Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“You want to know if I’m a monster?”
Her mouth drops open a little, those plump pink lips letting out a little gasp. “No, I’d never think you’re a monster. I think if you killed someone, they probably deserved it.”
Not all of them.
But it’s all business. So ...
You get tangled up in our world, and make the wrong move, you risk getting a bullet in your brain. That’s the risk you take when you make the decision to mess around with clubs and club life.
“Yeah, I have killed people. Don’t like it. Don’t like doin’ it. But sometimes it’s part of the life I lead, I guess.”
“Is it because they betray you and do bad things?”
“That, amongst other things. It’s a risk you run when you get involved in club life. If you’re gonna do the wrong thing, you’re gonna get caught and pay the price.”
She nods. “Makes sense. Have you ever had a woman that hasn’t agreed with the life you lead?”
I hesitate for a second, because I know she’s prying. Of course she is. She wants to know about Nerissa. She’s asked a few questions now, but I haven’t yet told her the story. My silence must make her uneasy, because she shifts a little and says, in the softest damned voice, “Sorry, Maverick. I didn’t mean to pry.”
Fuck it.
She told me her story. ‘Bout time she knew mine.
“I’ve only ever had one woman,” I tell her, and she stops fidgeting and relaxes back into me, beginning little circles on my chest with her finger as she listens. “She didn’t love the club life, in fact, most of the time she tried to get me away from it. Could understand it, I guess. If you don’t get how it works, it can be a scary thought to think that things might go bad if you have a family with a club member.”
“Is it dangerous, the life you lead?”
“Sometimes, yeah. Mostly, we’re smart. Nerissa was the first, and only, Old Lady to ever lose her life because of club problems.”
She flinches in my arms. I don’t want to scare her, but that’s the truth and fucked if I’ll lie to make it sound better.
“It wasn’t because of our doin’, but. I still don’t fully know what went on that day, I wasn’t there. Club was in lock down, we were having trouble with some drug dealers in the area. They were tryin’ to take over our turf, tryin’ to run drugs through the town. Mal wasn’t havin’ it, so he started interferin’ and they didn’t like it. We wanted them out. They didn’t want to go. Shit got heated.”
“What happened to her?” she asks, her voice soft and a little shaky.
“She was at the club, lock down, too. One of my guys was supposed to keep her there. She was ...,” I hesitate. “Pregnant. Couple of months. First child.”
Scarlett makes a pained sound, and her fingers rest over my heart and she shuffles closer. My heart starts pounding, because talking about that fucking day has my head spinning. But, she deserves to know, she trusted me, now I’m going to trust her.
“I’m so sorry, Maverick,” she whispers.
“Thanks,” I say, my voice husky, but not from anything but emotion. I keep talking. “Anyway, I had the club member looking after her because I was out with Mal, we were trying to keep them away from the club. I don’t know what happened, but I know I told him that he was to protect her with his life, to not let her out of his sight, to not let a single hair on her head come to harm. He swore he’d not let her leave the room she was in, and I trusted him to do that.”
“He didn’t?” Scarlett asks.
“No. He didn’t. She got out, I don’t know how, I never asked and I don’t care. He should have tackled her if he had to, but he should have never let her get past him. Somehow, she did. She didn’t want to be there, she was calling me cryin’, sayin’ she was scared I’d die and wanted us to leave together, that she wanted to go back to her parents’ house in Colorado Springs and we could start anew. She freaked herself out, and because of that, somehow tried to get out so she could find me and take me away.”
Scarlett strokes my skin, affectionately. “I can understand that. She was pregnant. She loved you. She was probably terrified.”
My heart clenches, and I close my eyes for a second, gathering my thoughts. Nerissa was never made for the life she tried to live with me, but she loved me and so she tried to fit in. When things got heated, she simply wasn’t equipped to handle it and because of that, she lost her life. I should have let her go a long time ago, let her be with the kind of man she needed, but my selfish attitude and love for her wouldn’t allow that, and in the end, it cost her her life.