Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
“She wanted him to step away from the club. I’m not sure why. I only heard bits of it. Something about it being dangerous and she didn’t like what she saw. That she didn’t want her children to be part of that kind of life. She wanted him to hand it down, to take a step back, and he refused. The two of them started yelling at one another, and then she got up and rushed out.”
I look to Bonnie, and she frowns.
Chloe wanted Colt to step away from the club? That seems strange, considering when she got together with him, it was already something he was part of, and she continued to make the choice to stay. Surely, she wouldn’t just suddenly decide him being a biker isn’t something she wanted. Andrea mentioned she saw something, could that be what drove her away? Is what she saw the reason she left?
That doesn’t explain the person threatening me.
Did she witness something and that person knew she could tell the truth, and therefore threatened her to try and get her to break? Maybe turn against Colt? Perhaps that’s the reason she wanted him to leave. Maybe she was trying to protect him.
It makes sense, and, yet, at the same time, it makes none at all.
“I never knew any of this,” I say, exhaling. “Chloe would never tell me why she suddenly came home and left Colt, and he sure as hell doesn’t talk. He hates me, and he makes sure I know it.”
Andrea shakes her head. “Don’t you let that man push you around, honey. Trust me, he is all front. Oh, sorry, I have a customer. I will try and chat to you later. Enjoy your lunch, ladies.”
“Thanks, Andrea.”
When she’s gone, I turn to Bonnie. “Well, that is something.”
“I wonder what she witnessed that would make her want Colt to leave the club.”
“It must have been bad, though in saying that, it’s a motorcycle club ... It’s not like they’re known to do nice things. Maybe she just couldn’t handle the truth of it when it was presented to her?”
Bonnie nods. “That makes sense. Gosh knows they do some bad things. You make a choice, though. You’re either in or you’re out. It either scares you, or it doesn’t.”
“Chloe was a good person, the best kind. She didn’t like confrontation, and she didn’t like bad things. She would struggle if what she was seeing is something she didn’t agree with. It could be why she left.”
“Now we just have to figure out what she saw and who the hell is threatening you.”
I huff. “But first,” I say, reaching for the glass when another waitress places our cocktails down, “a drink.”
Bonnie laughs. “I’m all for some day drinking.”
We clank our glasses together, and I drink the sweet tropical liquid. It doesn’t hurt, and after a few sips, I actually do feel a little better. Maybe they’re right, maybe this is the way to cure a hangover. Either way, I could stay here all day. I want nothing more than to go down onto that sand and sit on the tables they have below, drinking as I listen to the waves crash against the shore.
Maybe we will stay here all day and I can forget the world for a second.
“To Chloe,” I say, my eyes trained on the ocean.
“To Chloe.” Bonnie smiles.
This is for her.
IT WAS ONLY MEANT TO be one drink.
Just one.
Now here we are, Bonnie and me, on the beach, laughing hysterically into the night with no way home. Andrea, bless her soul, has been bringing us drinks down on the sand for the past four hours, and oh, gone is the hangover and in its place, the blissful feeling of being ridiculously drunk. So drunk nothing in the world seems to matter at this point. We should have left after one, but we decided to have another, and the rest is history.
“Western is going to flip when he finds out he has to drive all the way out here to get us.” Bonnie giggles, lying on the sand.
We’re covered in it, and I know I’m going to be washing sand from my hair for days, but I don’t care.
This is the most fun I’ve had in so long.
Bonnie is hilarious, and when she’s drunk, she’s even more fun.
I chuckle. “You better call him now, or he’ll probably leave us here.”
“Okay, I’m doing it. I’m ... Where is my phone?”
“Oh, you two.”
I look over to see Andrea with two bottles of water this time.
“Aw, no more cocktails?” I frown.
She laughs. “Absolutely not. We’re closing soon, so I’m going to sober you up a little and make sure you get home safe. Have you got a ride coming?”
“On it,” Bonnie hiccups.
“Well, get that water in now, you’ll thank me tomorrow.”
I take the bottle and proceed to drink it while we wait for our ride. It is a few hours away, but Andrea waits with us on the beach long after the café has closed to make sure we’re safe. We talk amongst ourselves, and the time goes so fast it feels like a matter of minutes by the time a deep, husky voice radiates down the sand. It isn’t Western’s voice, and the sound has me whipping around.