Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 76402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
I had a sudden, utterly uncharacteristic urge to take up a membership, see if I could weasel out some information from her much more outgoing brother.
That wasn't me.
I wasn't an investigator.
A Facebook stalker.
Hell, I didn't even have a fucking Facebook account.
I, in general, was a let the chips fall where they may kind of person. I didn't get riled. I didn't get wrapped up in some inconsistencies and try to figure them out, track down leads. No. That wasn't me. I just moved on to the next girl when something seemed off about one.
"What do you do?" she asked, looking between the two of us.
"We're Henchmen," I supplied.
"Oh," she said, those perfect lips forming a big O for a second as recognition hit.
"Gonna run screaming now?" I asked, sensing that she was clearly not like the typical bar chick who had fed on endless years of sexualized crime shows that left them with a thirst not just for bad boys but actually bad men. Criminals. Mob members. Gangsters. And, in my case, arms dealing bikers. Granted, it was just a fleeting thing. Just an itch that needed scratching. Just a fantasy that needed fulfilling. Not many women - the old ladies of the club aside, of course - signed up to lock it down with a man such as me. And, well the women that belonged to Henchmen men were, as a whole, a different breed of women, unique creatures entirely.
"Screaming, no. I'm not shocked - or scared - that easily," she told me, and even as she said it, the confidence that I had seen earlier came back, got stronger, made her harder, tougher.
Social conventions and flirting flustered her, shook her confidence. But crime bolstered her up?
Who the hell was this woman?
"But?" I prompted, sensing it floating in the air around us.
"But, like I said," she went on, taking a long sip of her soda before finishing, "I have places to be tomorrow. Thank you for the drink. And it was nice meeting you," she added, getting to her feet, making the two of us do the same. "I hope you find what you're looking for tonight," she added in parting, turning, and hustling her way through the crowd and out the door.
I turned back to Cam, finding his brows furrowed too, apparently as lost as I was feeling.
"That was fucking weird, right?" I asked, needing the confirmation. That she was off. That the interaction as weird. That I wasn't reading too much into it because she was a fantasy come to life. Camden's head was nodding, his shoulders shrugging. "She was lying about the job, about cooking..." Again, more nods from my silent brother. "Weird," I added again, dropping down, getting another round, knowing it was going to be a night I hoofed it since I planned to drink until the urge to chase her fine ass down evaporated.
I hope you find what you're looking for tonight.
The words haunted me.
Even after four more rounds.
Even after getting back to the compound, hanging with the guys, having some more drinks.
Even after a shower and climbing into bed.
Because, to be perfectly honest, I was pretty sure what I was looking for was her.
And that shit, yeah, that was fucked up.
Not like me.
But it was there, niggling at my brain even as sleep finally claimed me.
THREE
Freddie
"Woman," Thad said after coming in the door the following morning after spending the night with the tie guy, leaning back against the door, head tipped to the side, watching me make coffee. The third pot of the day. Since it had been so long since I made coffee that I had no idea how many scoops to put in. The first pot was hot, yellowish water. The second had been so dark and bitter that I had needed to spit my sip into the sink. Hopefully, the third time would be a charm.
"Yes?" I asked, turning to him.
"Where is he?"
"Where is who?"
"Where is who? That fine ass man who was drooling over you last night, that's who."
"Oh. I don't know. Home, I would imagine." Thad's eyes got small. Annoyed. Disappointed. A mix of the two perhaps. "I wasn't going to go home with a strange biker!"
"Lover girl, it has been a decade since you've had any action. A decade. You needed to go home with a strange biker. Especially one that fine."
"I don't do casual sex."
"Honey, you don't do any sex. And I gotta say, that just can't be healthy."
"It hasn't exactly been a choice."
"Well, yeah. But now it is."
"I didn't even know how to talk to him," I admitted, shaking my head. "I felt like a little girl confronted with an intimidating man."
"Oh, Fred," Thad said with a little sigh, moving over to me, wrapping an arm half around me, pressing a kiss to my temple. "You'll get there. There's time. Now let me just take a shower, then I will take you out to breakfast before work, okay?"