Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 101001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 505(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 505(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
A wry smile curved his lips. “Baby, when are you gonna understand that Curly’s the head of this fucked-up family? He’ll fry my ass if I don’t wake him up with this. Okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded and kissed him this time. God, what did she do to deserve people like this in her life? She wasn’t a bad person, but she’d never been particularly good. Materialism and status ran her days for most of her life. She’d been selfish, concerned with her looks and possessions, and hadn’t been a great sister to Deke. Yet somehow, when she fell, she’d landed here among incredible people who took her in and made her their own.
Suddenly, the words she’d been suppressing for days wouldn’t stay down any longer. Ending the kiss, she pressed her forehead to his chest and took a breath. Then she lifted her gaze. “I love you, Scott.”
He blinked as though shocked. Had she not put her entire heart on the line, she’d have laughed at the look of panic that crossed his face. It didn’t matter. She had no doubt he felt strongly for her. So, she covered his mouth with her hand. “I just needed you to know I’m not here because I want your help or I have a problem for you to solve. I’m here for you. For us. So go meet with Curly and come up with a plan because I want to go back to how things were twenty minutes ago when life felt perfect.”
With a nod, he kissed her palm. She removed her hand and curled her fist, keeping the sweet gesture close.
He kissed her once before grabbing his cut and jeans. “Try to get some sleep,” he ordered as he pulled up the jeans. “You’ll need to be rested for what I have planned for you later.” Then with a wink, he was out the door.
She sighed and sagged against the wall until his voice came through loud and commanding. “Lock the damn door, babe.”
A chuckle left her tired body. “Sorry!” She hurried to the door and flicked the locks.
After a quick trip to the restroom, she was back under the covers loving the chill in the air-conditioned air.
But sleep eluded her.
She stared at the ceiling so long her eyes dried, and her brain felt like mush. But one thing remained clear.
She couldn’t let an innocent woman suffer because she was too cowardly to do the right thing. She knew what she had to do even if it turned her stomach, terrified her to her core, and would wound the man she loved.
Scott wanted her to trust him.
Well, she trusted him all right. She trusted him to get his ass and the rest of the Handlers to Chicago and rescue her before Lance could do too much damage.
“I’M DONE WAITING around for this hemorrhoid to make a move,” Scott said later that morning as he shoved Olivia’s phone across the table toward Jinx. “As far as I’m concerned, he already made the first move when he called my woman this morning and made her go so pale, she was practically fucking see-through.” As he spoke, he slapped his palm on the table, reveling in the sting. “This shit needs to end today. I propose I go to Chicago, slice this prick’s nuts off, fry them up, and feed them back to him.”
Scott dropped into a chair and folded his arms across his chest while waiting for Jinx to peruse the slew of vulgar, threatening, downright sadistic texts that had been coming in from Lance since he’d called hours ago. As soon as he was done, he passed the phone off to Tracker.
The prez hadn’t given a shit about the three o’clock wake-up call, but he refused to make any decisions until the entire club could be briefed. Since he’d set church for nine that morning, he’d sent Scott home furious and fuming to wait until later in the damn morning to make any decisions.
Sure, he’d understood that a few hours wouldn’t make a difference in the outcome, but fuck! Every second this Lance douche breathed was another second Liv worried for her safety and the safety of another woman who’d already been violated in the worst way by Lance.
“Look,” he said while Tracker passed the phone over to Ty with a fierce frown. “When he called this morning, he told Livy he’d go after the woman she saw him rape. He’s a motherfucker who knows how to manipulate Liv’s soft heart. She doesn’t give a shit that he’s threatening her, but the second the twat mentioned going after this other woman, Liv was ready to hop on a plane and hand herself over to him.” The thought of it had Scott cracking his knuckles, ready to pummel anyone who stood between him and Lance. “I can’t let her do that.” Fuck it. If he sounded like a caveman, so be it. “I won’t let her do that. After what Brooke went through, I hope you’ll all have my back.”