Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 142728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“We’re leaving,” I say again and punch the button for the window to raise it.
The guy stalks a few feet in front of the truck and glares.
“Jesus, fuck. We’re going, asshole,” I growl.
“Oh my God,” Emily mumbles against my shirt.
“I think he’s going to watch us until we leave.” I nudge her arm. “But he’s a few feet away now.”
She slowly peels herself off my body. The absence of her warmth makes me want to jump out of the truck and beat the intruder bloody. Instead, I zip and button my jeans. I’ll worry about my belt later.
“Damn. I think I’m stuck.” Emily peers over her shoulder. “Your steering wheel is holding my butt hostage.”
Laughing, I twist and shift, untangling our bodies and easing her into a position where she can crawl over to the passenger side.
She throws herself into the seat and grabs the belt, quickly clicking it into place. “Yikes. I hope he didn’t see or hear us.”
“I hope he did,” I grumble, twisting the key in the ignition. “Nosy fuck.”
Emily reaches behind the seat, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a long swallow.
I glance over. “You okay? You didn’t have to—”
“I’m fine.” She offers me the bottle and I take it from her, finishing it.
“I think that was the last one. I’ll get you another when we stop at the pizza place.”
“Shoot.” She slaps her hand against her forehead. “I forgot that we promised to bring home pizza.”
I reach over and squeeze her leg. “You were occupied.”
“I sure was.”
She sounds so damn pleased with herself. As she should. She’s fucking amazing. I chuckle and shift into reverse, backing away from the angry guard who doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to move.
When we’re far enough away from him, I execute a three-point turn and head for the main road.
“Phew!” Emily opens her window and fans herself. “I hope he didn’t grab your plate number. We might go on some sort of naughty visitor list.”
“Won’t be the first list I’m on.” I reach over and tap her leg. “You want to text Libby and see if her order is still the same?”
“Sure.” She pulls out her phone and swipes over the screen while I try to remember which way to the pizza place.
She really did scramble my brain.
Left. It’s gotta be left.
I make the turn and press down on the gas, wanting to get the hell away.
“Yup,” Emily announces. “She’s thrilled someone else wants to eat ham and pineapple pizza with her.”
I grin. “Not your first choice, I take it?”
“Nope. We usually get half-and-half, but a piece of pineapple always seems to make its icky way onto my side.” She gives her whole body a disgusted shake that I catch out of the corner of my eye. “This way, you two can enjoy your abomination and I’ll have my sausage, mushroom, and olives like a civilized person.”
“I didn’t think pineapple belonged on pizza before I tried it,” I admit.
“I’ve tried it. It’s the devil’s pizza topping.”
“Okay.” I raise my fingers off the steering wheel in surrender. “More for us.”
I turn into the parking lot and drive around the building, claiming a spot close to the door.
“You know your way around this place,” Emily says.
“It’s almost halfway between our upstate and downstate clubhouses so we meet up here once in a while.” I gesture toward the larger building in front. “They have a sit-down restaurant too.”
“Downstate is Grayson’s club now, right?” she asks.
I don’t know why I’m happy she pays attention to stuff like that. Or that she cares enough to ask questions. But I am.
“Yup. Z stole him from us.” It’s supposed to be a joke but damn if it doesn’t feel like Downstate’s robbed us of a lot in the last couple years. But Emily doesn’t know that.
“You’re all club brothers, though, right?” she asks. “So, still part of the same club.”
“Right.” I lean back and buckle my belt. “You know how you can love a family member but not always like them? That’s kind of what the relationship between Upstate and Downstate was for years.” I stare straight ahead out the windshield. “Z taking over as president has brought the two clubs back together in a lot of ways.”
“But a little of that competitiveness still remains?”
Damn, she’s perceptive. “You could say that. Things are a lot better down there with Z in charge. In the past, our clubs didn’t always see situations the same way.”
She seems to turn that over in her head. “Serena’s very tight-lipped about club stuff. But I know her ex was part of your…part of the…downstate club.”
My jaw tightens at the mention of Shadow. He’s dead and buried for betraying the club. I need to tread carefully when I talk about him.
“Yeah,” I answer slowly. “He was one of the brothers who didn’t operate within our code. Guys with his outlook didn’t stick around after Z stepped into the president’s role.”