Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
A knock on my hotel room door takes my attention away from waiting for my phone to ring knowing deep inside I know it won’t.
Opening the door, I’m shocked to find Maritza on the other side. Stepping back, she enters my room.
The woman is gorgeous there is no denying her beauty. Her dark hair is braided down her back, her jeans fit just right, along with her red tank top accentuating her golden skin. I don’t think she’s wearing makeup, if by some chance she is, then it’s minimal.
“Hey,” I greet.
“Hey, I was lookin’ for my buddy.”
I nervously wipe my hands down the front of my jeans. “Yeah, Anna thought it best they stay home.”
“Okay, I’ll head back to my room. Just thought Hollis was here and I was gonna have him crash with me so you and Anna could have time together.” Maritza smiles before turning away to the door.
Instincts take over and I find myself reaching out to grab her. “No, stay. I have nothing to do tonight.”
She turns back to me with a half laugh, “Dillon, you’re a Hellion. There is always something or someone to do.”
I raise my hands in surrender, “not for this man.”
She smirks, “is that so? I’m young, but I’m not naïve. I know this club life. I’m not saying go bang a bar fly, but the boys are all gonna be out drinking. Go have a beer with your brothers.”
I shake my head. “Don’t drink anymore.”
“Really?” she asks genuinely surprised.
“Long story, but yeah, quit that shit practically as soon as I started. Anna didn’t like it.”
She studies me stepping further into the room. “Do you always do what Anna wants?”
I move to sit on the end of the bed, with my elbows on my knees and hands clasped together in front of me, I stare at the floor. “There was a time, I didn’t, but with every passing day, those memories become more difficult to hold onto. Things weren’t always like this. She wasn’t always like this.”
Maritza moves over and sits beside me on the bed. “Marriage is hard, Dillon. Divorce is hard. You choose your hard. It’s commendable the way you stick by her.”
I let out a halfhearted laugh, “commendable, nah. Dumb as fuck, more likely. And who the fuck knows what it will be when I get back to Haywood’s Landing. I seem to make one dumb decision after another for years now.”
“I don’t think any of it’s dumb. I think love is hard. I think commitment is harder. Relationships are far from easy.”
“Sounds like you speak from experience.”
She is the one to give a half laugh, “I’m young, but I can be dumb too. I thought I had love; it was not. My parents, they make it look so easy. Love and commitment are two different things. You can love someone and fail to endure the test of time together. People grow and change. If the relationship doesn’t change alongside it, then it’s doomed to fail.”
“Wise beyond your years, Maritza.”
“Nah, just seen up close and personal two people with love, willing to ride life out through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not just my parents, but a lot of the club people. To live this life, it’s a commitment to everyone. Not just the brothers, but you wear the cut, you take a vow to look out for your brother yes, but more than that you are taking on their family as your own too. It’s a beautiful thing.”
“You make it sound so easy, like a damn fantasy.”
She reaches out and gives my forearm a squeeze. “Nothing about this life is easy. The bigger the family, the bigger the responsibility. All of it though, it’s worth it. I don’t know where my life, where my parents would be if my dad hadn’t joined all those years ago. Every person around is this extended family. People we can call on and count on. You can count on all of us, Dillon. So can your wife and your son.”
Unable to speak, I continue to look to the carpet as she rises from her spot on the bed beside me. With one final soft squeeze to my forearm, she whispers, “don’t give up on Anna. Don’t give up on yourself. This club, this family will see you both through to better days.”
Without another word she exits my room leaving me sitting there in wonder.
“Family,” I whisper to the empty space around me, “it’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
THREE
MARITZA
“Where are you going tonight?” Mariella asks me while curling a piece of my hair in the back. “What are the plans? Give me the scoop, hermana.”
I shrug as I continue pressing the sponge to my face applying foundation. “He didn’t say. Just asked to take me out tonight.”
She lets out a laugh, “hermana, you can’t do this. You know the rules. I need the details, all of them, and location turned on. We can’t be too safe these days.” She’s my baby sister, but she can sometimes be smother mother. “You’re beautiful, smart, and a trafficker would love to gobble you up.”