Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
***
Sebastian
“Where are you?” I grumbled.
I’d gotten Baylee’s message after we’d attended church.
The annual barbeque was this weekend, and everyone was scheduled to arrive within the next few days.
Every year we chose a different chapter’s location to meet and reconnect.
Although most of the Dixie Wardens saw each other periodically throughout the year, we’d made it a habit to have a scheduled time and place to meet and discuss anything new that had happened over the past year.
This year it was the Louisiana chapter’s turn to host.
I’d been lucky to get Baylee’s call. Normally, when I was at the clubhouse, I didn’t get messages because there was no cell coverage. We had a landline, but stupidly I’d forgotten to give it to Baylee.
She probably thought I was still upset with her, but the events of her fucking up royally and me trying to get everything together for our annual barbeque and getting all our ducks in a row coincided, making it incredibly hard to even talk to her in the last three days.
I was lucky to fall into bed and sleep for four hours.
Sure, I could’ve made some time to call her, but, to be honest, I was still pretty upset.
However when I’d gotten the message of her asking me in a pleading voice to go to her doctor’s appointment, I’d dropped everything, much to my father’s consternation.
Then there was the escalating arson fires. I barely had time to take a breath. But I’d do anything for my old lady. Even face my father’s wrath.
The old man was still getting used to the fact that he wasn’t number one in my life anymore.
My phone vibrated in his pocket, and I answered it quickly without even looking at the readout. “Baylee?” I asked quickly.
“Nope. This is Stone. So, you got yourself a little woman?”
Stone was the president of the Alabama chapter. He was supposed to be at the boats letting off steam, so why exactly was he asking about my woman when he’d never even seen her?
“Yeah,” I answered cautiously.
“She looks kind of upset. What’d you do to get yourself in the doghouse already?”
I sat up from my sprawl, gripping the seat so hard that I heard the leather creak with the force.
“What do you mean? Where are you? How do you know it’s my woman?” I asked quickly.
“Gas station at the Louisiana/Texas border. She’s leaning against a plate glass window with your property patch plastered between her back and the window curled into a ball.” he replied just as quickly.
“Don’t let her leave. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I didn’t waste any time getting my bike started and flooring it out of the parking lot. The ride there felt a lot like déjà vu. Only this time I knew she’d be safe; but she didn’t.
She was probably scared shitless. Stone’s men were somewhat rough around the edges.
Sure enough, when I pulled into the parking lot and parked my bike next to Stone’s, I could see Baylee curled tightly into a ball on the bench in the front of the store.
Her eyes were looking anywhere but at Stone’s men.
Sighing, I swung my leg over my bike, nodded thankfully at Stone, and headed in my wayward woman’s direction.
The closer I got to her, the more she shrunk into herself. She had no idea it was me, but it still hurt. My heart wasn’t as intelligent as my mind.
Another weird thing happened once I was within ten feet or so of her. My anger evaporated.
I could make out the telltale signs of exhaustion. Her eyes were red-rimmed. Deep bags hung under each eye, and her skin was pale, as if she hadn’t been feeling well.
Which she very well might have. I didn’t know shit since I’d avoided her calls, whether it was intentional or unintentional on my part.
For the most part, though, she looked...defeated.
Then she finally turned her face towards me, and every single sign of defeat vanished, and she launched herself at me.
My ribs smarted from the impact of our bodies colliding with each other, but I relished the bite of pain. It was a good feeling to have her in my arms again.
My nose found its way to the crook of her neck and I smelled the distinct sweetness that was her. The rightness. The primal part of me basked in the feeling of home.
Then her nose buried into the crook of my neck making me shiver.
“You’re freezing.” I said, wrapping my arms a little tighter around her.
“I was feeling pretty good with just the long sleeved shirt and the pants when I got out of the car. Then I started sitting here, and all of those bikers showed up. I was too worried to move after that.” She explained
“Why didn’t you make the appointment?” I asked her.
Baylee started laughing humorlessly. “It died about five miles that way.” She said pointing West with her finger.
I stilled when I realized she’d walked the entire way.
Pushing her back slightly so I could see her face, I scowled at her. “Why didn’t you call me?”
She produced her own scowl. “Would you have answered?”
Touché.
“It’s been a busy three days. I haven’t purposely avoided you. I’ve been getting tons of shit taken care of that comes with 500 bikers from our club entering into town at one time. I’m sorry, baby.” I explained.
“You couldn’t spare one single phone call?” She asked skeptically.
I grimaced, holding on to her a tad tighter. “I should have. There’s no excuse. I was just so fucking mad. You could have died, Baylee.”
“I know. I was monumentally stupid.” She whispered forlornly.
Turning with her in my arms, I led her over to where Stone was still leaning casually against his bike.
I had to laugh at the expression on Baylee’s face the closer we got to Stone and the other members of the club. They were all a little rougher than the Louisiana chapter. A little more into the hardcore side of the biker life. They lived a little bit rougher, and played a little bit harder.