Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 113473 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113473 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Filling that hollow.
Settling the movement of that seed.
When she was done, she sipped at the remaining sweet, but tangy OJ and noticed Sig hadn’t moved an inch since before she began.
“You ate all that in like a couple minutes, Red. You want more?” He wasn’t joking, his expression was serious, his eyes troubled as his gaze lifted from her empty plate to her face.
She nodded.
His nostrils flared and he nodded in return, giving her his back at the stove as he began to prepare her more eggs.
She studied that back. It was broad and covered in a leather vest. The same one he wore when on his motorcycle. It had various patches on it. The one on the top read, “Blood Fury,” the bottom one said, “Pennsylvania,” and a large center patch consisted of a bloody skull and crossbones. She remembered the three rectangular ones on the front. Sig. Vice President. Manning Grove.
Is that where they were? In Manning Grove? The only thing she knew after being blindfolded and tied up was she had been taken to Pennsylvania. And that was a big state.
When she left, she needed to go as far away from Ohio or Pennsylvania that she could.
Mexico. Canada. Or even Australia. She could get lost there.
Stella said Sig was a biker, so all of the tattoos and the vest made sense. He also said he was an ex-con. She wondered if he was a violent one. Bikers probably liked to get rowdy and into fights, which was most likely why he had a massive black eye.
“What happened to your face?”
“A mistake,” was all he said.
“One you’ll learn from?” She didn’t know why she asked that.
He spun around, a scowl on his face and the spatula in his hand. “How’d you get up that fuckin’ mountain?”
Autumn jumped and her heart stopped as the door crashed open behind her.
They found her.
Chapter Five
Autumn fell from the stool and curled up in a tight ball behind it, squeezing her eyes shut.
They found her.
They were there to take her back.
“What the fuck!” Sig bellowed, making her wince.
“What the fuck is right!” bellowed back another male voice, just as loud.
Heavy boots came at her from both directions. Sig from around the counter and the intruder from the front.
“What the hell, Sig!” the new voice yelled.
He was a Shirley, she knew it! It had been all a trap, like she suspected.
Just to capture her and hand her back over.
Stella’s voice came from the side. “What the hell, Trip? Calm down.”
“Why’s there a fuckin’ woman hidin’ behind the stool? What did you fuckin’ do, Sig?”
“Didn’t fuckin’ do anything, brother.”
A big hand clasped her forearm, hauling her to her feet. She was going to be dragged out of there in a second. Her hair fell around her face becoming a curtain she could hide behind.
“Trip! Let her go!”
“Why the fuck you in here, Stel? Who the fuck is this?” The hand shook her.
“Let her go and we’ll explain,” Stella tried to reason with whoever it was.
An arm slipped around her shoulders and she was pulled from the hand that held her hostage.
“Why... She’s... You got some teenager knocked up?”
No. No. This man had it all wrong. But Autumn couldn’t catch her breath to explain.
She opened her eyes and lifted her face so she could see him. The man who was angry. The man who wanted answers. He wore the same kind of black leather vest as Sig and had almost just as many tattoos. And the two men looked slightly similar.
But then so did all the Shirleys.
“Is... this...”
Stella’s arm tightened around her shoulders. “Yeah, this is my ol’ man.” Her lips were pressed into an angry slash and her blue eyes were on fire. “Trip, it isn’t Sig’s baby. And you need to calm the hell down. This isn’t helping anything or anyone.”
“How the fuck can I calm down when I just got news about why his ass got handed to him?” The man, this Trip... his eyes were also on fire.
No one said a word. Not Stella. Not Sig. Not one of them looked happy, either. Far from it.
The heavy tension in the room was making Autumn’s chest tight and her heart was trying to beat right out of it.
A twinge in her stomach made her wince again. The seed wasn’t happy, either.
“Who the hell is that?” this Trip asked again.
“Don’t let him take me back,” Autumn finally managed in a whisper, fisting Stella’s shirt. “Please.”
“He’s not taking you anywhere,” Stella returned softly, squeezing Autumn’s fist. “I’m taking you back to the bedroom to lie down. That’s it. That’s as far as you’re going. You need some rest and that’s what you’re going to get while we deal with this.”
“I don’t want to go back.”
“I promise. You are never going back.”
Stella said they were bikers. Both of them. Brothers, too.