Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 72937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“They are, but the way things are going, Ronan is going to absorb every up and coming gang in the area until he has a full-fledged army.”
Jasper smacked a hand on the table and refilled his glass, shooting back the fifty-four proof whiskey and wincing as the sweet burn slid down his throat.
“If the Jacks find out you have her, they won’t stop to get her back. The Crusaders will think your MC had her all along.”
Both points I’d already considered. “Savannah thinks the old man has disowned her, and I’m inclined to agree. Sadie would have torn the whole fucking state apart to find Kat or any of you, but Ronan didn’t. Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t give a shit why, Charlie. We just killed his son. His only son, and if Ronan knows that Savannah is still alive, he will burn the Earth to get her back, along with everything and everyone that stands between him. You. Your MC. My family. My businesses. I’m talking war, Charlie.”
War. The Reckless Bastards hadn’t been at war in almost a decade, but we were always prepared for the possibility. They didn’t call the city Mayhem for nothing.
Maureen returned again with our food, and I took a few bites before turning back to Jasper’s angry glare. “I’ll deal with it, with whatever happens Jasper, but I’m not handing her back to the Jacks, and she doesn’t want to go back to Ronan.”
She was angry and hurt, and I was about the only damn person she trusted, even though she hated me. Not that I wanted to share that juicy tidbit with Jasper.
“It’s not just you, Charlie. Don’t you get that? This puts all of us at risk.”
I sighed. “Bull shit. Your feud with Rhymer and The Crusaders has been going on long before I happened upon Savannah, so don’t put that shit on me. Is Ronan becoming a bigger threat than you anticipated? Then, deal with it. Put the old man down. Make an example out of him.”
“What is it about her that has you so willing to risk the lives of your men and mine, just to keep her safe?”
I shrugged because the truth was, I didn’t know. “It’s the right thing to do. Her own family sold her out, Jasper. However bad she once was, she became a victim when they sold her out and her own fucking brother flat out sold her.”
Jasper nodded and let out a long, worry-filled sigh. “Then I guess we should both get ready for the shit to hit the fan.”
“Guess so,” I told him and finished off my lunch and my beer. “Only you and my MC know where she is at the moment, and I’m the only one who knows exactly where she is.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I do,” I told him and stood. “Thanks for lunch, Jasper.” He gave me a curt nod, and I walked away, heading out to my bike where I took the long way to visit Bungalow Nine, on the edge of Glitz and Mayhem, just outside the Green Zone.
The place was done up like all the rest, a tropical theme that allowed all the girls to dress up in tiny bikinis and other tropical scraps of fabric that enticed the clientele.
A few of the girls had gone MIA in the past week. I wanted to check in with Melody, the aptly named House Mom, because she oversaw the girls and managed all the Bungalows, and because she looked like a mom straight out of a 1990’s sitcom.
“Charlie! What do we owe the pleasure?” she smoothed her brown bob and walked around the thatched covering of the reception desk.
“Hey Mel, just checking in. Any word from Tianna or Angel?” It wasn’t strange for our whores to disappear now and again, but rarely did two girls leave at once and never the ones not battling a drug problem. Or a boyfriend problem.
“Yeah, Tianna came back with a poorly covered up black eye. Newly single. Again.” Melody rolled her eyes like the exasperated mother she signed up to be when she took the job ages ago. “Angel is back in Minneapolis. Has it in her head she’s gonna be a nurse. She’ll be back.”
“Good. Everything else normal around here?” I couldn’t deny that Jasper’s words had burrowed deep into my brain, and that worry had acid doing backflips in my stomach.
“Normal, no. I thought you came because of the message I passed on to Chickie?”
“No. What’s up?”
Melody nodded for me to follow her as three men wearing suits walked in. They were the kind to be intimidated by bikers, so I followed Mel down the hall to the office at the rear of the building.
“Aries and Gemma have gone missing, and this isn’t just young whores going on a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive for a week. Look.” Mel held her phone up and swiped through image after image of their shared apartment, tossed and wrecked. “Looks like a struggle of some sort, right?”