Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Entering the bar during the morning was much different than last night. It was nearly empty, with only three bikers sitting at a round table. They glanced toward them then resumed talking among themselves.
Assuming they were going to the office, Arden bumped into Doom when he turned in the direction where the bikers were sitting.
“Excuse me,” she apologized for bumping into him. “I thought we were going the other way.”
She quickly moved away from him, and her regret at not going to work shifted to overdrive the closer they came to the table where the three bikers were sitting. The men had stopped talking at their approach.
“Have a seat. I’ll get Wizard.”
Arden sat down gratefully, afraid they would hear her knees knocking. She self-consciously gave them a tentative smile as Doom deserted her at the table.
“Good morning,” she greeted them tentatively.
None of them returned the greeting.
Coming to the decision that there was no reason to let The Last Riders continue their steamrolling behavior, she said, “My name is Arden.”
The one sitting across from her broke his menacing silence, but didn’t return the favor of giving his name. “We know who you are.”
Forcing herself not to look away, she kept the friendly smile pasted on her lips. “And you are…?”
“Why? So you can figure out how smart I am by how many letters I have in my name?”
Suppressing the desire to turn tail and run, she gave all the men an apologetic glance. “Yesterday, I was having a really bad day, and I said things I shouldn’t have said. I’m sorry. That’s why I actually came here when Doom asked me to—to apologize to him and Wizard for being so rude. I truly appreciate Puck and Jesus for watching out for Luc…” Her apology trailed off when she saw the men’s eyes move over her shoulder to stare behind her. Turning her head, she saw Wizard, Doom, Jesus, Puck, and Buck come filing out of the side hallway.
She turned back around and anxiously waited for them to reach the table.
This isn’t good, she told herself. This is going to be very, very bad, her self-preservation instincts warned.
The four men took the remaining chairs, and Arden looked at Wizard expectedly for him to begin.
“How did talking to Skyline’s headmaster go?”
Arden politely refused to give the information as best she could. “That’s a private discussion for Luc and our parents to have this afternoon.”
“In other words, he’s not going to do jack shit.”
She dropped her eyes from Wizard’s harsh expression.
What could she say? The headmaster had callously refused to intervene without proof that Luc was being bullied.
“Are you going to transfer him to another school?”
“My parents…” Arden hesitated. She didn’t want to go into the details of her parents’ health in front of so many strangers. “That’s a hard question to answer.”
Wizard gave a sharp glance. “How hard could it be? Let me make it easier, then. Yes or no?”
Arden nibbled on her bottom lip nervously. “Probably not.”
“Probably not? Does that mean you’re just going to let the kid run away?”
“Of course not!” She had to blink back furious tears, determined not to break down in front of the hardened biker. “Luc and I will talk tonight, and we’ll come up with a solution that will make him happier.”
“The only thing that is going to make Blue happy is telling that headmaster to kiss his ass when you unenroll him from that fucking ass-kisser school.”
“I can’t be the one to unenroll him; one of my parents has to.”
“Then have them fucking do—”
“We will discuss it this afternoon when Luc gets out of school.”
“Blue isn’t in school,” Doom revealed frostily.
“Yes, he is,” she argued. “I walked him inside myself.”
“Then he must have taken off through a back door, because I caught him about two blocks from the school,” Doom disclosed with a hard edge to his voice.
Arden took their cutting attitude toward her because she saw underneath their biker veneer that they were concerned for her brother.
She pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling, hurt that Luc hadn’t believed in her enough to wait and talk to her before heading to The Last Riders.
“You brought him here.”
Wizard nodded. “He’s in the office.”
“Did you tell him not to come here anymore, like you said you would?”
“I told him to do his fucking homework while I took care of some work.”
“Is there a back door he could slip out? What if he tries to leave?”
Wizard gave her an intimidating stare, which had her twisting her hands in her lap.
“Never mind,” she rushed on, embarrassed. “So, you asked Doom to ask me to come here to drive him home after you talk to him?”
“Yes.” Wizard rose, gazing across the table at her disparagingly. “Or I can offer you another option.”
Arden frowned, her instincts screaming that she wasn’t going to like whatever the offer was.