Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Suck it up, bitch. No one cares who you are. You’re here with us now. Pretendin’ to be all high and mighty won’t get you nowhere here.
“It’s nothing. Just thank you. Gideon.” I smiled up at him. I meant it, too. He was gruff and intimidating, but he was a good guy. The second I uttered the words, I knew it had been a mistake.
“Don’t lie to me, Emmanuell,” he said in a low, deadly tone. “Never to me. I won’t tolerate it.”
I wasn’t afraid of him… exactly. I mean, he looked terrifying when he wanted to, and he wasn’t exactly happy with me holding back from him for whatever reason, but if he’d wanted to hurt me he’d have done it a long time ago. Stupid rationale, but I had no problem with it presently. If I admitted what I wanted, would he laugh at me? Deny me?
Ridicule me?
“I don’t…” I cleared my throat. “That is, I’d prefer not to be alone.” He cocked his head, a puzzled expression on his face. “What I mean is, shelters.” I tried to chuckle like it was all a big joke. “They’re not exactly, you know.” I swallowed. “Safe.”
“I hope you don’t think you’re not safe here, honey. You are.” He winced, shaking his head.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he grumbled. “Just… shouldn’t have called you honey.”
I grinned. “Why not? No one’s ever called me that before. Kind of nice coming from someone who looks so scary.” I shrugged. “Takes the sting out of how gruff you are.”
He gave me an exasperated look. “Well, don’t tell anyone. My brothers are already givin’ me hell.” He shifted around, scooting more solidly onto the bed. He kicked off his boots before putting his feet up and turning to face me. I squeaked as he urged me over to my side and pulled me against him, wrapping his arms around me. “There,” he said, sounding put out when I was pretty sure he wasn’t. “Sleep.”
“You don’t have to do this,” I said, even as I snuggled into him. For the first time since I’d found out I was pregnant, I felt safe. Again, I wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t dirty. I was in a safe place with privacy. Add to that a crazy-scary biker with a gruff exterior whom I suspected had a good heart, and I could honestly say I’d never been more content in my life as I was in that moment wrapped up in Ripper’s -- Gideon’s -- arms.
“Know that. Now shut up and go the fuck to sleep.”
I giggled. “Isn’t that an audio book or something?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. Just know you need sleep. You need to feel safe. I’m here. I’ll keep the bad stuff away.”
Yawning, I said, “Fine. But don’t blame me if I get used to it. This is as close to spoiling as I’ve ever had.” Settling against Gideon’s body, I closed my eyes.
Before I dozed off, I thought I heard him say, “Get used to it, baby. Because I intend to do more of it.”
* * *
Ripper
I lay with Emmanuell for a long time. At least an hour. In that hour she didn’t move a muscle other than to breathe. I’d have lain there until she finally woke if it hadn’t been for some motherfucker blowing up my fuckin’ phone with texts. Then phone calls. Made me want to punch a motherfucker.
Finally, I took out my phone and scrolled through messages. It wasn’t too late. Barely one in the morning. Apparently, Thorn was ready to start the interrogation. Normally, the thought wouldn’t have affected me any more than someone saying it was time to take out the trash. Now, though, I was eager to see what Beaner had to say. Didn’t mean I wanted to do it right this second.
Never in my life had I held a woman while she slept. Never wanted to. All it did was make them clingy, and I could give two shits. Especially after I lost my leg and got half my body scarred by burns and shrapnel. Any woman who’d been interested had only been in it for the sex. Which was fine by me. We both got off, then she left before she could say something about my scars and piss me off. I didn’t want that with Emmanuell. I wanted the fairy tale.
Thorn wanted the information I’d collected on Goldstein and to know if Beaner was tied to him in any way. So far, I couldn’t find a connection, but that didn’t surprise me. If Goldstein had hired Beaner to hurt Emmanuell, he’d have paid in cash. Most likely, anything tying him to Goldstein would come down to what we could extract from Beaner.
When I thought about Beaner, it was all I could do not to fly into a murderous rage. Not taking into account he might have been part of some kind of plot to hurt Emmanuell’s father and maybe even Emmanuell herself, just the fact that he’d gotten her pregnant, then abandoned her with no means of taking care of herself or the baby meant he needed to die. The rest of the stuff was just icing on the fucking cake.