Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 80664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I’d thought King had fired the bullet at Chop, but I’d been wrong. It was my girl who’d saved me.
“You leave her the fuck alone,” I said, standing between my mom and my girl. “Put your fucking gun down.”
“Abel,” she pleaded, taking a step toward me.
“Stop,” I warned. “Don’t fucking call me that. You don’t get to call me that.” Without turning my head away from Sadie I called out to Ti, “Are you okay? Did this bitch hurt you? Did Gus hurt you?”
“I’m fine, baby,” she said, her voice snaking it’s way inside of me, making me feel centered, grounded.
Complete.
Sadie looked down at Chop’s handless body. “He’s really gone?” Sadie cried, covering her mouth with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun. A tear fell from her eye and ran down her cheek. “I mean, that’s what I wanted. Him. Gone. But now…he really is.”
“What the fuck did you think was going to happen?” I asked.
Sadie shook her head and took a step back. Her gaze went from me to Ti and then to King. “Don’t know what you were thinking,” I said. “But there ain’t no way you’re walking out of here,” I said, and I meant it.
Sadie wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “Oh, my Abel.” she said, sniffling. “I never planned on walking out of here.” She looked over to Ti. “Take good care of my boy,” she said before placing the gun in her mouth.
Then she did what Chop was too much of a coward to do all those years before, and she ended it all.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Thia
Bear limped over his mother’s dead body and grabbed my face roughly in his hands. “Hey, Beautiful.” He turned my chin from side to side and looked me over like he was inspecting me for physical damage.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” I reassured him. “Just scrapes and bruises.”
“Scrapes and bruises would be too much, but I call bullshit. Your cheeks are swollen and you just winced like I slapped you. What the fuck happened?” His nostrils flared.
I ignored his question, my teeth not seeming all that important. “Looks like I got off better than you,” I said, pointing to the bloody hole in his thigh.
“Just scrapes and bruises,” he said, repeating my lie. I rolled my eyes. “Now fucking tell me what happened to your mouth.”
“I lost a couple of teeth. Just in the back,” I added, like it would make Bear’s eyes turn any less murderous. I instantly regretted telling him.
“Who?” he demanded. “Who the fuck did Gus leave you with?” Bear asked, like he needed to know whose name he could add to his list of people to kill. “How the fuck you even get out?”
Both questions had the same answer. “Jake.” Bear’s eyes went wide. “But it’s okay,” I said, grabbing on to his arm. “He rescued me.” I left off the part about him being one of the people to pull those teeth.
“Fuck,” Bear said, pressing his forehead to mine, grabbing onto the back of my neck. “That could have gone either way.”
“But it didn’t,” I reassured him. “I’m fine. I swear.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I am so fucking sorry,” Bear said, pressing a kiss to my lips. He was covered in blood and from what I’d just witnessed I knew most of that blood wasn’t his.
“Bear,” I said, placing my hands over his. “You need to believe me when I tell you that I’m okay. Not just physically, but with all of this.” I looked around the clubhouse. “You’re alive. I’m alive. That’s all you need to know.”
Bear threaded his fingers up through my hair. “Why did you come here? You shouldn’t of.”
I shook my head. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. I made you a promise that I wouldn’t give up on you, and…”
“And?” he pressed.
“And so I didn’t,” I said, adding, “and believe it or not, there is no place else I’d rather be.” Bear laughed and so did I because although it sounded ridiculous, it was true. Bear tugged on my hair. I stood on my tippy toes and pressed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. His lips didn’t move and neither did mine. We stood there for a minute. Just feeling our connection, breathing each other in, reminding ourselves that we were together now.
Alive.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Bear
“Bear, come look at this,” King said, putting an end to our moment. Without letting go of Ti’s hand, I walked over to the balcony, dragging her with me, and looked down to what King was pointing at below. I was stunned at the sight before me. Surrounding the pool were Bastards. My former brothers, at least twenty of them, and they were all on their knees with their hands behind their heads while Munch, Wolf, Stone, and several older men I didn’t recognize stood around them, guns at the ready.
Well, there was one guy I recognized in the group. It seemed I hadn’t imagined seeing him earlier. “Ted?” I asked.
“Howdy, there!” Ted called up cheerily, covered in his own fair amount of blood splatter. Thor, who had been a prospect when I left, who was now wearing a member’s patch on his cut, made a move to stand but Ted kicked him in the back of the knees and forced him back down to the ground, never breaking a smile.
I turned to Ti. “Was this you?” I asked, waving at all the unfamiliar men.
She shrugged with a little half smile. “I figured that if you were going to go to war, you should have an army.” She leaned in, her breath tickling my ear. “So I called in an army.”
Before that night I’d already known I was in love with Ti, what I didn’t know was that I could love her more than I already did, but right there, standing in a pool of my parents blood, mixed with some of my own, I fell for her so hard my chest ached with all the love I had for her.
Ted saluted me. “Had more fun tonight than I have in years,” he called up again, tucking one of his semi-automatics into the front pocket of his overalls so he could adjust his trucker’s hat. “Was like rounding up pigs at the fair.”