Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
“Okay.”
Duke nodded at her notebook. “Two cheeseburgers, please.”
She made a note of it and then stepped away. Arriving at the main desk, she tore off the order and slid it across the counter, but Mac grabbed her hand before she could pull away. “Everything okay?”
She stared at his hand with a frown. “Yeah, everything is great.” She forced a smile to her lips, but smiling was the last thing she wanted to do.
Duke wanted a word with her, and Mac was acting crazy. She and Matthew had shared breakfast that morning, along with a full-blown conversation. What the hell was going on with the world?
“He wants a couple of cheeseburgers. That’s all.” She pulled her hand away. “Any news on any more waitresses?”
“None.”
“Oh. Well, how about I start interviewing them? I know what the job entails and all that.”
“No.” He took the order and turned his back away from her.
What was it with men in Vale Valley lately? She knew she’d been away for some time, and that could cause confusion and distance, but this was different.
All she wanted to do was help. Even though Mary had left, the diner was still going strong. Maybe she should reach out to Mary and ask her to talk to Mac. That sounded like the only logical thing to do.
The rest of her shift went by without any kind of hitch. Duke didn’t even act like he’d asked to meet her, and for a short while, she was tempted to imagine she’d made the whole thing up. Only, she hadn’t.
There wasn’t any chance of her making this up.
Her shift ended, and Mac told her to leave so he could close up early.
She nodded and left him to clean up the mess, making her way home. Instead of taking her car, she opted to walk. Arriving home, she had enough time to change before someone was knocking at her door.
By chance it might be Matthew, she checked her cell phone, but he had left her a message that something had come up and he wasn’t going to be able to make their date tonight. It wasn’t a real date.
They agreed to keep things light. He was coming by for sex.
Whoever was at her door wasn’t Matthew. She knew he wouldn’t step out on the club. For as long as she could remember, all Matthew had wanted was to be a fully fledged member. Even when they were nothing more than toddlers. He had told the whole class that he was going to be a biker like his dad.
She opened the door, and sure enough, Raoul was there. This was scary. Very scary. She pocketed her cell phone and followed Raoul out.
A bike was waiting, and this made her more nervous. Riding on the back of his bike didn’t sound like a good idea to her. It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse, but he nodded in that general direction, and she didn’t have a choice but to climb on behind him.
He handed her a helmet, and she slid it onto her head even though it was hot as hell.
This was crazy.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and Raoul turned over the ignition. They took off, heading toward the Trojans MC’s clubhouse.
Luna had never made it a habit to visit there. The last time she’d been there, it had been a revelation. Matthew had told her the truth. When she tutored him, he’d told her all kinds of details about the club. Some of them she believed, others she didn’t.
The old lady ritual had been one she’d thought was fake. It wasn’t.
Matthew had told her to never tell a soul what he talked about, and she never had. Not to her parents. Not to anyone. They’d remained secrets to her.
Matthew had asked her not to for his own safety, so she hadn’t told anyone. He’d been a dick to her and had broken her heart, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to suffer.
So, she’d said nothing.
Arriving at the clubhouse, she took note of how empty it seemed. Raoul parked his bike and waited for her to climb off, and as she did so, she tried to give him back the helmet that she’d taken off. “Keep the helmet.”
She followed Raoul inside, where she saw a lot of bikers, and that was another detail Matthew had told her coming true. It looked like another club whore was being initiated.
Luna couldn’t help but look to see if there were any married men from the club that she knew taking part, and she didn’t see a single one of them. She didn’t have time to process that before she was led to Duke’s office and then told to sit down. She did, lowering her ass into a chair.
Then she waited.
Duke stared at her from across his desk, and she had the feeling he was still assessing if she was the right person he wanted to see. She had no idea why.