Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
I could feel the clock ticking. How long did Rocket have before he was too weak to fight? I knew he’d been shot. I saw the blood on his shoulder going through to his back. But I’d be Goddamned if he hadn’t kept on fighting. He hadn’t made a sound through all that, but when he was trying to keep those asshole’s attention on him, he bellowed like a fucking mad cow. And if he’d gone and gotten himself killed because of that little stunt, I’d raise him from the dead so I could fucking kill him myself. I would bet my last dollar that he’d been trained not to acknowledge pain. Either that or his tissue was in shock or some shit.
Didn’t matter.
What was important was that Rocket was in trouble. And I needed to get him help. We made our way farther into the city. Took me a bit, but I figured out we were in Riviera Beach. Which… was Grim Road territory.
“Fuck,” I swore under my breath.
We rounded the corner beside a brick building and I set about using the edge to saw through the zip tie around my wrists. Then I got us to a busy street and sat with our backs to the wall of a building so we could keep an eye out in front of us for any sign of those men. Pulling out my phone, I tried to remember how to use the fucking thing. Now that the immediate danger had passed, I was starting to shake. I was going to crash and I couldn’t afford to do that yet.
I finally found Wylde’s number and connected a call. He answered on the first ring.
“Lemon? What the fuck’s goin’ on? Is Apple with you?” Wylde sounded like he was about to lose his shit. Which was kinda funny since the man bragged about how he had the coolest head of the club. When he wanted to have.
“Apple should be at the Salvation’s Bane compound. I told her to make those guys from Bane you had following us take her there. What happened is I saw a guy kidnap a kid off the beach and I got her back.”
“What do you mean you got her back?”
“I mean, I followed those bastards and took her back.” There was a long pause. “Might have had a little help from Rocket.”
“Are you safe?” He was obviously trying to hold on to what little patience he had left.
“For the moment. I’ve got Effie with me. She’s the girl they took. We ended up in Riviera Beach. They’ve got Rocket now and ain’t no one from Grim Road anywhere in fuckin’ sight. Will Bane come help?”
“Not sure, kid. First things first. I’m sending directions to your phone to Grim Road. It will be quicker for you to go to them than trying to get a ride back to Bane.”
“This crappy phone? Wylde, it barely sends text messages.”
“Yeah, it’ll be pretty basic, but if you squint just right, you should be able to get an idea where you’re going. All you really have to do is get close to their compound. They’ll find you.”
“Sounds like a great bunch’a guys, there, Wylde. Did Rocket not tell them he was going into a fight? Why ain’t they already at that fuckin’ house killin’ some punkass motherfuckers? Are they little bitches?”
“For Christ’s sake, Lemon. Don’t go ‘round sayin’ shit like that in Grim Road territory. You’ll hurt their feelings.”
I started to lay into Wylde and tell him to take their hurt feelings and shove them up his ass when a thought occurred to me. “You’re on the phone with one of ‘em. Ain’t cha’?”
I could practically see Wylde grinning with glee. “Why, Lemon. Why ever would you think that?”
“‘Cause that’s just the kinda asshole you are. Where are they? I need someone to protect Effie while I go back to help Rocket.”
“Just stay put, honey. They’re comin’ to you.”
“You’re a bastard, Wylde.”
“Yeah, but you still love me.”
Smug bastard. I might kinda sorta maybe just a little bit love him. But I’d never tell him that. “No, I don’t. Dani might, but me and Apple tolerate you at best.”
I stayed on the phone with Wylde until two men pulled up in a big Bronco. Effie seemed to understand what was happening and looked up at me trustingly. Another pulled up behind them on a bike. Immediately, I handed Effie off to the two Grim Road members and, surprisingly, she didn’t protest. Then I sprinted to the guy on the bike.
“We’ve got to go help Rocket. I can take you to him.”
“Let’s get you and the kid back to the compound, and we’ll figure out how best to help Rocket.”
I looked at the guy’s cut. Apparently, this was Falcon. I’d only met a very few of the Grim Road men, and he wasn’t one of them. “I realize you don’t fully appreciate the situation, but when I left Rocket, he’d been shot, his knee had buckled, and he was fighting three men with one only unconscious. Not dead. They will kill him if they haven’t already.” I tried to block that out. The mere thought of those bastards killing Rocket made me more furious than I wanted to admit. And maybe, just a touch, sad. No. That was anger. Pure and simple. The man was an asshole at best, an accomplice in Scarlet’s torture at worst.