Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Her fire is fucking hot, but it’s fucking inconvenient when she aims it our way.
“We don’t know for sure, but it would make sense,” Sledge answers. At my growl, he looks my way. “Don’t baby her, she doesn’t fucking want it.”
“Thank you,” Shelby says with a nod. “Like it or not, I’m involved in this and I have a right to know what’s going on. Last time we were in danger, I hid for almost two years, scared every day until I heard he was dead, that Dodger or one of his buddies would find us and finish the job they started when they killed my step-father. You aren’t protecting me from learning that you live in a brutal world. I’ve already experienced it.”
It feels like she drives a knife right into my gut. I close the distance between us and cup her face in my hands. “If I could take all that away, I would.”
“But you can’t, and we don’t have time to argue,” she says softly, resting a hand over mine. “I promise not to do anything stupid, but I won’t go back into hiding if I can help it.”
“When this is over, you should run as far away as you can.”
“That’s my choice, not yours.”
Phoenix meets us on the way, frowning when he sees Shelby. “What’s she—”
“Don’t look at me. I was outvoted,” I grumble.
“If they took Mia, I want to be there for this,” she snaps. “You have a problem with that?”
Phoenix raises his eyebrows, but all he says is, “Fair.”
Eagle-eye, King, the other officers and most of the rest of the Eagles are gathered in the courtyard. Just inside the gate are the Outlaw Sons. I don’t recognize most of them, but their prez, General, is hard to forget. He’s a big guy in his fifties with long dark hair streaked with gray. He has a massive mustache and two gold front teeth. Rumor has it that he took the name because that was his military rank before getting out, but I’ve also heard that it’s because he killed a General, so take your pick. Either way, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
Another I remember from the Burnout. The big-as-a-fucking-mountain guy we needed two guys to take down. He’s still got a bruise under his eye and an angry cut along his jaw. The way he’s standing next to General, he’s obviously a club officer, maybe even the VP. His expression darkens when he sees us. If glares could kill, we'd be dead already.
“I think he remembers us,” I note dryly.
“Good.” Phoenix gives him the finger, and it doesn't exactly improve his mood. As we move closer, the two club presidents, Eagle-eye and General, are arguing animatedly and angrily.
“What the fuck do you want?” Eagle-eye snarls. He might only have one good eye left, the other one blind and milky white, but I dare any fucker to stare back into it and not know at least a little fear. Almost sixty, he’s more gray than color, but built like a fucking barrel of muscle that even I wouldn’t wanna fuck with.
General snarls right back. “Hand over the assholes who broke the peace and we’ll call it fucking even. I’ll even send them back breathing so long as they don’t do anything too stupid.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I'm just gonna have to assume you’re looking for war. Is that what you fucking want?”
Eagle-eye's voice rumbles like a rockslide. “I'd watch what you're saying. You’ve never given us trouble before, and trust me, you don’t want to start now. I don’t fucking care how many connections you have, the only thing left of you would be ghosts. Ask the Pit Vipers.”
Both Phoenix and Shel's mouths thin at the mention of Dodger's old club, and they are far from the only ones.
One of the other officers, a lanky, straw-haired guy with two knives in his belt and a piece sticking very obviously out next to them, growls, but doesn't say anything. Something about him makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He’s one bad decision from turning this into a bloodbath.
“Watch him,” Phoenix growls, pulling his jacket open for easy access to his iron and angling himself between trouble and Shelby.
“On it.”
Sledge and I very carefully do the same, making sure that if something were to happen, she’d have time to run.
General looks like he wants to put his fist straight through Eagle-eye, but out of frustration, not because he’s a loose cannon. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I heard you had a kid, but are you so fucking sleep deprived you’re losing your mind? We were minding our own fucking business when your boys came in and made a mess of the Burnout and yelling nonsense for no goddamn reason. We mind our damn business and you mind yours. That’s always been our deal.”