Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Scrapper and Reaper back him up immediately. “You coulda fucking died,” snaps Reaper and he sounds genuinely pissed.
“And I haven't forgotten my promise,” says Scrapper, and I'm having a really hard time figuring out if he's really angry, or is just looking forward to throwing me over his knee. My butt's aching just at the thought, but I'm surprised to find I don't hate the idea either. But that's later.
“Alright. But before you can fuck me, we need to fuck the system.”
Scrapper grins. “I love the sound of that.”
38
MILA
When the door in the huge gate opens, and I see Danny in regular street clothes for the first time in six years, I lose it completely.
I thought I would be strong, and with my men along for backup, I thought I could handle it. Turns out, it's even more emotional than I expected. When Danny smiles as he comes walking towards me, I can barely see through my tears as I run towards him and throw myself into his arms. He squeezes me close, a thing I thought I might never feel again, or at least not for a very, very long time.
“I missed you, Mini-mi,” he says, choked up. I'm not the only one. “I thought I'd never see the outside of this place again. You did it. You actually fucking did it.”
I nod against his shirt, crying. I just need to know that he's really there, that he's really real. That he's really free.
“I should be pissed at you, you know that, right?”
Even through my tears, I hiccup a laugh as I smear my face into his shirt again by nodding.
“You did everything I told you not to do. Take on the system. Take stupid risks. Mila, you almost died.” He mostly sounds exasperated though, and not really angry. Not anymore at least.
“So did you. Sorry, not sorry.”
He sighs deeply. “I'm just glad you're safe. How about you introduce me to those assholes behind you?”
“They aren’t assholes!”
“They’re fucking my little sister, I can call them whatever the hell I want.”
I've told him about what happened during my last visit. In a perfect world, he would have been released immediately, but the system moves slowly, even when local officials are exposed as corrupt and criminal. And especially if the person under review actually committed a crime. No one has mentioned the video of him shooting Mullerby, so we’re all just avoiding the subject and hoping Snark got all the copies. I’m not stupid. I know it will probably come back to bite Danny or us in the ass later, but I’m also not going to go chasing trouble.
For a while anyway.
I drag him over to Mack, Reaper and Scrapper, and make introductions.
He looks between the three of them, then smiles. “I'll admit that when Mila told me that she'd hooked up with three bikers from the Screaming Eagles MC, I wasn't super thrilled. But then she's told me about all the things you guys have done for her, and how I've got the three of you to thank for the fact that she’s alive. Not to mention the fact that she was able to then get me out of jail, so… Maybe it's better that she's got three guys like you to look after her. She’s too much work for one person to keep track of.”
The guys all laugh and nod.
“Hey!” I put my fists to my hips. “You don't have to be that quick to agree.”
“He speaks the truth, babe,” says Scrapper, not looking sorry at all.
“Great.” I roll my eyes.
“You know what my favorite part of all this is?” says Reaper.
I cock my head curiously. “What?”
He holds up his phone to show us the Channel 7 website, where Judge Kincaid features prominently with the headline GUILTY. “All counts. His appeal was rejected, and soon he’ll start serving time. I feel like that's a bit of poetic fucking justice, to be honest.”
It makes me smile. “He deserves it, but do you think he’s just a scapegoat? He never seemed like he was some kind of big boss mastermind, you know what I mean? Like we know he made up his granddaughter to get me to talk to him, and then sent those cars after us, so trust me, I have exactly zero sympathy for him, but still.” I shrug.
Reaper nods. “Oh, he pretty much said as much when we… um… interviewed him after the Cleanup Crew brought him back to the pit.”
The Cleanup Crew and the Misfits caught him trying to skip town with his suitcases packed while I was busy being rescued at the TV studio. I passed on a second trip to the pit. I didn’t want to see more violence and I feel like I've flirted more than enough with the Geneva convention already. Then they delivered him to the authorities, all gift wrapped and done up for them, nicely coordinated with the broadcast of my exposé. Ella got most of the credit for that, which I'm fine with. I think I'm happier not being noticed by strangers for a while.