Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“Come on, princess. There’s a hot tub if you want to soak and relax.”
Oh yeah, this is the kind of protective custody I could get used to.
26
KING
Eagle-eye returns like fucking royalty, and I for one am fucking thrilled to turn over the crown.
As the van with our men pulls into the courtyard in front of the clubhouse, every member of the club is out to welcome them home. Cheers echo off the walls as the door opens and the fucking man himself steps out, looking around with that piercing gray eye.
Thank fuck the lawyers finally came through. Bail made the club war chest bleed, but it was fucking worth it to get him, Alpha and Beast back where they belong. There’s a very good chance that one of the faces in this crowd is a fucking traitor. It's time to take control of the situation again.
“Dad!” Faith yells, handing Charlotte over to Blade and running towards her father.
She’s going to have to work on her sprint, because Jupiter launches himself out of the clubhouse like he hasn’t seen the old man for fucking years. Eagle-eye laughs, bending to scratch Jupe’s stomach with both hands as the dog rolls around barking like a maniac. But when Faith and Miriam get to him, he stands and wraps his arms around them, pulling them close and whispering to the crying women.
Faith nods, breaking away. Eagle-eye kisses Miriam fucking senseless, earning another round of cheering. Not a single fucker in the yard would say shit about a man just out of prison showing his fucking family he cares.
“It’s good to have him back,” Emily says, her arm tight around my waist. “I’ve never seen Mom like this. She was a wreck. I don’t think she ever loved my father like she does Eagle-eye. Not that I blame her, but I had a real hard time seeing her with Eagle-eye in the beginning.”
“Yeah, they’re good for each other. She settles him.”
Then Alpha steps out, and it's Faith's turn to get kissed senseless. Behind her, Ripper and Blade stand proud, welcoming their brother back. Strike Team Motherfucking Alpha is whole again.
Fuck, I try to imagine what it'd be like to be separated for that long from Em and the others, trapped behind bars in some shithole prison. Even the thought makes me furious. Never mind what it would do to the kids. Faith and the boys' little girl is still a fucking baby. She won’t remember Alpha being missing for a week, but ours are old enough to demand answers and still too fucking young to understand.
Beast’s only a prospect and doesn't have a woman, but he gets a round of cheers from the boys anyway. His head's bandaged, and his face still looks raw even if it's healing, but at least he's fucking standing. Razor, his sponsor, claps him on the back, and he looks a little embarrassed.
Eagle-eye’s keen gaze finds me. He disengages from Miriam, who wipes her arm across her eyes, but stands aside. She's been here long enough to know when club business comes first. We’re all gonna steer clear of the common room tonight though. Sound fucking carries from his rooms on the second floor and I don’t need to hear that shit.
“King,” he says, extending his hand.
I take it, clasping forearms and pulling him into a fucking bearhug. “Good to have you back, Prez.”
“Good to be here. I’d love to shoot the shit and fucking relax but we need to have a sit down. Now.”
I nod.
“Get the officers together. My office. There's shit coming down the pipeline.”
Fucking perfect. That's exactly what we need.
Fifteen minutes later, we're all piled into his office above the common room. I've caught him up on our end of things, including the Scar getting his throat slit, the second meeting with the Giordanos, and Wraith, Tank and Nitro being in hiding with Kaylee.
“They’re fucking her, aren’t they?” he asks.
I laugh. Damn, I missed this bastard. “You want me to say no?”
“That’s a yes.” He shakes his head. “Doesn’t even surprise me anymore. I could tell they were already thinking with their dicks when I talked to her that first night. So long as they do their fucking jobs, we have bigger problems.”
“No shit. So what’s your news?”
He looks up, his face hard. “Hawthorne's out.”
“The fuck?”
“What do you mean, he's out?” Viking growls. Even in February, he's only wearing a vest with nothing under. I swear his parents were fucking polar bears. He tugs the braids in his beard, his icy blues focused and alert. “Why haven’t we heard anything?”
“Officially? He’s a high interest target and they want to keep it out of the press. He’s been playing good fucking prisoner long enough that with the right amount of money, the system that put him away is the same one that’s sucking his dick first chance it gets. If anyone’s thinking, 'Huh, could this possibly have anything to do with all the shit going on?' then congratulations. You can see the obvious.” Eagle-eye crosses his arms over his chest and glares around the room. “If he isn’t already on the streets, he will be soon. The only reason I even know is because that fucker isn't the only one with contacts behind the prison walls. A silver lining to being in that hellhole was having a few strings to pull.”