Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“They’ll come around.” I lifted my head. I’d been lost to my thoughts, eyes fixed on the coffee in my hand. Mae had been the one to talk. She was cradling her belly, rubbing her pronounced bump. It wouldn’t be long before Styx became a father.
Styx as a father. I was still trying to wrap my head around that. I gave a weak smile. “I hope so.” I looked out of the window, looking out for any sign of Ky. “They belong to this club. It’s their life.” A sudden protective rush of anger took over me. “Just because they’re with me shouldn’t mean jack shit. So fucking what? I want both of them. Love both of them. Who cares? Why should anyone care as long as they treat me right? And they do. So fucking good. I can’t believe how lucky I am.” I stopped talking when I felt my blood pressure rise. I laughed without humor. My voice went croaky, but I still managed to say, “I love them. So fucking much it hurts. I . . . I don’t wanna be the reason their club, their family, the reason they live, gets taken from them.”
The room was silent, until a small voice said, “You asked me weeks ago what it felt like.” I lifted my head to see Maddie across the room. She had a flush on her cheeks, her green eyes wide from being in the spotlight. “What it felt like being with Flame.” A small smile echoed on her lips, one that made my heart fucking swell in my chest. “Peace.” She sighed and gently nodded. “I cannot describe it as anything other than peace. With him, together, I am at peace after years of being so desperately unhappy.”
Maddie got up from her seat and came across the room. She hesitated as she reached for my hand. Then she laid her palm over the back of my hand and squeezed. “If that is how your men make you feel, then you must fight for them.” Her huge green eyes bored into mine. “What is love anyway? It is never simple, and never plays by exactly the same rules as for other people who are in love also. Mine and Flame’s love may, to many, seem unusual. But he saved me.” Her breathing hitched. “And I saved him. If you have saved your men and your men have saved you, then you belong together.”
“Thank you,” I said, my eyes shimmering and bottom lip trembling with gratitude. Maddie returned to her seat. Mae held her hand and squeezed.
Beauty slapped her chair. “And fuck, darlin’, it’s the friggin’ twenty-first century! Tell the club to get out of the fucking dark ages and join the new dawn where”—she mock gasped—“a woman can be with two men.” She covered her mouth and put on her best southern-belle accent. “Oh, my Lord! May you strike my ménage-à-trois ass down where I stand.” She rolled her eyes. I laughed. “Stick with your Cajuns.” She waggled her eyebrows. “They’re gorgeous. Many a bitch would wanna be wedged between those hard chests.”
“For us,” Phebe said and gestured to the ladies who’d survived the cult, “the idea of one man and one woman was actually more shocking than what you are living. Love is subjective, no?” She smiled. “I would say that this life is very different from the world outside these Hangmen lands. We are already living an alternative way of life. Your love life is not that strange within these walls.”
“And it helps that the brothers, and bitches like me, would literally kill anyone who had an issue with it.” I laughed at Letti when she shrugged like killing someone was just a daily occurrence in her life.
Beauty seconded her comment by singing, “Hallelujah, sister!”
“Sia?” The sound of Ky’s voice behind me made me jump. I turned to see my brother standing in the doorway.
I got to my feet. “Hey.” I dropped my eyes. I didn’t know what the hell else to say. It was as awkward as shit.
The room was silent. Then, “Come with me.” I lifted my head to see Ky walking out of the cabin. I glanced back at Lilah. She gave me an encouraging smile.
I walked out of the door. Ky was getting on his bike. He tapped the saddle. “Get on, sis.” I climbed on the back of the bike, inhaling the smell of leather. It always reminded me of Ky. When I was younger, he would take me out for rides on his bike. Sometimes for hours, just out on the open road.
We rode around the mass of Hangmen acres until we came to a stream. Ky back-heeled the kickstand and killed the engine. I got off the bike and stretched my arms and legs. Ky sat on the bank of the stream. The sound of the trickling water was soothing as I took my place beside him.