Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Eeeew.
“God has a plan that trumps all of ours. That will be the plan we will follow.”
With that, he eyes me up and down, turns and gets into his car as I spin and make my way back inside, trying to calm the sick that’s coming up in my throat.
3 | Wrath
I can barely fucking concentrate.
It’s as though every day, every time I see her, my need to have her increases in some exponential way I can’t explain.
She’s the white to my black and in every story I concoct, she’s mine. But in reality, I know she’s way above my fucking pay grade.
There’s a loud bang, then another, and another, and I come back to earth looking over to see Gage’s fist come down on the table again as he gives me an evil stare.
“You with us?” He snipes and I look around to see Ryder, Jaxon, Bulldog—and Dice, who drives the tow truck for the Heartland’s garage—all staring at me.
“Yeah, I’m with you.” I bite back, but they have every right to be pissy with me.
“Good. Because we need to keep this tight. This deal needs to go down fast and easy. These tweakers run hot and last time we nearly went to shit town when their paranoid asses thought we were setting them up with ATF. So pay fucking attention.” Gage waits for my nod, then goes on to finish up the itinerary and instructions for the run we’re going on.
It’s a minor arms deal, so just a handful of us are going, but every deal has the potential to go south so I try to focus while the crew talks out the details.
I listen as we get things in order and as we’re finishing up, the bells over the front door of the garage jingle and Chain and Meadow walk into the backroom.
“What’s up?” Jaxon stands and gives Chain a hand-shake and a half hug, then leans in to give Meadow a kiss on the cheek.
Everyone else follows suit, and I stand and head over to do the same.
“You guys be careful today.” Meadow takes a seat and slips a laptop out of her computer bag as Gage moves over to sit next to her. Chain is our treasurer and his woman has been investing some of the club’s money and nearly making us all rich in the process. They are there to make sure the figures are all straight for what we need to collect, and probably Gage has her investing some of his private funds as well—as most of us do.
“Cookies, anyone? Mom sent them special...” Chain sits a container on the table and opens it and the scent of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies overtakes the smell of gasoline and grease.
“We’re always careful.” Gage answers, grabbing a cookie, then his eyes drift over the rest of us. “We’ll head out in an hour, so go shit, or shave or get your cocks sucked and be back here at noon sharp. Anyone who’s late...Bulldog...I’ll personally beat your ass.”
Bulldog walked into our morning meeting forty-five minutes after Gage told us to be here, looking ridden hard and put away wet, so Gage has been riding his ass since, and I don’t blame him.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Bulldog grunts, stretching and putting his hands behind his head as he leans back in the metal chair. “I’m going to sit here and eat cookies.” He reaches for a cookie, but Ryder grabs the plastic container and holds it hostage.
While they start to nearly knock each other out fighting over Chain’s mom’s cookies, I know where I’m going for the next hour. I’ve been watching the clock, knowing I’ve got about a half hour before she’s done with the food pantry deal she does the third Sunday of every month, and I’m hungry and she’s the one that’s going to feed me.
I walk this time, the spring weather at its peak this time of year, and in a few minutes I’m pulling open the front door of the church, passing the sign outside with the arrow that says ‘Free Food this Monday, 9 am – 11 am. All are welcome.’
There’s no other cars in the parking lot and I know most people come early, hoping they will somehow get better or more food than someone that comes late, but that’s not the case. Kristina is no pushover, and she’s fair with the distribution.
How do I know?
Because I’ve been stopping by for my free food for the last ten months, just to be able to be close to her even for a few minutes.
When I step into the food pantry room, she’s putting boxes on some metal shelves and I clear my throat.
She freezes but doesn’t turn around immediately. I hear her sigh and it sounds annoyed. I’ve not grown on her like I’d hoped, but I don’t give a shit. I don’t scare away easily and with her, I won’t scare away at all.