Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
I didn’t want to fathom the horrors that might have brought them there, but ignoring it was impossible.
The pain and danger they’d endured.
The hope that began right there, beneath those bright, shining lights.
I hugged Otto a little tighter as worry infiltrated my being because I knew getting them to safety didn’t come without risk.
The lives my brother and his crew led were riddled with peril, though it seemed a little safer than when all of them used to ride with Iron Owls MC back in LA.
That was when it felt like every step they’d taken might be their last.
It didn’t mean they were immune now. Look at what had happened to River, Charleigh, and their little boy, Nolan, at the beginning of the summer. How their lives had intersected in a beautiful, horrible way. Charleigh’s ex trying to destroy them.
I still thanked God every day that they were safe. They’d made it through, and now they had each other forever.
It was worth it. Of course, it was worth it. For everyone they helped.
But that didn’t mean I wasn’t terrified any time one of them stepped out the door.
Otto set a big hand on my arms that were linked around his waist. I had to wonder if he had direct access to my thoughts and it was a silent promise that everything was going to be okay.
He slowed as he took a right into the neighborhood where I lived with River and his family, then the next left onto the long drive that led to our house.
A modern cabin tucked deep beneath soaring trees.
Two stories with a pitched roof, made of stones and dark brown woods.
Otto pulled his bike around the circular drive and stopped at the front. He killed the engine, and in an instant, the silence consumed. The night all around and the energy that’d been freed suddenly locked and held tight.
A stark tension that surrounded.
He reached around and took me by the hand. That simple touch was always enough to annihilate me.
“Off you go, darlin’,” he said as he helped me stand, which was all kinds of awkward considering the skirt and boots that I was wearing, but I never let that stop me.
No way when I loved how Otto’s gaze fired when I dressed like this, his eyes raking over me as if he couldn’t help himself.
Once I was steady on my feet, he climbed off, too.
The man a stronghold that towered in the night. So fierce and brutal, though he still wore that smirk on the edge of his decadent mouth as he reached out and carefully undid the straps of my helmet.
Sapphire eyes never looked away as he worked, the air thin and shimmery between us.
When he had it freed, he rested it on the bike’s seat then said, “Let’s get you inside.”
I forced all the need down and rolled my eyes the way I’d done back at Kane’s.
“I’m perfectly capable of walking to the door by myself, Otto. Look at me, such a big girl with my own keys and everything.”
It was pure sarcasm as I dug into my tiny bag that hung on my hip and pulled my keys out as proof, dangling them between us.
A rough chuckle skated out of him. “And what happens if you slip on those ridiculous heels and break your neck?”
I huffed as I started up the walkway toward the front door. “Then I guess River will find me in the morning when he wakes up. And ridiculous? I don’t know what nonsense you speak of. I look amazing in these heels.”
I started up the three steps to the wraparound porch that circled the entire house. Otto was right behind. Every step he took was an earthquake that reverberated through me.
“That you do, darlin’, but they look about as dangerous as the lives we lead, and since I promised your brother that I’d get you home safely, that means I’m going to get you all the way. Not going anywhere until you’re locked tight behind that door.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “The promises you make my brother. I see where your loyalties lay and how little I have to say about any of it.”
I tried to force the teasing into my words and keep the hurt out, and I turned away from him and started to put the key into the lock.
A short gasp rocked out of me when he took me by the wrist and spun me toward him. Rays of moonlight rippled in behind him, his giant frame covering me like a shield. The breath was ripped out of my lungs when he reached out and ran his fingertips down my cheek.
“You fuckin’ count, Raven. Count more than anyone else.”
My stomach twisted and my heart careened. God, why did he have to say things like that? Make me feel like I was the most important person in his life before he turned around and broke my heart when he would leave some bar with another woman?