Total pages in book: 212
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
“Agree about the lady singing in this,” she said twisting the wrapper off one of the butterscotch candies I bought for her, “She’s incredible. But mine’s probably Wild Horses.” She offered me the unwrapped candy. I opened my mouth, and she popped it in and then unwrapped another for herself.
“I approve,” I said, then gestured. “Look. Bougie supermarket. Let’s stock up for the cabin.”
We were at the city limits, so I parked and told her to wait in the truck while I had a word with the brothers who’d escorted us. After they pulled out, I took my cut off and left it in the truck, gesturing for her to come out. I met her at the hood and nabbed her hand before we strolled inside.
She was smiling as we approached the shopping carts at the front of the store, but her smile died when a female voice excitedly called out, “Gianna! Hey girl, hey!”
I turned my head to see where the voice was coming from.
A chick decked out in a gold micro mini, pink fake fur coat with long pink and orange striped hair was rushing toward us on her studded hot pink stilettos, a bottle of wine in her hand. “Shit, girl! Where you been?”
The color drained from Gigi’s face.
“Hey Luanne. Oh, you know. Around.”
Luanne’s eyes traveled the length of me before she licked her lips. “Hey,” she greeted breathily.
I threw my arm over G’s shoulder and pulled her closer.
“What’s happenin’? Who’s this tall drink of top-shelf bourbon?” Luanne asked.
“Uh…” Gigi was tense. She was uncomfortable. Either she didn’t like this chick, or something was up.
Luanne piped up, eyes on me. “Never seen you around here before.”
“Not from around here,” I returned.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Um, sorry but we have to go,” Gigi said. “We’re kinda in a hurry.”
Gigi avoiding sharing my name or anything else was telling.
“Yeah, sure, no worries, we’ll catch up later. ” The girl raised her voice then, “But… get Kailey to call me, will ya? Owes me sixty bucks. Has owed me for like, months. Where’s she hidin’ anyways? Haven’t even seen her around Charlie’s lately.”
I felt my girl’s body jolt, so I held on tighter.
“She was murdered,” Gigi said softly.
Luanne stared for a second before gasping then practically shouting, “No! That’s fuckin’ terrible.”
And reading her, I was sure she’d already heard this news.
“I… I’m still shook,” Gigi muttered. “It just happened, and I haven’t gotten a chance to get word out. It’s still sinkin’ in.”
Luanne gasped. “Do they know who did it yet?”
Gigi shook her head and said nothing.
“Holy shit. Do you have any suspicions of who did it?”
Gigi wisely shook her head again.
“What a shocker. I’m so sorry for your loss, babe. When’s the funeral?”
“I dunno yet.”
“Keep me posted, kay? Wanna know when and where, so’s I can be there. That girl needs a send-off.”
“Yeah, uh huh. We have to hurry. Sorry, Luanne. We have to hurry up. Runnin’ late.” She squeezed my hand with meaning.
“Sure, sure. Take care of yourself. You let me know when things are sorted for that send-off, and I’ll tell everyone so we can get her a good turnout. Guess I’m out sixty bucks, huh?”
Wow. Fucking uncouth.
Gigi’s face twisted with discomfort. The girl reached over and pulled her in for a hug. Gigi stood stiffly.
“Nice to meet you, uh… ” she said to me, again eyeing me in a way that had me sure this bitch was no friend of Gigi’s. She was also looking for my name. She wasn’t getting it.
I gave her a salute and steered my girl around the corner.
“We should shop somewhere else,” Gigi said low, urgently.
“Roger that.” I was already steering us toward the exit.
“If she saw us pull in, she might have seen the MC patches outside,” she said low. “The members that followed us. Yours before you took it off.”
“Got ‘cha. She’s one of their hang-arounds.”
“She’s a waitress at Charlie’s and part of the Jackals sweet butt stable. She and Kailey used to hang out frequently. And she’s probably on the phone right now sayin’ she saw me. She wasn’t surprised when I said Kailey was dead. She was over-acting. And asking if I had suspicions of who did it was a fishing expedition for sure.”
“Caught that, too.”
As soon as we were in my truck, I was calling Rudy as we pulled out.
“Rudy? Those brothers that escorted us? They might pick up a tail in a minute,” I said, then rattled off where we were and explained why I was concerned.
We decided not to wait for an escort; I told Rudy I’d text when we got to our destination. And then I didn’t fuck around; I pulled my gun from my backpack and put it under my seat. I put the pedal to the floor and sped straight to the cabin. We’d dip out later for supplies.