Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“I’m thrilled.” My voice is deadpan and heavy with sarcasm.
He laughs, and the sound is deep and slightly rough like he puts away a couple packs of cigarettes a day.
“I like you, lady, so I’m going to give you a message, and you’re going to pass it along. Yeah?”
I swallow around the gigantic lump in my throat and nod, eyes wide even though I’m trying really hard not to show my fear.
“I’m listening,” I tell him in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Good. That’s what I like to hear.” He leans in so close that his shoulder brushes against mine, and I freeze in place.
“Tell Shades that I want to see him. Soon.”
Shades. All the words he said to me last night in his drunken stupor come back to me on a wave of memories. About the women connected to bikers. Sexually assaulted. Tortured. Chained up. I shake my head to shake away the images trying to form in my head.
“I don’t know where Shades is, but I will pass along the message if I see him again.”
“Oh, come on, you’ll see him. And soon. Won’t you?” His gaze is penetrating yet menacing, and suddenly I feel that his question isn’t really a question. “Won’t you?”
“Uhm, sure. I guess I can call around and find him. Somehow.”
I know where Shades lives, and I’m sure I can get back there. It’s the last address in my navigation system.
“Who should I tell him the message is from?”
“He’ll know exactly who the message is from, sweetheart.”
The man stares at me again, and this time I know what he’s doing by towering over me and glowering down at me. He wants to intimidate me.
And it’s working.
I hold his gaze until he nods and takes a step back with a smarmy smile.
I manage to get out, “I’ll pass the message along,” without embarrassing myself too much.
“See that you do.”
“Don’t come back here again,” I tell him, my voice strong now and my insides shaking like the proverbial leaf. Before he’s out of my sight, I jump in my car, lock the doors, and turn the key.
Okay. Okay, I’m calm, or at least I’m getting there.
My mind races a million miles a minute, and I’m shaking. What do I do?
The roar of motorcycles in the distance calms me slightly but not enough, so I grip the wheel as tight as I can. I grip it until my knuckles ache and focus on that feeling.
I suck in a deep, deep breath. Then I let it out, slowly. After five or six breaths, I’m calmer. More focused.
Now that my mind is clear, I know what I have to do.
Find Shades.
Chapter Eighteen
Shades
“Goddamn,” Joaquin whistles as he takes in the underside of a three-year-old Honda Accord up on a rack, shaking his head with his hands on his hips as he takes in the damage.
“How in the fuck do you drive up on a boulder that’s three feet tall?”
“Very carefully?” Lucky throws his head back and laughs.
The car is a goddamn mess, and I’m glad it’s not my problem. “At least we know where to you find you for the next few days,” I tell him with a smile.
Joaquin flips me off in response and gives Lucky a shove. “Fuck you both.”
“Do a good job,” Coop claps him on the back, “and maybe that cutie will give you a taste. She was a flirty one, wasn’t she?”
Joaquin brushes one shoulder and then the other with a satisfied smile. “I’m hot as fuck and charming as hell, but if I get this trainwreck fixed within a week, she’ll be begging me to fuck her.”
I roll my eyes and snort, then turn back to the bike in front of me. I don’t need to be here today but staying home and thinking about Letty watching the door for me to show up at church was eating me up inside.
I don’t owe her a damn thing, but the fucking guilt won’t go away, so I figure I’ll show up at Ace Motors to distract myself with work, something easy like fuel tank rust I can handle in my sleep.
“What or who did you get up to last night?” Ace finally asks in a teasing tone, one he uses more and more since he and McKenna became a thing.
“None of your business,” I growl out of frustration. Rubbing one out with Letty in mind helped but only in the moment. Ten minutes later, I was hard and aching for her again.
That time, I wanted the real fucking girl.
“Oh, he’s touchy about this one.” Coop’s laughter gets under my skin, and I try to shut out their playful banter. Usually, I’m in the middle of the banter and shit talking but not today.
“What’s the matter, Shades, Church Girl turn you down?”
“Nah, man,” Joaquin begins, smiling at Coop. “She’s probably saving the pussy for Jesus and only offered up the asshole.” He slides a look my way. “Am I right? You don’t have to say. I’ve fucked my fair share of Catholic asses.”