Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
On the way, Cain and Sword met us. “You good, Jolene? You didn’t get hit, did you?” Cain looked me up and down as if expecting to find blood or something.
“No. I’m good. Just a little shaken up.”
“Who wouldn’t be?” Sword glanced at Styx. That one look scared me more than anything. I let go of Styx’s hand and backed away from them.
To my complete and utter horror, I whimpered when I spoke. “Please don’t make me leave. I know it’s a lot to ask, but he’ll kill me if I go out there.”
Styx lunged for me, pulling me up against his big frame, and hugged me tightly. “Now you fuckin’ listen to me, Jolene,” he growled. “No one’s gonna make you fuckin’ leave. All we want to do is figure out how he knew you were here. You came to the same conclusion we did, thinking there was some kind of tracker in your backpack. Right?” When I nodded, he continued. “We can deal with that fuck Marshall and anyone he brought with him. Before that, however, we’re gonna find how they’re trackin’ you and get rid of it.”
“You swear you’re not gonna make me leave?”
“Honey.” Cain spoke gently, placing a hand on my shoulder even as Styx still held me. “Ain’t no one gonna get to you. You’ve got this whole club standing between you and the outside. He thinks he’s got the upper hand, but he’s as good as dead for shootin’ at our home. For tryin’ to harm one of our ol’ ladies, he gets to die hard.”
“Oh, no! Did he hurt one of the women?” I looked up at Styx, tears spilling over my cheeks. “I’ll never forgive myself if he hurt someone.”
“Baby, he means you. You’re my ol’ lady. They’ll protect you to the death. I told you we had your back.”
“But -- but I’m not your ol’ lady yet. Right? You said something about a vest or something. That ‘Property of’ thing.
“It’s a formality,” Cain offered. “Styx already told us he’d claimed you. He just has to get you home to get your patch ordered.”
“I’ve actually already messaged Thorn. He said he’d have it ready by the time we get to Palm Springs.” He leaned in and kissed my mouth gently. The cut there was almost healed, and he’d taken to kissing me very gently as often as he could. “But it doesn’t matter. Already told you, honey. I got you.”
Sword crossed his arms over his chest and gave Styx a hard look. “You need to build her up, Styx. She don’t know her own worth.”
“Workin’ on it. She’s had a hard life, but I intend to spoil her for the rest of it.”
“Fuckin’ whore! Get your ass out here!” There were more gunshots. Three. All three sounded like they hit where our room was just down the hall.
“That’s it,” Cain said, his face turning into a mask of rage. He raised his voice as he stalked down the hall to the great room. Me and Styx, along with Sword, were right behind him. “Men! You see a mark raise a weapon, you fuckin’ shoot. Motherfuckers ain’t leavin’ this compound alive.”
Chapter Five
Jolene
The club was going to war. Within a matter of minutes, they had the women who weren’t built to fight and all the children locked down tight. One of the men, Shadow, had a woman who was readying for battle, as was her sister. Millie had hair that was black with teal blue streaks while Venus, her sister, had hot pink hair. And nails. And eyes. And was dressed all in pink. Apparently, somewhere on the grounds, was a pink Harley belonging to Venus. Rumor was, Millie had wanted to have a teal Harley made, but Shadow had forbidden it. Except that Millie had done it anyway and told him that, if he insisted on ordering her around, he should get used to her defying his orders whether she actually wanted to do the forbidden or not. She’d said it was the principle of the matter. I liked Millie.
Styx had tried to get me to go with the ol’ ladies, but I’d refused. “If you’re killin’ my pap and my brother, I’m gonna be here.” It wasn’t that I wanted to watch them die, I just needed the closure. Or something like that. OK, maybe I did want to watch the whole thing unfold. Including watching them die.
Once everyone was gathered, Cain, Bohannon, and Sword left the compound’s great room to stand on the porch and greet their guests. Every other member of the club present positioned themselves around the clan of McCoys assembled outside. That included Poppy, Alex, and several other cousins. There were eight men in all. All of them armed to the teeth, but I could tell just by the way the Bones men held their weapons, the McCoys were outmatched in every way.