Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Janna picked up right away.
I didn’t beat around the bush.
“I get excruciating care too,” I told her.
She already knew.
“Mm-hm.”
“I don’t want him to think he has to do that.”
“Hon, you just gotta keep a finger on the pulse. When is it him doing what he needs to do? When is it going too far? When it’s too far, talk to him. One thing these boys have learned is how to listen and hear.”
That was very true.
“Do you want to meet up with me and my girls at Fortnum’s for coffee sometime?”
It was her turn not to beat around the bush.
“I’d love to.”
Core
They met where they often met, in the parking lot of the grocery store.
Core was waiting for him, and Beck approached on his bike from the front and stopped to Core’s side, so they were facing.
Beck cut power and looked at Core.
“We got a problem with Eleanor Moynihan,” Core announced.
Beck’s lips thinned.
Then he nodded.
EPILOGUE
THE MAN HE NEEDED TO BE
Hellen
“I feel the need to have a thing,” Janna announced. “And I think I should kick it off with a New Year’s Party, but I don’t know what that thing should be.”
It was the Sunday before Christmas and the new girl gang was at Fortnum’s, that gang including Marcy, Kyra, Janna, me and my two sisters, Li and Archie.
We were hanging on the couches and armchairs at the window and were deep into coffee number two.
“A thing?” Marcy asked.
“Like Chaos has hog roasts, Resurrection needs a thing,” Janna answered. “The guys, they get together. The whole club, women, kids, we sometimes do, but mostly it’s whoever is hanging in the clubhouse at any given time. We don’t have our thing. A bonding thing that we can invite our friends to and just let loose, be together and make memories. We need a thing.”
Chaos’s hog roasts were the bomb, so I thought Janna was right.
Resurrection needed a thing.
It came to me.
“Smoke,” I declared.
Li perked up. “A weed fest?”
“Jag and I would be all over that,” Archie joked.
I shook my head, laughing. “No.” I turned to Janna. “Beck loves to smoke meat. You told me you got him that smoker a couple of years ago, and now he smokes his own meat all the time. When we were over for dinner the other night, he smoked that pulled pork for us. It was amazing. The club needs to buy a big smoker and have smokes.”
“Oh my God, that’s the perfect idea,” Janna breathed.
“I’d be all the way down to attend a smoke,” Marcy said. “And as an aside, calling it a ‘smoke’ rather than a ‘barbeque’ is badass.”
I smiled proudly because I thought so too.
“You could have all sorts of yummy sides. It can be potluck. Everyone can bring something.”
“A New Year’s Smoke. I dig it,” Li agreed.
“Resurrection’s First Annual New Year’s Smoke,” Janna corrected. “Sisters, you’re in on it. We’re making it a tradition.” She was already on her phone. “I’m going to text the women, get it on their calendars right now. New Year’s is just around the corner. We’re a family.” Her eyes moved to rest on me. “Our family is expanding. We should have family gatherings.”
Her gaze coming to me, making it official, at least from the old lady perspective that I was Resurrection, felt super good.
And no one could argue what she said.
So no one did.
Core
Rush Allen brought three of his brothers to the meet: Shy Cage, and Dutch and Jagger Black.
Resurrection pulled up some chairs at the table for them.
They were gathered.
Beck started it by saying, “Core’s gonna run shit down.”
Beck looked at him, so Core ran everything down.
When he was done explaining what Nails had been up to, he pointed out the obvious.
“She knows a lot about me. She knows a lot about Hellen. She knows a lot about the history and activities of our club. Too much. She’s from Denver, but she’s lived in Phoenix the past twenty years. People talk, but not to her. What she did to the brothers of Aces High, she’s known and she’s an outcast from most clubs. She’s also not a supersleuth. She’s a biker bunny. This isn’t a black sheep taking her daddy issues out on members of her family. This is something more.”
“She’s being fed info,” Rush said, then added. “Which means you’re being watched.”
Core nodded. “And we’re being investigated. It isn’t just the present she’s raking up, it’s the past.”
The Chaos brothers looked as happy about this as Resurrection.
“Distraction?” Rush suggested to Beck.
“My guess was the same,” Beck replied.
“From what?” Dutch asked.
Beck looked to Dutch.
“That’s what we gotta find out.”
Hellen
I walked in through the garage door after coffee with the girls and called out, “Baby, I’m home.”
Nanook heard me come in and was there to greet me. I returned the sentiment with a rubdown, then I threw my keys in the tray on the desk area in the kitchen where they landed next to Core’s.