment when Danny realized he was caught. His eyes widened, and he backed up a step before stopping himself and lifting his chin. “I know what you’re implying. If I’d set something like this up, why would I be here now, knowing you would likely be here? And your goons? I’d have driven on when I saw them if I’d had anything to do with this.”
“Unless you thought you’d get away with it. Which you might have. If anyone other than the people standing here knew anything about it.”
The bikes I’d heard pulled around the corner and parked so that they flanked Danny’s car, effectively blocking in the little MINI Cooper. Normally, no one would have used their bikes as a blockade, but the likelihood of a MINI Cooper doing much damage to someone’s bike was slim to none.
By the time Danny thought it might be wise to turn tail and run, our company had parked and dismounted their bikes and were approaching. Danny turned but came up short as Rocket, Lemon, Dom, and Apple were moving steadily toward him.
“What’s the meaning of this? You touch me and I’ll press charges.” Danny stuck up a finger, though he pointed at Lemon and Apple. Not Rocket and Dom. No doubt because he felt more comfortable threatening the women than the men as big as my president and sergeant at arms.
“Don’t worry,” Lemon said with an evil smile. “You can sue all you want. Well, assuming you survive the being ‘touched’.” She made air quotes around the word.
Danny turned around to confront me again. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, bringing thugs to intimidate me.” Then he flashed a cocky grin back over his shoulder at the women. “Wouldn’t mind gettin’ to know the bitches, though.”
The second the words were out of his mouth, something settled inside me. I wouldn’t have to take care of my brother. Because Rocket was about to.
Except it wasn’t Rocket who reached him first. Apple punted him in the back of the knee, causing him to fall. Lemon followed her by giving Danny a motorcycle boot to the head. He wasn’t out, but there was no way he was fighting. Or running.
“It’s the bitches you gotta worry about. The thugs are basically harmless.” Lemon grinned down at Danny. It wasn’t a pleasant smile. “Also, if you believe your girlfriend, the mother of your children, was just killed, should you really be thinkin’ ‘bout gettin’ to know the bitches?”
Then Apple delivered another kick to the head. “Do you even know what happened here?”
Danny groaned, clutching his head in his arms. I knelt down next to him, grabbing a handful of his hair and forcing him to look at me.
“They didn’t kill Evelyn, you worthless piece of shit. They killed Dad.”
Danny’s eyes got wide, and he shook his head, mouthing the word “no.” I held his gaze, letting my bombshell sink in.
“Dad?”
“That’s right. Could just as easily have been one of the kids. They were in the house with him. Bullet rebounded off something and went through the front window. Dad took it in the back.”
“That’s not possible.” He’d gone pale, his eyes wide and wild.
I turned to address Ringo. “You said not here. I ain’t lettin’ him go. What do you want me to do?” As sergeant at arms, Dom was in charge of security. Ringo was in charge of carrying out Dom’s orders.
Ringo turned to Dom, who turned to Rocket. The president put his arm around Lemon, who snuggled against him. Neither of them was ever shy about being affectionate with each other, even in a situation like this.
“Lemon filled me in. Got two choices. Let the authorities deal with it or take him back to the compound. Either way, we’ll need some kind of proof.”
“Already disturbed the scene,” Ringo said. “We packaged Mr. Knoxville for transport to wherever Knox wants to bury him.”
“Well, I guess that answers that. Crush and Byte are already looking into Danny’s movements since the fire. If he did this, they’ll find out.” Rocket stepped toward me, reaching out a hand. I took it without hesitation. “I’m sorry for your loss, Knox. Lemon said your father was one hell of a man.”