Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 132332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 441(@300wpm)
“My nephew did that?” Merlin asks, as if his influence is somehow responsible for Carter’s talent. “Damn.”
“He’s doing custom paint for us at Rock’s shop too,” Bricks adds. “Real talented artist.”
“Well, shit. All those faggy drawings he was always wasting his time on had a purpose after all.” Merlin smiles.
Rock stands. “Use that word in my clubhouse again or say that shit to Carter and I’ll scatter your parts from here to Mississippi.” He spits the threat out like a hail of bullets. “No one will ever find your body. You feel me?”
“Geez, when’d you all get so sensitive?” Merlin searches the table for someone who agrees but gets nothing.
“Enough bullshit.” I stand. “Where are we meeting them?”
“They have a camp on the Vermont side of the border.” Merlin lifts his chin at me. “Not far from where we took our little nighttime excursion.”
If he thinks he’s going to rattle me by alluding to his Wolf Knight brother that we killed and buried in Vermont, he’s mistaken. I told Rock about it the night it happened. My conscience is clear as far as my club’s concerned.
“Camp for what?” Jigsaw asks. “Hunting? Roasting marshmallows? Singing songs by the fire?”
“Cooking meth,” Merlin answers.
“Why the fuck were you involved with these jokers, again?” Rock snaps.
Merlin bristles. “It’s irrelevant at this point, Rock. I stepped down. Left my club, my home—”
“I don’t got a violin tiny enough for this shit,” Rooster says.
“I lost everything,” Merlin protests.
“Spare us the fucking sob story.” Rock leans in. “Those are all consequences of your actions.”
Wrath taps his finger against his jaw, a sure sign he’s about to say something obnoxious. “If I recall, your options were go nomad or go to ground.”
Merlin likes to act like he’d given up the gavel willingly because it was the right thing to do after his fuckups. Guess Wrath just blew that illusion to shit.
“I wouldn’t put it that way.” Merlin lifts his chin. “We ain’t sittin’ here to discuss ancient history, though, are we?” He nods at Ravage. “We’re here to get my nephew back.”
Murphy clenches his fists on the table but keeps his thoughts to himself. The tension rolling off him says he’s having a hard time not jumping over the table and punching Merlin’s jaw just like I want to do.
“Can we focus, please?” I ask with as much calm as I can muster under the circumstances. “How do we find this place?”
“It’s way out in the woods. They’ll hear us coming from a mile away,” he warns.
“Do you know how to find it or not?” Wrath asks.
“I can locate it.” He shrugs. “But they want to make the trade at a park outside Ironworks.”
Wrath catches my eye. “I don’t like it. That’s leaving Carter with these psychos for way too long.” Wrath turns to Merlin, seeking some sort of response, but Merlin’s a statue.
“These guys are dumb and unpredictable,” Rooster says. “They already cut off the kid’s toe.”
“They fucked with the wrong MC,” Dex adds. “They need to be taught a lesson.”
“Look, I know trust isn’t at its zenith right now,” Merlin says.
“That’s putting it mildly,” I grumble.
“But I’m here to see this through and get him back.”
“Good.” Probably be the first decent act he’s done all year.
Wrath sits forward, glances at Rock, then Z, then sits back. Something’s bothering him that he doesn’t seem to want to share.
Rock appears to pick up on his enforcer’s unease. He nods at Bricks. “Can you take Merlin down to the dining room and map out the location?”
“You got it, boss.” Bricks stands and pushes in his chair.
Rock nods to Stash, Hoot, and Birch. “Help him out.”
“Yup.” Stash is the first to jump out of his chair.
Merlin narrows his eyes at Rock but isn’t in a position to complain. It’s a perfectly reasonable request. And if he balks, four of my brothers will be happy to motivate him.
As soon as they’ve left, Rock focuses on Wrath. “What’s bothering you?”
“I overheard some of the conversation.” He jerks his thumb toward the chair Merlin just vacated. “They only asked for fifty thousand.”
“Motherfuckin’ piece of shit!” I shout.
“Simmer down,” Rock warns.
“He fuckin’ lied to our faces.”
“Let Wrath finish.”
“And,” Wrath continues, ignoring my outburst, “they expect him to marry that girl. Tomorrow.”
“Doesn’t sound like he has any intention of doing that,” Rooster comments.
Wrath taps two fingers on the table in front of him. “They want both things before they release Carter. The money and the wedding.”
“So, what was he planning to do?” I ask. “Take off with the extra money and leave Carter to be chopped into pieces?”
“Maybe,” Wrath says slowly. “Or he figures the extra money will bail him out of the wedding.”
“Uh, sounds like the wedding is more important than the cash to these clowns,” Dex points out.
“Exactly.”
“But if they don’t bring Carter to the exchange, we’re going to notice,” Jiggy says. “What was his plan for that?”