Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
So I wasn’t being quick on the draw, sue me. I’d never been cornered by a pack of bikers before. I was learning that threw you off your game.
“Until today, I haven’t spoken to my father in ten years,” I told them something they clearly didn’t know.
They all looked among each other at that.
“It’d be good to know why you’re in this at all,” the last guy to speak, spoke.
“I’d explain that if I knew myself,” I said honestly. “I don’t. I heard about what happened. I knew nothing about Babić, though I also heard he’d been arrested. But when I saw my father, who, I’ll warn you, is very good at what he does, was going to defend him, I felt compelled to…get involved.”
“By putting yourself in the path of a criminally insane lunatic?” Man-bun guy demanded to know.
It was a good question, one with no good answer.
“I will admit, I may not have been thinking clearly,” I confessed, not about to share it was more about being overly emotional. “But I did it and we are where we are, so the reasons why we’re here don’t matter.”
I felt Hugger’s attention, so I turned to him, only to wish I didn’t because I suddenly felt naked. Like he could see every inch of me, not just on the outside, but deep down, places I didn’t even dwell, and by no means did I explore.
Therefore, I quickly turned my eyes away.
“If she won’t do safe house, or protective custody,” the tall one said, “then it’s about security. A man in your place and patrol outside it.”
A man in my place?
“You mean, a man staying in my place with Suzette and me?” I asked to clarify. “Or a man to take my place?”
“Although you bein’ nowhere near this shit would be optimal, if you won’t relocate, then you’re getting another roommate,” Hugger decreed.
Oh boy.
“Listen—” I started.
“No,” Hugger bit out so sharply, it cut like a razor.
I felt that pain, so I shut my mouth.
He then laid it out.
And me while he was doing it.
“You got no idea what you’re doin’. You don’t even have any idea why you’re doin’ it. We got muscle. We got guns. We got manpower. We got a stake in this. And we got experience. You either got an axe to grind or something to prove to your pops. You gotta work that out, but not at the expense of a woman who needs someone looking out for her, not whatever she’s workin’ out for herself. You got her to the point she feels safe with you, whatever. We’ll take your back too. Now you’re gonna walk us into your crib, introduce us to Suzette and tell her you recruited reinforcements. And we’re gonna take it from there.”
“Excuse me, but this isn’t about me at all,” I snapped.
“It isn’t?” he bit back.
That hit uncomfortably close to the bone.
“Maybe why I started it, but it isn’t where it’s at now,” I retorted.
“Bullshit,” he shot back.
He was a little right and a lot wrong.
The wrong part pissed me off.
“You’ve known me maybe five minutes,” I returned. “You can’t make those judgments about me.”
“Remember that part I said about experience?” he inquired sarcastically.
“Yes, I do,” I replied. “And maybe you’ll explain that, since you’ve shared only you’re members of motorcycle clubs, not top-notch security consultants or behavioral scientists.”
He leaned his strapping torso back, and asked, “You think you got this?”
“No, I do not. But tell me, if you were me and four dudes cornered you in an elevator and offered assistance, out of what apparently is the goodness of their hearts mixed with some vague camaraderie with the victim of a violent crime, and you’d promised a woman you’d do what you could to keep her safe, would you let those four guys waltz in and take over?”
He swung a long arm out to indicate the others and replied, “They looked like us and were offering when you got nothin’ to offer, fuck yeah, I’d let them waltz in and take over.”
He had a point.
“Again, it’s not this woman’s choice,” man-bun guy said. “It’s Suzette’s.”
It was, damn it.
Don’t get me wrong, these men showing out of the blue was a gift from God. Especially if there were more of them.
I wasn’t a fan of the “we got guns” assertion, because I wasn’t a big fan of guns. Though, I suspected Babić and his boys had them, so at least that evened those odds.
I also was a little confused about the “we got experience” portion of his litany.
But I’d texted Suzette when to expect me home. She was expecting me home. I didn’t want to worry her and this was waylaying me from getting to her so she wouldn’t worry.
I had another decision to make, and it was a big one.
I wasn’t really sure what was going on.