Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
I followed them to the beach. Black Reign didn’t have as large a section of beach as Salvation’s Bane, but then it wasn’t used for amphibious training. We just used it for fun. And I was looking forward to having fun now.
I reached the beach behind the girls a few moments before Wrath and Celeste arrived with Holly and Bella. Wrath spotted me and headed in my direction.
“What’s going on?” Wrath indicated Swan. “Archangel says you’re pussy-whipped, but I didn’t believe him. Mainly because I’m pretty sure you ain’t had the pussy yet.”
“Unbelievable,” I muttered.
“What? I’m just saying. Besides, ain’t often the hard-ass of the club gets called out.” Wrath looked entirely too smug.
“Good thing Holly’s here or I’d kick your ass.”
Wrath shrugged. “You could try. Seems to me you’ve got just as much to lose. I mean, maybe more. ’Cause Holly still thinks I’m kind of a lame-o. Swan? Well, she’s still making up her mind.”
“Asshole,” I muttered. But I didn’t have time to beat his ass right now. The girls were walking down the beach. Celeste had joined Jezebel and Swan and brought Bella with her. Rycks’s and Lyric’s daughter wasn’t as exuberant as Holly, but she was close. Both girls showered Swan with attention, picking up and discarding seashells by the dozens.
Swan smiled and laughed with them. The carefree way she acted warmed my cold heart. Even through the playing and the laughter, though, there seemed to be something I was missing. Watching her closely, I tried to take her in completely. Well, past her obvious beauty. She was pale and a little skinny. It was more than the fact she was just thin, given the sharp way her cheekbones stood out from her face and the dark circles under her eyes. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was sick. Maybe she was recovering. It couldn’t be that bad. She was out and about, playing on the beach. I squinted a little, realizing I’d nearly missed a slight limp. She seemed to be favoring her right leg. Not much. Just slightly.
“Hey, Reaper!” Holly called out. “You should see the seashell Swan found! It’s the perfect seashell!”
Swan grinned at the child, ruffling her hair. Absently, she rubbed her hip. I noticed that, whenever she stood still, she put her weight on her left leg.
“I’m going for a swim,” Swan called. “Don’t wait up.”
“Are you kidding?” Lyric said. “We can all go. I brought lifejackets for the girls.”
Rycks and Wrath went to the women and helped them and the girls into their lifejackets. I noticed Swan didn’t put one on and expected the other guys to say something. Instead, they just glanced at her with raised eyebrows but let her head to the water. When I met Rycks’s gaze, he gave me an impatient look.
“Well?” he called. “You gonna do somethin’ about that, dumbass?”
Swan was laughing as the waves crashed around her body. She was waist-deep and playing like a child. It almost made me smile. Until she went under briefly, knocked off her feet by a breaking wave as it crashed over her.
“Swan!” She resurfaced quickly enough but went under again a few seconds later. When she didn’t immediately resurface, panic seized me. I never panicked. And why would I panic? This girl was nothing to me. A vagabond on the beach. Maybe it was that, by allowing Holly to invite her into the club for any reason, I felt responsible for her. But honestly, Swan had gotten under my skin in a very short amount of time. She was an enigma I couldn’t figure out. I was drawn to her and had no idea why, exactly when it started, or how it happened.
I was in the water at the same time as Rycks. It couldn’t have been more than a few moments. Just as I reached the spot where she’d gone under, she resurfaced a few feet away before going under again. Taking a deep breath, I dove under the waist-deep water. Her hand brushed over my outstretched arm, and I grabbed blindly for her. The silt and sand stirring up from the undertow and our movements made it difficult to see, but the second I had a firm grip on her, I pushed up the short distance to the surface. Rycks was right by my side, snagging her other arm until he was sure I had a solid hold on Swan so she couldn’t be pulled away from me.
“Fuck!” I gasped for breath and wiped my hand over my eyes to clear the water. “Swan, are you OK?”
“I-I’m fine. Omigod! That was intense!”
“Intense? Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me? You almost drowned!” I knew I sounded angry and probably scary, but I couldn’t reign it in easily.
“Yeah,” she said softly. She clung to my shoulders, looking up at me with wide eyes. “You saved me.”