Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 79382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
I got off the bed, grabbing my beer, and heading upstairs to find everyone standing around save for Summer and Maze and the kids, likely all relegated to one of the rooms.
"Who is it?"
"My guys at the gate said they don't know him. Introduced himself as Laz," Lo supplied, shrugging. "He wants to talk to Reign. They patted him down and are bringing him in."
Repo pulled the door open and in walked Lo's heavily armed guys who were on loan from Hailstorm until we could man our own gates again. Between them was a tall guy with short dark hair, dark eyes that seemed to hold a lot of depth, and a swimmer's-type body in jeans and a black tee.
He seemed completely at ease between the two armed escorts to his sides too.
Which was interesting.
"Who the hell are you?" Reign asked, brow raised, body tense, ready to react if need be.
"Lazarus Alexander," he said, his voice deeper than you'd expect.
"Alright, Lazarus Alexander," Reign said, nodding slightly. It was proof of how on-edge he was that he didn't take a second to rib him on a name like that. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Just figured I would give you all a heads-up that some guys were breaking into your gym."
"The fuck?" Reign asked, head jerking back. "When?"
"Literally right now," Lazarus said, shrugging casually. "Know you guys have been having some, ah, issues lately. Figured you might want to know about that. I was taking a walk, saw them down the side entrance in the alley so I made my way this way."
"Didn't think maybe it'd be faster to call?" Duke suggested, shaking his head. It was a good ten minute walk from the gym to the compound.
"Wow, fucking stupid on me, huh? I should have picked up the yellow pages and looked under, what? Arms dealers? Bikers? Unappreciative assholes?" he added, smirking a little.
It wasn't every day a man walked into a biker compound and insulted the men who lived there. The fact that this guy would do it was interesting. And maybe a little bit impressive.
I could tell Reign felt the same way judging by the smirk pulling on his lips. "Alright, smartass. How many?"
"I only saw two but there could be more."
"Alright. Duke, take our new friend here down to the basement until we get this sorted out. Renny, Mina, you," he said, pointing to one of the guys from the gate. They changed daily. It was impossible to learn names. "Will come with me."
"Reign," Lo tried to cut in, her voice reasoning.
"Tired of sitting behind reinforced walls while our fucking lives go to shit, Lo. I'm going. And I'll take Renny. The rest can stay behind and keep an eye on things here. And I want someone with him," he said, jerking his chin toward Lazarus, "until we get back. Let's move," he declared and we all jumped to action.
Duke led Lazarus toward the hall and basement, the man seeming completely unaffected by becoming, at least temporarily, prisoner in a biker compound. Reign and I grabbed guns from behind the bar. Mina took one off of Lo. Then, as a unit, we all made our way toward the car.
Reign drove, the other Hailstorm guy in the front. Mina and I climbed in the backseat, both tense.
And while she was tense in general, she was doubly so then, her entire body ramrod straight, her hands flat on her thighs as her gaze focused out the window.
I got the distinct impression that, were it not for Reign demanding she come, she would have been much more likely to stay behind at the compound. While I was sure she had training, as all of Lo's people did, she seemed less likely to be someone who liked being in the thick of things.
And, quite frankly, I didn't like the idea of her being in the middle of a dangerous situation either. I wasn't overly protective by nature. I had been raised with a lot of fucked ideas, but true gender equality was one of the decent things my parents had instilled in me. And true gender equality acknowledged the fact that women were just as capable of handling themselves as men. Maybe most women didn't have the same amount of brute strength as men did, but with the right training, it could be made so that that didn't matter.
So it wasn't that I didn't know she was no worse off than the rest of us. I just would have preferred her back at the compound was all.
"Mother fucker," Reign growled as we pulled up across the street to find red and blue lights flashing outside the gym, two men being led out in handcuffs.
There went our leverage.
FIVE
Mina
Pretty much the last place in the world I wanted to be was in a car with a couple of hot-headed bikers. Our training, it generally taught us that operations were crippled by emotions. That was how you screwed up, got sloppy, made the kind of mistakes that could get you killed.