Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“Wicked!” Royce calls out from behind me. “We need you down here—now.”
“What?” I turn in my seat at the bar. “Me sitting bitch on a fucking submarine isn’t enough?” Royce and I have been inseparable since he picked me up that night. He’s my brother. The only weakness I now have, and good fucking luck trying to take that big motherfucker away from me. He’d slit your throat before you even breathe near him.
“Shut the fuck up. Come on…” I push off the chair and swallow the rest of my whiskey. All the fucking drama with him and his old lady, who just happened to be the fucking bunny girl in my den all those years ago. All for this moment right here. The moment they’ve all been waiting for with K Diamond. Must be nice to extract your revenge on someone and know that he’s about to die. I need that one day, but unfortunately, this motherfucker still hasn’t fulfilled his word about Skully.
Taking the steps two at a time, I watch as everyone from the MC filters in. Lion, our president and the man who took not only Royce in, but me too, stands back in the corner, watching the whole fucking thing.
When she steps aside, my anger dissolves. Wide, doe eyes and a small pixie face. Her hair is shorter now, cut around her jaw.
“Poppy?” I stammer backward, confused.
“Hey, big brother…” Reaching for her arm, I shove her into my chest and lay a single kiss on top of her head, breathing in her scent. “I thought you were fucking dead. Twice.”
Her arms wrap around my torso, but not enough to reach either side. “I know. I’m sorry.”
I step back, my eyes flying around the small confinement of the space. “What the fuck is going on?” There’s a woman standing beside Lion, dressed in a black suit set. Poppy is beside Jade, and behind them are the rest of the brothers. Fury, Khaos, Roo.
“We all need to talk.” Jade runs her hands down her pants, her eyes going to Poppy. “The girls who I managed to free while being under K Diamond’s control have all banded together. We started an operation to help human trafficking victims and children who are caught in the trade. Over the years, my mother—” She pauses and looks at the woman by Lion. Lion, whom we’ve just found out is Jade’s father. “Has helped pull survivors. We’ve gathered a group and continue to do the work for as long as we need to. Poppy.” Jade points to my sister and I squeeze her under my arm. “Has been with us. I met her with K Diamond, Wicked, I’m sorry. I got her out, that’s why you never saw her again. I’m guessing K didn’t want you to know that because it would show weakness.” She isn’t wrong, and if there’s anything that K Diamond didn’t want, it was to look weak.
“I don’t give a fuck.” I tuck Poppy under my arm. “You’re not going anywhere now.”
Royce looks up at me from a smirk. “Good luck, Poppy.”
We pull up to the compound, and the prospects on the gates open them up wide for us. Pulling in, I park the SUV to the right, where the bikes are all lined. It’s a quiet night tonight. After all the drama with Jade, the clubhouse has been dead.
I cut off the car and watch as everyone piles out in the rearview mirror, Jade smiling up at Royce, and the rest of the brothers following them up the stairs that lead into the house. Our clubhouse is actually an old house that’s right in the center of an industrial-sized piece of land.
“This what you’ve been doing?” Poppy asks, and the silence around us is tight because I know what she wants to ask. “Len, you can’t live this life. You have—”
I turn to face her, narrowing my eyes. “You don’t get to come back into my life and tell me what I need to and can’t do. I can do this and fuck that side of my life, Pop. It’s done nothing for me, for us. This? This is where my loyalties are and always will be.”
She sighs, and I unclench my fist when I realize how hard I’m being on her. “Look, I only say this because one day, Len, they’re going to come back for you. You know this.”
“Good.” I raise my brows at her. “I’ll be fucking waiting for when they do—now, I’ll show you where you’re staying.” Her words stick to the back of my brain like a bad taste. I already knew this, but Poppy saying it out loud only intensifies my fear. Now that I have her back again, I once again have something to lose.
“Wicked.” Her hand rests on mine and I flinch. Her brows cross together but she removes her touch. “I have a home.”