Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
“You too, little sister,” he replied before hanging up.
Pulling up to the gate, I rolled down my window when the guy standing there walked up to the driver’s side of my car. “Hey, sweet thing. You lost?”
I almost snorted since anyone who knew me well would never use that as my nickname. I grew out of my shy and quiet stage toward the end of my high school years, and my friends were used to my sassy side. The Charger was definitely a sweet ride, though, and he was eyeing it more than me. “Nope, Cat should be expecting me.”
His gaze jerked back to my face. “You’re the friend Cat is expecting?”
I wasn’t sure why he was so surprised, but his reaction made me feel a little more nervous about staying with the Silver Saints as I nodded and answered, “Yeah.”
His eyes lit with humor as he grinned. “I never thought I’d be glad to be stuck on gate duty all day, but today’s my lucky day.”
“Huh?” My brow wrinkled in confusion.
“Don’t worry, sweet thing. I’m just looking forward to seeing Link’s reaction to you.”
His answer was as cryptic as everything else he’d said—including whatever he mumbled under his breath about me being a kid, considering he couldn’t be much older than me—but he didn’t give me a chance to ask what he meant before he turned around and walked back over to the gate. He entered a code into the keypad, and the gate swung open. I started to pull forward, but then I had to wait because he headed through it in front of me. Once he was safely inside, I rolled forward and heaved a sigh of relief when I spotted Cat standing in front of the large building to my left. It was great to see a familiar face.
As soon as I rolled to a stop and put the Charger into park, I flung my door open and jumped out. Cat rushed over and gave me a big hug. “Holy crap, Harlowe! I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve seen you.”
It’s been a couple of years since Cat and I had both been in our old hometown at the same time. “Yeah, we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t take another life-and-death situation before we see each other again.”
“Damn, I missed that snarky sense of humor of yours.” She slapped me on the shoulder before shoving me to the side to get to my car. “It’s great to see your dad’s Charger on the road. The last time I saw this car, it still needed a lot of work.”
“It turned out to be a very good thing that each time Huntley was deployed, I headed back home to work on this old thing.” I patted my hand against the top of the car. “Since it’s been hidden in the garage out back for years, and I couldn’t bring myself to transfer the registration and title over to me after Dad passed away, nobody can connect it back to me. And even if they do, there’s no GPS they can use to track it. So anyone who manages to figure out I went to my dad’s house first”—although it’d been almost two years, the place still felt as though it was still his and probably always would—“will have a hard time finding me from there. I left my cell behind and am using a burner instead, and I paid cash for everything along the way.”
Cat flashed me a grin. “It sounds as though you thought of everything.”
“I wish I could claim all the credit,” I said as I reached inside for the burner so I could send my brother a quick text to let him know I was inside the compound, safe and sound. After that was done, I popped the cheap device into my back pocket and added, “But Huntley gave me step-by-step instructions for what he wanted me to do.”
Cat glanced toward the building and laughed. “It’s a good thing that you’re used to him bossing you around since you’ll be surrounded by alpha males while you’re here.”
My attention shifted to the front door as some guy strode out of the clubhouse like a man on a mission. He was a good fifteen years older than me with short ash-blond hair and blue eyes that reminded me of the shade I’d picked out for the Charger. He had a chin strap that matched the color of his hair, though it was peppered with a little gray. He was tall and even under his leather vest, it was easy to see through his tight black T-shirt that he was ripped. The muscle definition in his arms made me want to see if he could do a push-up while I was on his back. That was probably just because I’d love to see those thighs in a pair of athletic shorts instead of those snug jeans. Or even better...nothing at all, which was totally out of character for me. I didn’t react to guys like this. Ever.