Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Brick took care of the bill, and we walked back to the vehicle, which was parked in the middle of several motorcycles now. Two of the club members leaned lazily against the truck, but I could see they were alert and very aware of their surroundings. One more mark in the club’s favor. They took security seriously. Even in the middle of a place that was family friendly as they come.
“In you go.” Roman startled me as he came up behind me and Serelda. I gasped in a breath and met his gaze. His eyes were black as night, though his hair was lighter and liberally dusted with gray. Short and shaggy, his beard had silver at the sides and chin. Though much of it was still dark, he was mostly a salt-and-pepper mix. One I found comforting to look at. He wasn’t my age, though I was no young woman like Iris. I was thirty-five. Roman was probably pushing fifty. I’d thought it might freak me out since Serelda and I had been traumatized by older men, but it didn’t. And Roman might be close in age to those men, but he was nothing like them in appearance or manner.
We complied, getting into the back seat. I helped Serelda with her seatbelt, then fastened my own. She was arguably the stronger of the two of us, but in some ways she was also the most fragile. She’d gone through so much. I’d vowed to protect her as viciously as she’d protected me. That included letting her retreat behind me from time to time. Now, she sat beside me. I had my arm around her, and she’d buried her face in my chest while she clung to me, trembling from the stress of being around so many unfamiliar people.
“You good?” Roman turned to regard us as he got in and shut the door. When I nodded, he started the vehicle. “Good. We’ll be home in another hour and a half. Ain’t as fancy as Black Reign’s setup, but it’s home. We’ll make sure you’ve got a place to yourself so you can have some privacy but still be in the middle of our protection.”
“Thank you.” My voice was soft. While I was intrigued with Roman, I was also intimidated by him. “We appreciate you letting us continue on with you.”
“Didn’t have much choice, sweetheart. Couldn’t very well leave you on the side of the road.”
“No. I guess not.” It was a shit thing to do to this club, but Rycks would never have allowed us to leave. Not because he held us prisoner. Because he tried his best to protect us. He had been since he and El Segador had rescued us in Las Vegas. Which was part of the problem. Sometimes, it felt like we were being smothered by the protection of Black Reign.
Leaving like we had had been a drastic move on our part. This club was an unknown. It was a stupid move, but my gut told me this was the right thing to do if we wanted a fresh start. After discussing it over several weeks with Serelda, we knew this was what we had to do.
“Gonna ask you one more time. Just us in here. I need to know. Did anyone from Black Reign hurt you? Are you runnin’ ‘cause you’re afraid of someone there?”
I shook my head. “No! They’ve been nothing but good to us. All of them.” I met his gaze in the rearview mirror before ducking my head. “It’s… They protect us too much sometimes. We’ve been there a very long time. While we needed to be there for the most part, it’s just time.”
We were silent for a long time. Serelda still had her head against my chest. Occasionally I’d meet Roman’s eyes in the mirror, but I couldn’t hold them.
“You didn’t think anyone in Black Reign would ever see you as anything but victims.” It wasn’t a statement. “Why not go to Salvation’s Bane? Or Bones? Y’all are sister clubs. Right?”
“Same reason.” I spoke softly, not really wanting to have this discussion in the car, but I knew he’d demand his answers one way or the other. Best to give in and get it over with. “Our stepsister is married to a man from Bones, and they know us at Salvation’s Bane, too. They might not know everything, but they know enough.”
“You know you can’t keep this a secret. If you’re gonna live alongside us, we have to know what your likely triggers are, and if there is anyone who might come lookin’ for you.”
“There’s no one to come for us.”
“Oh? El Diablo took care of your attackers?”
I shrugged. “No clue. At least, not the men who actually scarred us. There were more than one on multiple occasions. But the man who allowed it to happen, who facilitated it all and sold us out? Yeah. He’s dead.”