Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Gunnar grunted like she’d struck him, and I immediately reached for Gunnar’s hand. “Please don’t be mean to him. I don’t think he’s a bad person. I don’t believe you think he is either.”
Mama gave me an impatient glare. “Of course, he’s not a bad person. He confessed to murdering his sister’s boyfriend because he said the guy had threatened to hurt Hannah. The fact was, Hannah had killed the bastard when he tried to rape her. She had a knife her father and brothers insisted she keep on her. When things got rough, she stabbed the bastard in the kidney. Gunnar took the rap so nothing would touch his sister and, in the process, cut his parents out of the decision-making process and pled guilty. Those, my dear, are not the actions of a bad person. Maybe someone a little shy in the brains department, but not a bad person at all.”
There was a soft gasp, and I noticed a striking, petite woman with soft brown hair streaked with silver. She looked to be in her early- to mid-fifties. At first, I thought I must look worse than I thought, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was staring at Gunnar with a heartbreaking mixture of shock, pain, grief, and love.
“Mom, this isn’t a good idea.” Ice tried to grab his mother’s arm. Cyclone was right behind them. Both men glanced at Mama, who leveled her gaze on them like the strictest teacher known to man. “Gunnar and, uh, his, uh, friend there, will be out in a minute.”
The woman shoved herself away from her sons and moved toward Gunnar in a daze. “You’re home?”
“Yeah, Mom. I’m home.”
She lunged for Gunnar, throwing her arms around him and sobbing like her heart was breaking. I knew she’d heard what Mama had said, but she didn’t comment on it. I was pretty sure that would come later.
Mama moved to my side and put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed. She gave me an encouraging look but said nothing until Gunnar’s mother finally pulled back to look at her son. She framed his face in her hands and stroked his face like he was the most precious thing in her world.
“Angel?” When Gunnar’s mother looked back at Mama, she continued. “This is Pippa. Gunnar rescued her from a rival club at the request of his cellmate.”
Angel gasped before her gaze darted to me. “Oh, no. Are you hurt, Pippa? How can I help?”
“I…” I had no idea what to say. Was I hurt? Maybe not physically, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever be the same person I was before I was taken. The more people I didn’t know surrounded me, the more anxious I was. “I’m fine.”
“Mom, I promise I’ll sit down and talk to you later, but I’m taking Pippa to Nashville. Torpedo and Bohannon have agreed to take me in at Kiss of Death.”
“You’re not staying here?” Angel looked from Gunnar to me and back. “There’s no reason you both can’t stay.” She looked at me, taking a step toward me as if pleading for me to tell Gunnar to stay with his family. “I might be able to help you. You know. Talk. Me and Suzie both were taken by a member of Kiss of Death before Cain and Torpedo decided to take it over. That was years ago. But I know how terrified and helpless I felt before I escaped.”
I gasped before turning to look at Gunnar for some context because Kiss of Death sounded like the kind of place I wanted to avoid at all costs. He shrugged. “The men who were responsible for takin’ women and children are dead. The club was purged. Torpedo and Bohannon kept the name because it was established in the area already. Despite being run by murderers and pedophiles, Cain said their reputation for doing business was impeccable. Besides, apparently having it known that Bones cleaned the scourge that was Kiss of Death without a trace left helps keep rival MCs and local gangs in line.”
Then Gunnar gave Cyclone a hard look. “And there is a reason we can’t stay, Mom. I’ll be in touch, and you’ll know where I am. I already texted you my new number, but I’ll do it again in case you missed it or didn’t recognize the number and ignored it.”
It was obvious Gunnar was doing his best to remain calm around his mother. It was also obvious how much he was hurting with every second he was in her presence. Angel seemed like a good person and was super concerned about Gunnar, but if she’d made him feel like he was an embarrassment to her because he’d been in prison, I might have to hurt her. No matter how much Gunnar loved her, I wasn’t about to watch the man who’d risked his life to get me out of hell, then saw to my safety be degraded or belittled.