Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76559 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Family,” Sadie said and grabbed her hand, giving it a sympathetic squeeze, before she stepped into the middle of the room to get everyone’s attention. “Lance was a good man. A great man with an incredible work ethic and a deep-rooted protective nature that served him well in the Navy as a SEAL, but also within the Ashby organization.”
Terry and Jasper pounded on the bar, whistling loudly and more people joined in. “To Lance. May he watch over us all and rest peacefully while we find the bastards who did this.”
The smile Sadie wore was sweet and innocent, strong enough to fool the untrained eye, but the seething anger she felt was practically a living, breathing thing.
And I knew there’d be hell to pay. More violence and more death, to make up for what we all had lost. And because, as a family, we had to make a point. No one fucked with the Ashbys and lived to tell the tale.
“This is all so strange,” Vanessa said and looked around. “I don’t know any of these people, but they all knew my husband.” She looked overwhelmed, so filled with grief that it made my own heart break, for Ma never grieving like that over our worthless father, for me for never loving someone that deeply.
“You should talk to them. Find out about the Lance they knew. Share in their memories of your man.”
Her smile was hesitant but as Vanessa looked around the room, her smile grew. “You know what, I think I will.” She stopped at the bar for another drink and inserted herself into the first circle she found.
Vanessa will be all right. I didn’t know much about her beyond what Lance had said, but I knew that much.
There was a whole lot more that I had no fucking clue about, starting with the fact that Lance died protecting that Rhymer bitch, which meant she was as responsible as the fuckers who took her. Not to mention the big fight featuring Ravager. The fight was huge and there was a ton of money at stake on both sides. And now there was a distinct possibility that Brendan Rhymer was still alive.
It was so much shit and it was all happening at once, and worse; it was all pretty much out of my control. It was like being the lone little girl in a family dominated by alphas, of both genders.
“Such a shame.” Terry smacked his lips as his lean body cast a shadow over the table. “There’s this nice party going on and still, you can’t relax.”
His voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I took a deep, cleansing breath before I turned a bored look up at him.
“This is me relaxing. Not all of us need to be the center of attention to relax.”
It was one of his most engaging qualities, always grabbing the limelight, but I’d always hated it because he pulled everyone near him in. Everyone but me.
“I can’t help it if people like to be around me.” He shrugged and dropped down on the booth seat right beside me. “I’m just that kind of guy, I guess.”
He was. Terry was the definition of the life of the party with a ready smile for just about everyone, maybe a compliment too. “And I guess I’m just a girl who can’t relax.” Not that Terry knew what it was like to have the weight of the world on his shoulders and nor would he care about the weight I had to carry.
“Did you come over here to bust my balls or did you want something?”
His blue eyes looked at me, and I swore he could see down to my soul, but that was just wishful thinking. Remnants from a childhood crush that had never fully died.
How could it when he was always around, that nearly white blond hair in such stark contrast to his sun-kissed skin and those blue, blue eyes that made him look so much softer than he was. And, good God, that plump bottom lip that pulled beautifully when he smiled. And he was always smiling.
“I just came to see why you’re scowling at a mighty fine whiskey.”
“Thinking,” I told him honestly. “There’s a lot going on right now.”
“Yeah, there is. But this is the Ashby family. Something is always going on. Figured you’d be used to it by now.”
I laughed bitterly. “Are you used to your family situation yet?”
He froze and flashed a sarcastic grin. “Nope.”
“Then you understand.”
“A bit too much,” he said before taking a long pull from his beer bottle. “Let your hair down, Kat. Enjoy life a little.” His tone had changed along with his proximity.
Our thighs were side by side, touching ever so slightly as he leaned in and grabbed a lock of my hair, wrapping it slowly, teasingly, around two fingers. He gave it a gentle tug and stared into my eyes for so long that my heart started to race and my mind began to wonder. To hope.