Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Something is wrong.
I’ve been around bikers long enough to know that, I just don’t know what that something is.
I’ve never seen that look on Muff’s face before, the broken, empty one. It scares me, but mostly because he won’t share with me what’s going on. He tells me everything and even though he is saying it’s club business, I’m struggling to make sense of that considering they delivered it here and not to the club.
Following him back inside the house, I watch him get Ebony ready, without saying a single word to me.
“Muff,” I say as he is grabbing her backpack. “You’re scaring me.”
He pauses and his eyes meet mine, there is an emptiness there, like an emotion has been glossed over and he’s trying to shove it down.
“It’s fine. It’s club business. Just wasn’t expectin’ it, that’s all.”
“Are we in danger?” I whisper, glancing around to see if Ebony is close.
“No,” he answers, his voice firm. “Nobody is in danger. I said it was fine, Jaybird, and it is. Just let me go deal with it, yeah?”
Everything inside me is on high alert, screaming that he is hiding something. I don’t know why I feel this way, considering the club is always dealing with something. I think it’s his expression, the haunted look in his eyes. That is something I’ve never seen on him before, and it’s scaring the hell out of me.
Muff is always calm, collected and has a playful demeanor.
Even when things are bad, he can bring a level of lightness to any situation.
Seeing him looking like this is making the pit in my stomach grow.
Something is very, very wrong.
I need to find out what it is.
4 – Muff
“DON’T LIKE THAT LOOK on your face, Muff,” Spike mutters, staring at me as I pace back and forth past the pool table, fists clenched, heart racing.
I just got delivered news that I never would have, in a million years, thought I’d hear. It’s news that has completely turned my life upside down, and I don’t know how to fucking deal with it. I don’t know because it’s a part of me I’ve never told a single fuckin’ soul, a part of me I thought would never surface because I thought it was dead and buried a long time ago.
I was wrong.
So fucking wrong.
Not a single thing about it was dead and buried, and now I’ve been given something that I wished, a million times over, I could have had years ago.
My life is different now, and the past hasn’t come back to haunt me since the day I met Janine, and now here I am, about to flip my world on its axis, and I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to do that without losing everything I love. I can’t tell Spike, or Cade, or Jackson, or fuckin’ anyone because if they know, they’ll make me tell her, and if I tell her ... I’ll lose her.
Fuck.
“Muff,” Spike growls, catching my attention. “You goin’ to tell me what’s goin’ on or do I have to guess?”
Pausing, I look over at him, my fists balled by my sides as I take in his hard expression. Spike has always been good to me, and he’s someone I’ve come to respect a hell of a lot. When he started his club, he welcomed me with open arms and always treated me like a brother, but when it comes to this secret, not even he can help me.
“Can’t help me with this,” I grind out.
“Wouldn’t know if you don’t tell me.”
I hold his gaze. “Can’t tell you. Not until I deal with it.”
“Does it affect the club?”
I shake my head, harshly.
“Janine safe?”
For now.
“Yeah,” I mutter. “It’s personal, but ...”
I am cut off when Ciara walks into the pool room, carrying her usual happy smile, bubbly and a ray of sunshine. Spike should think himself lucky for jagging her, because lord knows he’s a stubborn fuck of a man and she brings out the best in him. Ciara’s eyes swing to me, and her smile quickly fades.
That’s the problem with these women, they can read you like a fuckin’ book. That’s not a good thing, because holding this lie is going to be hard when they can see straight through me. I don’t want any of them to get suspicious, figure it out, or go to Janine because then I have to explain that I kept a secret from her, and on top of that, I’m lying to her.
“Uh oh, are you okay, Muff?”
“Club business, baby,” Spike murmurs, catching her around the waist and pulling her close.
“But he looks sad.” She frowns. “Muff is always happy.”
“Club. Business.”
Spike’s tone is filled with warning, and Ciara knows well enough to listen. She challenges him on most things, but when it comes to the club, she knows her place. Huffing, she pulls away from him and glances over at me. “You know where I am if you want to talk, Muff. I promise I’m a better listener than him.” She jabs a finger at Spike.