Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Then again, if Bennett tried to do anything, he’d have an entire motorcycle club after him, and I knew for certain he was nowhere near that stupid.
“Your hair looks … a little different than it did when you first walked in here,” someone commented playfully.
My hands went upward, smoothing the wayward strands manically as Colby grinned at me from ear to ear.
“And your cheeks,” he continued. “So rosy. Is your lipstick smudged?”
My other hand went to my mouth.
He chuckled. “Chill, dude. I’m just fucking with you.”
I scowled at him.
“Your boyfriend has been mighty concerned about your whereabouts,” he jerked his head to the corner of the room.
Bennett finally saw me, his eyes flaring with relief and worry.
There was a twinge of guilt, but barely. There should’ve been a lot more.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “I need booze.”
“Well, it seems you could use a cigarette too,” he winked. “But we can’t smoke around the kids and those things will kill you.” He held up two large shot glasses, full of clear liquid. “This will kill you too, but slower, and it’s much more fun.”
“I could kiss you.”
His eyes darted behind me, focusing on something. “Please don’t,” he requested. “I enjoy my arms being attached to the rest of me.”
I looked to where his attention had strayed to. Elden was walking back into the room, his expression blank, his cheeks not rosy, his hair neat… Well, neat for him, at least. In short, he looked like the brooding, hot guy he always did. Not the broody hot guy who had just fucked his friend’s daughter within an inch of her life.
He didn’t even spare me a glance.
“As much as this delights me,” Colby began, “and it does, for you. Not for the club,” he grimaced. “This is fucking horrible for the club and could start a civil war or some shit. So maybe try your best to keep it on the down low, at least until the holiday season is over with. Maybe when your little brother is walking, Swiss will be less homicidal then.” He blew out a long exhale through his teeth. “Or maybe more homicidal, who knows with that fucker.”
I snatched the tequila shot off him, downing it in one, savoring the burn.
“If he hurts you, I’ll kill him,” Colby grunted. There was no more playful teasing in his tone. This was him being the big, bad, dangerous biker.
“Even though he would probably beat me in hand-to-hand combat,” he added, eyes dancing. “I’d have to get imaginative, a little underhanded, catch him while his back is turned.” He reached out to squeeze my hand. “But seriously, babe. He fucks this up, he’s the problem. Not you.”
“Or the problem is the age difference, my stepfather and whatever kind of tortured backstory he has… You all seem to have one,” I countered.
Colby winked. “Makes us more interesting and a fuck of a lot deadlier.”
A high-pitched whistle cut through the air.
All heads turned in Hansen’s direction. “Grub’s up,” he announced, motioning to the table. “Get your asses in seats.”
Everyone, including some … willful children, took heed of Hansen’s order.
I stayed close to Colby like a coward, doing my best to shuffle my body alongside his like I could fucking hide behind him. Like Bennett was going to magically forget that I was the entire reason he was in this environment.
It was a shitty move. A really shitty move.
But I was focusing on being as close to Elden as I could without being obvious and the farthest I could be from Bennett to save him from any repercussions from innocent displays of affection.
It kind of worked.
Colby sat on one side of me, Lucas on the other. Elden was directly across from me. That wasn’t what I was intending since it would then become obvious as fuck that I was making a concerted effort not to look at him.
I winced as I sat down, my body sensitive from what had just happened. Elden’s gaze found mine for a split second, but that was enough to raise the hair on the back of my neck and make my body re-experience everything he’d just done to me.
I forced my gaze down the table to where Bennett was sitting between my mother—who had obviously taken pity on him—and Hades, of all people, who was tattooed within an inch of his life and literally looked like a really hot personification of the Grim Reaper. Except with his wife and kids. For them, he melted.
For anyone else? He made it clear you only got his full attention if he was about to kill you. Or at least that was the vibe he gave off.
I smiled in apology to Bennett who, apart from looking vaguely pale, seemed to be handling himself okay.
I gave my mother a poignant look that was meant to communicate something like ‘make sure he’s not traumatized for life and doesn’t hate me for bringing him here.’