Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 76881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Savage nods. “Fucking family.”
I find myself smiling sympathetically. “You sound like you speak from experience.”
“You could say that, but I haven’t talked to the people who raised me in years. Better for all of us.” He shrugs, not sounding angry about it exactly, more like it’s an old wound, long since scabbed over. “The Sons are my family now. Every single one of my brothers has chosen to be there, and we’ve fought for the right to stand at each other’s sides.”
“That sounds nice.” And a little scary. “I guess I don’t really have any family now aside from Uncle Walter. Mom raised me on her own after she got pregnant in high-school. Her parents disowned her when she refused to chase my dad down.”
“You don’t have any contact with him?”
I shake my head. “Nope. It’s not a mystery or anything. He’s just some deadbeat from her hometown. I’ve met him like twice and whatever magical bond there’s supposed to be never appeared. I'm sure she could've gone to court and tried to get child support, but when I was old enough to ask her about it once, she just said that the only thing she needed from him, he already gave her. I’m sure it was tough at first, but I don’t remember ever being cold or hungry. She taught me to take care of myself and never let anyone tell me I need a man.” Then I look at him and realize how silly that sounds. “Though I guess right now I need three.”
He laughs, and it makes me grin in return. “You remind me of my little sister. She was half my size but she fought dirty. If anyone pissed her off, she’d wait until she could get the drop on them and kick their ass.”
“She sounds… intimidating.”
“Yeah.” His expression darkens suddenly. “She was.”
Oh no. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—”
He holds up a hand to stop me. “Nah. It's fine. She lived more in eighteen years than most people do in their whole fucking lives.”
Great, now that we’ve bonded over family trauma, everythings awkward. “So anyway, I guess my thought was that you could help keep me safe while I figure out what’s actually going on.”
“What’s your end goal?”
“Honestly, I just want to get the company back to legit business and not worry about stolen money anymore. How hard can that be?” My smile is sheepish, because I know this is going to be anything but easy, and some of that is my fault. “If I could go back in time, I would’ve left the money there. Maybe they would’ve known I found it, but so long as I stayed away, I bet my uncle would’ve let me go.”
“Paige, if it comes down to it, you need to understand that you hired us to keep you safe, and that might mean safe from him. If his choices threaten you, we will remove him from the equation.”
“What?” I hold up both hands and wave them in front of me. “No, no, no. I know he’s mixed up in a lot of bad stuff, but I don't hate him, you know?”
I can tell from the intense look on Savage’s face that he’s dead serious. In a messed up kind of way, it’s almost… hot? No. I’m just getting all mixed up because I can still remember all too well the way he looked at me in my dream when he was about to—
There’s a quick, patterned knock on the door and then it pushes open, letting in Poe and Crank with what looks like enough food to feed an army.
“Are we expecting guests?” I ask as they line up a buffet of fast food on the dresser.
“We're hungry.” Poe shrugs. “Besides, we didn’t know what you like, so we got a little of everything. Come pick your poison before Crank eats it all.”
“Fuck off,” grumbles Crank, pausing unwrapping his burger to give Poe the finger.
I hurry over and grab a chicken sandwich, some fries, and a soda. Poe wasn’t kidding, between the three of them, they manage to decimate the entire spread. Big men need a lot of energy, I'm realizing.
Once we've eaten, we pack up and wait outside while Poe unhitches his bike from the trailer behind the van and Crank gets behind the steering wheel. He has to run the seat all the way back and down before he fits properly.
“How do you decide who gets to drive the van?”
“Gets to drive the van?” Poe shakes his head. His hair is tied back, showing off the end of the tattoo. “The van is the shit seat. We only take it because nobody wants a pissed off mark riding bitch.” He slings his leg over the inky black motorcycle and settles into the seat like it’s part of him. “Ever ride?”