Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 72401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
I could’ve had her before she even realized something was wrong.
Then my stomach started to knot.
“That could’ve been her,” I said aloud, but not meaning to.
“That’s something else I wanted to talk to you about,” Loki said quietly. “That’s why I invited myself over. Audrey said something to me today. Something you’re not going to like.”
I closed my eyes and waited, knowing down deep that it was going to be bad.
“Audrey said today while she confirmed her statement that the man said something,” Loki said quietly as he watched the door where Rue had disappeared earlier. “Audrey and Rue were seen together the day it’d happened. Audrey was a message…to Rue.”
The men surrounding me stayed silent as I processed what was said.
“She got punished for being friends with Rue,” I stated softly.
Tunnel’s face was set in stone, and Loki’s was just as hard as he nodded his head in confirmation. “Yeah.”
I took a long, deep breath. “Don’t let Rue find out. That’d gut her.”
Fuck.
Rue came out of the house moments after my epiphany and I knew, right then and there, that whatever I had to do, I’d keep her safe.
It wouldn’t happen to her.
Oh, she’d be watched like a hawk, and she’d feel smothered, but that wouldn’t be happening. Not now. Not fucking ever.
Chapter 16
Treat your woman like a princess, and fuck her like a whore.
-Biker rule number fifty seven
Cleo
“You’re buying the company?” Rue asked in surprised.
Silas, who’d just informed us that he’d already set plans in motion to buy Life Flight, said it’d be finalized within the next couple of months.
In the meantime, he had complete control of who did and didn’t work there. So I now had my job back, as well as a new supervisor position to boot.
“I’m not really supervisor material,” I said worriedly.
Rue snorted. “He’s really not.”
I winked at her.
“To be honest, I don’t really care if you are or not. You’re doing this, because I want you to do this. There’s no other reason,” Silas informed me.
I sighed.
I knew chain of command.
I also knew our MC.
If my president wanted me to do it, I’d do it. But I wouldn’t necessarily like it.
“I don’t have to have his office, do I?” I clarified.
He shook his head. “No, for now, Alfonzo is staying in place. He’s still got his title, just not any pull, or rank. He can no longer make those decisions, either. The man I bought it from, Ulysses, was a buddy of mine from Desert Storm. He’s got prostate and rectal cancer, and isn’t doing so well any more. His kids are all dead, and he’s unaware of what’s been going on. The partner who’d helped found the Life Flight here in Shreveport died a couple of years ago, but left it all to Ulysses. Kid was pretty bitter about it, so Ulysses gave him the job as ‘director’ about a year ago. Then he got sick, and the kid had to pick up quite a bit of the slack.”
I grimaced. “I knew the prick. His name’s Forrester. Brenton Forrester.”
Silas nodded, flicking his eyes once to Rue before moving them back to me. “Yeah, it is. He’s the one you’ve been showing off for. The new bird you got a couple of weeks ago is his doing. He’s also pulled the money out of somewhere, but none of it has anything to do with the business. That’s what has Ulysses in a tither. He thinks the kid is into some bad shit, and after seeing some of the shit he’s bought in the last couple months, with no money trail in sight, I’m wanting to agree with him.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why the heck would he want to buy stuff for the company? And aren’t helicopters like…a million dollars? What was wrong with the old one? I seem to remember hearing the ER talking about that a couple of months ago. They’d just gotten a new one around four years ago, right?” Rue asked me.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I started working within a week after getting the new bird.”
“Where do they house the old one, or is it still used?” Silas asked.
I shook my head. “Not anywhere that I know of. We use just the one.”
Silas sat back in his chair, looking out the window thoughtfully.
Silas lived almost directly across the same lake that Kettle and Sebastian lived on; Silas’ house was much smaller, though. It was a nice place, but there wasn’t much to it.
Which I guess suited Silas. And also explained why he was able to afford buying a company like it was no skin off his nose.
I wasn’t doing badly, but I wasn’t a millionaire, either.
I made an honest living, but I lived paycheck to paycheck just like the rest of the world.
No one would think by the way Silas lived that he had the kind of money to throw around like that, either.
“I’ll do some looking into it. In the meantime, just go about doing your job. Keep an ear out, though. You never know what you’ll hear,” Silas said before standing, which was our cue to leave.
Rue stood along with me, and we all started walking towards Silas’ front door.
I opened it, interrupting a woman’s attempted knock.
“Oh!” The woman exclaimed. “You scared me. Is Silas- Oh! Hey, Silas! I wanted to see if I could trouble you for a cup of beer.”
I blinked.
Well that line was original.
I’d heard of asking the neighbor for sugar…but beer was definitely unique.
“Oh, sure thing Reba, darlin’,” Silas said as he disappeared into the kitchen.
We all stared at each other.
Rue and Reba looked at each other quizzically for long moments before they both came to a realization at the same time.
“Reba!”
“Rue!”
They both yelled each other’s names and then started laughing.
“I take it you two know each other?” I asked dryly.
Rue nodded. “Yep. She’s a float nurse. Reba, this is Cleo. Cleo, Reba. I don’t see her all that often. I knew I’d seen you somewhere.”
The last statement had been directed towards Reba who’d held out her hand for me to shake.