Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 107823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Should he be? It would only be fair for him to experience the same as Shade and his mother. The fear, the humiliation, the degradation and the abuse.
Even so, plenty of other things could be done to him to make the man uncomfortable up to the exact moment he took his last breath.
Because one thing was for sure, Shade would watch him take it.
Easy’s only regret with that plan was the man would only suffer for a fraction of time compared to the years of torture and abuse Shade, and his mother, had to live through.
Since Easy was getting anxious as they got closer to their destination, he needed to fill the silence in the van with something other than the rock music playing in the background. “He got other kids?”
“Yeah. Turns out he already had some before my mom had me.”
“You said he was married. Your mom know that before hookin’ up with him?”
“Not sure. My guess? Not at first. But her givin’ him an ulterior… Fuck,” Shade shook his head when he realized he’d used the wrong word, “ultimatum was what spurred what he did to us.”
Shade used to be a lot worse with his speech, but since he hooked up with Chelle, it had improved a lot. Occasionally he still said a word wrong if it was one easy to stumble over or if he was speaking too fast. Another reason the man spoke slowly and carefully chose his words. A secret Easy discovered on his own only because they worked so closely together. He wasn’t even sure if their brothers knew why Shade spoke like that. Maybe they did and just didn’t say shit, like Easy never had.
Easy had a lot of respect for Shade’s ol’ lady. For not only loving a man so fucking splintered inside, but also for helping him with his dyslexia by teaching him to read, write and speak a lot better.
The woman was a saint. She also didn’t dish out attitude, arguments or judgment. One perfect fucking woman.
“Fuckin’ crazy. Who does that kinda shit?”
“An evil motherfucker,” Shade answered matter-of-factly.
“No shit. He coulda just paid off your mom to keep her mouth shut instead.”
“The way he handled his ‘problem’ put scratch in his pocket, not the other way around. My guess is she woulda demanded child support, too, as she shoulda. He woulda been payin’ for a long time, so how d’you explain those payments to the wife you’re fuckin’ around on? ‘Specially if you got a joint bank account?”
Yeah, how do you explain missing money from your spouse unless that spouse never accessed the account?
Easy stared at Shade’s profile as he drove. “You got a joint account with Chelle?”
“Yeah.”
“That your idea or hers?”
“Mine. Moved in under her roof and now we got Jude’s expenses. Also puttin’ the girls through college.”
“Jude might be your responsibility but not the girls.”
Shade glanced over at him. “Those girls are my responsibility, too. They’re mine the same as Jude.” He turned his eyes back to the road.
They were on some dark back road outside of Baltimore and it was late. Last thing they needed was to hit a deer, especially with an illegal tag on the back.
“You curious about your half-siblin’s?”
“Nope.”
“The bastard have any grandkids?” Easy asked.
“Accordin’ to Hunter, yeah.”
“You care?”
“Fuck no. You know who I fuckin’ care about? My mother who’s been reduced to fuckin’ ashes and sitting in an urn on top of our fuckin’ mantle. The woman did nothin’ to deserve that fate but love a fuckin’ man who did her dirty after she had his son. Care about Jude who I found in a goddamn cage about to be sold like a prize calf to some sick fuck. That’s who I fuckin’ care about.”
Damn. That was the first time Shade revealed where Jude came from. Everyone knew the kid wasn’t Shade’s biological son but they went along with the story anyway. They accepted Jude as if he was the man’s blood, even though they all had plenty of questions.
Trip had no problem accepting kids into the Fury family if they needed a place to stay or a family to love and protect them as long as taking them in wouldn’t bring heat down on the club.
Family was so damn important to the president.
To Trip, Tessa was real family, actually related by blood and not just through the club. That made Easy and Tessa sneaking around even dicier.
“Is Jude’s mom really dead?” While he wasn’t sure if Shade would answer, he asked it anyway since the normally quiet man seemed to be in a sharing mood. Something that didn’t happen often.
“Yeah. Chelle and I can’t find anythin’ to tell us otherwise. We pretty much stopped lookin’ even though Jude still holds hope.”
“Same as you did with your mom.”
“Yeah,” Shade said on a breath. “Same as I did. Think the kid knows down deep she’s gone. His handler said she was sold to a fucker makin’ snuff films. Have no doubt that’s true. Ain’t gonna tell the kid that, though, ‘cause that’s a fucked up way to die and I don’t wanna give him more nightmares than he already’s got. Chelle and I’d rather leave it a misery… Shit,” Shade shook his head again, “mystery.”