Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Dutch heard Jagger suck in breath and knew Jagger recognized it, just like Dutch.
“I gotta find him, for my dad.”
“We’ll find him for you, man,” Dutch promised.
“It’s gotta be me,” Carlyle said.
“You gotta stay safe, because there is one thing I know in this world above all other, your mom’s gonna need you. Do you understand me?”
Carlyle swallowed hard.
“Do you understand me, Carlyle?” Dutch pushed.
Carlyle just stared at him, gone. Gone to the pain. Gone to the memories.
Gone to the loss.
“Do you understand me?” Dutch demanded.
He sounded like a little kid when he answered, “Yeah.”
“Will you come with us?” Dutch asked.
Carlyle nodded.
Dutch didn’t waste a second.
He straightened from his crouch and held out his hand.
Carlyle studied it.
And then…
He took it.
Chapter Nine
Meanwhile
Meanwhile…
As Dutch was talking to Carlyle Stephens in Tack and Tyra’s living room with a bevy of Chaos brothers and Nightingale men around him …
Georgiana stood out in the chill air on the deck of Kane and Tyra Allen’s house.
She was not the least surprised when Keely Ironside joined her.
She didn’t look at Dutch’s mom when she asked, “He okay?”
“Kid’s been through the wringer but think he’s tough.”
She gave Keely her attention at that.
“I wasn’t talking about Carlyle.”
Keely’s eyes fell on her.
“Do you know what’s going on with my son?” she asked.
“Yes,” Georgiana answered.
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” she asked.
“No,” Georgie answered.
“Can I trust you have him?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” Georgie answered.
Keely Black Ironside stared at Georgiana Suzanne Traylor.
Then she said, “He’s always been very serious.”
“Please don’t share with me things Dutch would want to tell me himself.”
“What I’m saying is, I wanted him to be free longer so maybe he’d have a little fun.”
Georgie cocked her head.
“What makes you think I’m not fun?”
Keely stared at her again.
“I’m loads of fun,” Georgie assured her.
“I hope so,” Keely whispered.
“Thank you for him,” Georgie said to her.
Keely’s head jerked.
“He’s pretty freaking amazing,” Georgiana told her something she knew.
The way Keely was looking at her now was entirely different.
“Yes, he is.”
“We should go inside. He’s got things on his mind and he doesn’t need to worry about his new babe talking to his beloved mother.”
“Right,” Keely murmured.
They turned as one, and neither of them missed that Dutch’s eyes were aimed through the window.
At Georgiana.
“I haven’t seen that look in twenty-three years,” Keely whispered.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Georgie asked.
Keely slid her arm through Georgie’s and moved her toward the door, saying…
“Gorgeous.”
Chapter Ten
This
Dutch
They went through his side door, Georgie carrying her backpack and laptop bag, Dutch juggling a pizza and a six pack.
She dumped her stuff first, on the counter by the washer and dryer, took off her coat, hung it on a hook, then nabbed the stuff from Dutch.
He locked the door, shrugged off his cut and hung it on a hook.
By the time he’d turned, she was in the living room, cooing to Murtagh.
Dutch followed her.
She was heading to the kitchen.
He moved around turning on lamps.
When he got to the kitchen, she had two beers popped and her head bent to her phone.
She sensed him there, though, because she said, “I’m so wiped, I just want to eat the pizza over the box, down a beer and pass out.”
Not even close to the plans he had for them that night.
He didn’t get into that, or share another good part of living in the biker world: the fact it was almost a moral imperative not to put your pizza on a plate, but instead, eat it over the box at the same time sucking back a beer.
He also didn’t remind her of what he’d already told her. That he’d called, and the restaurant was booked for the next night, but they had a reservation for Sunday, so they had something to look forward to.
On the way from the pizza joint, she’d been giving her phone a lot of attention and not sharing why.
So he got into that.
“Something up?” he asked, leaning a hip against the counter and flipping the pizza box open.
Her gaze came to him.
“Well, my mom has been texting all day, which is no surprise, considering Carolyn has probably been buzzing in her ear.”
“Yeah?” he said. “And?” he asked because he knew that wasn’t it.
“Now my dad has called twice, and that’s unusual, because he kinda figured things out a while ago, at least with the designer stuff Carolyn’s always sporting, and since she often went to him for a handout, he cut her off. This caused a big blowup, as I’m sure you can imagine. She hasn’t spoken to him in a couple of years.”
“So you need to call your dad,” he surmised.
“Yes.”
He nodded. “I need to call Rush to get briefed on Gary Bronson. You make your call, I’ll make mine. And we’ll eat over the box. Nab some paper towels, babe.”
“You need cloth napkins,” she said, even as she moved to the paper towel holder.