Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
That someone else being Rurik fucking Tarasov—the goddamn bane of my existence.
The Ghost Born MC had kept me out of trouble with the law. Sure, I still had a quick mouth and even quicker fists, but they had pull within law enforcement, and the Russians we were all tied up with had even more pull than we did.
If they didn’t, there was no doubt in my mind I’d be rotting in a prison cell for the rest of my life.
The man whose radar I’d been on while inside? Yeah, that was Rurik—the Bratva’s consigliere. I had no clue what his fascination with me was, but he was doing his damnest to sink his claws deep into me. And I was fighting like hell every step of the way.
“Rurik is on his way here. We’ve got a problem.”
I scowled. A problem. Fucking hell. Rurik Tarasov alone was a goddamn problem in my book. Sure, the rest of the guys got along with him. I mean, we all had to considering the Ghost Born MC and the Russian Bratva were so tightly tied together due to the Mother Charter’s president’s marriage to Amaliya, the Pakhan’s daughter.
But Rurik and I? We mixed about as well as oil and water did. He was the silent type. Was able to command an entire room with one fucking arch of his eyebrow. And he didn’t rise to anything. Like he thought he was better than all of us.
And fuck if that didn’t rub me the wrong way. Didn’t matter how much I snapped at the asshole, how much I got in his face. Didn’t matter what I did.
He just seemed to find me… amusing. And he was always so calm. So unbothered.
“Goddammit,” I growled, leaning forward. Reaching into my hoodie pocket, I pulled out my cigarettes and lighter. Chet’s lips twitched in amusement. Chet didn’t take much seriously. Everything in life was a game to him, and my intense dislike for Rurik was a major source of comedic relief for the asshole.
Rurik was the reason I’d been pulled into the Ghost Born family. I’d beat the absolute dog shit out of one of his soldiers when he’d been inside to get intel, and that put me on his radar. Come to find out, Rurik was also the reason nothing more ever got added to my sentence for all the shit I stirred up inside those walls. All the fights. The disobedience toward the guards.
He’d been the key to getting and keeping my freedom, and it just made me hate him even more.
Lifting a cigarette to my lips, I lit it and deeply inhaled. Chet dropped down into the chair beside me and slouched, his legs spreading—the perfect image of relaxation. That’d been me before I realized Rurik was on his way here.
“What’s your deal with Rurik anyway?” Chet asked.
“Besides the fact that he’s a pretentious, rich asshole that thinks he’s better than everyone else?” I flicked my ashes onto the ground. “He’s got a silent way of taunting me.”
Chet snorted, and without even looking at him, I knew he was rolling his eyes. “Brother, you lose your shit over the littlest things,” Chet reminded me. “Maybe you’re just overreacting.”
“Oh, fuck you,” I growled, pushing to my feet. Chet’s snickers followed me as I stormed off toward the garage. We were technically off today, but knowing Rurik was on his way had me sitting on a knife’s edge. I needed something to do. Something to focus on.
Using my keys, I unlocked the office door, then stepped inside. After unlocking the door between the office and the bays, I stepped in and pulled up the garage door that opened up the bay where the car I’d been working on was, letting in the cool, fresh air to hopefully chase away some of the cloying scent of gasoline and oil. I didn’t mind it, but I also wasn’t trying to die from the fumes.
My mom would bring me back from the dead just to kill me again for dying from something so preventable.
Holding my cigarette between my lips, I popped the hood on the old Corolla and set to work on replacing the water pump, pulley, and belt. I didn’t know how much time passed, but apparently, enough did that the sound of tires over gravel finally reached my ears. I ignored it, knowing one of the guys would deal with Rurik.
Because I had no doubt it was him.
Car doors shut, and then, silence rang again. I focused back on the task at hand. Maybe they wouldn’t need me inside for anything, and Rurik could go in there, tell Hyram, our president, what was going on, and then be on his fucking way without us having to cross paths.
“You should be inside.”
Every muscle in my body tensed at his voice. Grunting, I set my wrench aside, then turned and snagged my pack of cigarettes off the work table behind me. I lifted one to my lips, and just as I was about to grab my lighter, Rurik was suddenly there, holding his torch up to my cigarette. I narrowed my eyes at him as I inhaled, letting him light it.