Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
A man whose reasons for what he did to me I still didn’t know, and I probably never would.
Chapter 25
Life has never given me lemons. It’s given me anger issues, a love for alcohol, high blood pressure, and an extreme dislike of stupid people.
-Sean’s secret thoughts
Sean
I was on my motorcycle, Naomi plastered to my back as happy as she could be, trying not to speed. I was hyperaware. I was freaked way the fuck out, and I didn’t want to be riding on my bike with her.
Not because I didn’t want her to be there, but because I did.
I liked the way she felt with her body plastered to mine. I liked the way her hair flowed all around us, filling my nostrils with the smell of her.
And honestly, the way her hips were sucked up against my ass made me want to flip her around and fuck her.
God, I was going to hell. I was seriously going to hell.
She wasn’t ready. Not yet. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she never would be.
But when she dropped her hands to my lap, I nearly drove us off the road.
I’d never, ever been so happy to see my father pull up beside me as I was then.
He didn’t say anything to Naomi, but she moved her hands away and looked at my dad.
I was sure her face was flaming.
And as we pulled up in front of the clubhouse, two minutes later, I was trying hard not to laugh when I saw the pink tinging Naomi’s cheeks.
It made me feel good that she knew what she’d done and that she still wanted to do it.
Maybe not as badly as I wanted to do it, but it was progress nonetheless.
“Boy,” Dad said. “You’re late.”
I was.
I’d had a fight with Naomi for fifteen minutes, then had to shower and change, before we headed over here.
And that made us over forty-five minutes late.
Luckily, we’d done a lot of the preparations last night, meaning today all we had to do was set the food out and get to cooking the briskets for the annual Dixie Wardens party that we hosted.
Each year, all the chapters got together and had a reunion of sorts. Really it was just a reason to get drunk, eat food, and spend time with extended family. This year there we expected a bigger turnout than in previous years as more people had joined the club and some had married and would be bringing with them their extended families.
So, there’d be plenty of new faces whose acquaintance I hadn’t yet made, and a lot of them were already here, mingling with the other members who were also here early.
And though I knew they were all friendly, because they wouldn’t be invited by the rest of the club if they weren’t, it still made me nervous to let my woman go off in the midst of all of these unknowns.
“Bye, baby,” Naomi said as she kissed my bearded cheek. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”
Then she was gone, and my father was laughing at me.
“How about you go fuck yourself,” I growled.
My father’s lips thinned as he tried to stop himself from laughing, but I knew he was doing it on the inside despite the fake façade on the outside.
“Fuckin’ A.”
Then I lost myself in the crowd, heading toward the back porch so I could help the boys get started on cooking the briskets.
***
My heart was in my throat as I looked around the immediate area for my woman.
“She’s over there.” That was Ghost.
Ghost who hadn’t been the same since that night, four months ago, when he discovered his family missing.
I looked over to where Ghost had pointed and felt my lungs start to work again.
“Thanks,” I started forward, then stopped. “You okay?”
He nodded his head, tipped his beer up to his lips, and took a deep pull.
“Fuckin’ fantastic.”
I didn’t reply, taking the words for what they were.
A ‘go the fuck away.’
The man had found his wife and child not even a few days after that terrible night that we’d found Naomi hurt, and she had moved in next door to the man who Ghost had told to move.
We all knew it wasn’t a coincidence, and Ghost was fighting with himself on whether he should intervene.
I figured it was just a matter of time before it all blew up, and Ghost either did something incredibly stupid or something incredibly smart.
Either way, Ghost would get back what he’d lost, and the entire fucking club would be happy.
Though, I noticed, he was staying out of sight tonight, and I had a feeling it had a lot to do with not wanting to be recognized by another chapter that was here tonight.
Speaking of other chapters, I started toward a man who had one green and one blue eye and was busy chatting my woman up animatedly.