Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
“You never noticed anyone on your ass?”
Chest aching, I shake my head.
“Then they weren’t on your ass. You’d have noticed.” He frowns at me. “How’d you find out about the tracker here?”
“They were scanning for bullet fragments and realized the thing in her arm wasn’t what it was supposed to be.”
“Not birth control?” Gunner says and hesitates before asking, “Could she be pregnant, then?”
“They checked. She isn’t.” And thank fucking Christ, with all the drugs they’ll be pumping into her after the surgery. I tilt my head back, and the sky’s so fucking bright, my eyes burning. “She threw herself in front of me. Took the bullets so I could get to my weapon.”
Gunner doesn’t say a damn thing because there’s not a damn thing to say. Nothing that can ease the agony of knowing your woman put herself in harm’s way for you.
But there’s a hell of a lot to say about pride. “She’s so fucking brave. And an angel. Has been since day one. Took care of me. And wasn’t the one who drugged me—she tried to get me the hell away from those fuckers, though they’d have killed her for it. Then she threw herself in front of me. So if I ever hear the brothers say a single goddamn word about her being bait, I’ll rip their throats out. You let them know before I get home.”
“I will.” Then he shakes his head. “You really think I’m going home before you are? I’ll take down Papa with you. The whole damn club is gearing up to ride this way.”
“Yeah, well…tell them to hold off,” I say and it feels like there’s a knife lodged in my chest. “Because I knew the brothers would come, but I needed protection for her faster than that.”
He frowns at me. “What the hell does that mean?”
It means I made a deal with the fucking devil.
39
Stone
I’ve been carrying around Creek’s card since that night Maxine almost went into witness protection—and a good thing, too. Because when the cops showed up, asking who the fuck the three dead suits in the motel room were, a call to Creek smoothed shit over real fast. He’s the one who arranged for the fake announcement of her death, and who arranged for the guards watching her hospital room now…but it all came at a price.
And that price is me. I’ll be a consultant or some shit, which means I’ll be the eyes and ears heading into places that his investigative team can’t legally go, gathering info that’ll help bring down all the owners of the stables. That end result is something I’d love to do anyway. Didn’t think I’d be doing it like this, but fuck it all. Whatever keeps Maxine safe.
Maxine’s out of surgery and the doctors are real certain that she’ll pull through. But she’s not awake yet. Instead they intend to keep her under for a few days more. And she’s hooked up to a million goddamn machines. At least she’s breathing on her own, though, and that heart monitor is steadily beeping.
My parents arrive not long after Anna and Gunner, and my mom and dad sit with Maxine when Creek texts me to meet.
I figured he’d know better than to come to the hospital and try to collect payment before my wife even opened her eyes. So I’m fucking pissed when I see him waiting for me at a booth in the hospital’s cafe.
“You got an ID on the three assholes I killed?” I ask, not bothering to sit. Because right now, the suits who hunted Maxine down and shot her are all I give a shit about. “Or you got the bastard who ran away?”
“Not yet. But I’m not here for that.”
“That’s all I’m here for,” I say and turn back the way I came.
“We think we found Victor.”
I take a seat. “Where?”
“Got a hit on that missing Silverado. Looks like he’s been holed up in a squatter’s cabin in the middle of nowhere ever since the raid on the barns.”
“But you haven’t gone in yet?”
“The deal was you get a heads-up. I’m giving you the heads-up.”
Fuck. I can’t go while Maxine’s still out. But I can send Gunner. “Where?”
“You go in with my team, we get a feel for each other…you wouldn’t be gone more than a half day.”
So this is some fucking bullshit. “I go in with your team, I can’t kill him.”
“He’s got a self-righteous streak wider than Texas and he’s holed up in a cabin with fuck knows how many weapons,” Creek tells me. “There’s a real good chance that he’s not gonna let us take him alive. You want in or you don’t? But before you answer, let me tell you something else. We can’t find Faraday’s body out in the big grave behind the barns. Found everyone else and a whole lot of other shit, but not Faraday.”