Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 132892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“When I took your girls by the house to grab some clothes, I went around with a grocery bag,” I told her. “I forgot all about it until now, but I grabbed your laptop and your jewelry, and a bunch of the pictures. It’s not much, but you haven’t lost everything. It’s still here, waiting for you.”
Carrie burst into tears.
“Carrie, are you all right?” I asked anxiously. She sniffled a few times, then managed to talk again.
“I’m so happy,” she said. “It shouldn’t matter so much but it does. The laptop has all our important information—you know, the bank accounts and insurance and stuff—and the thought of losing my grandma’s ring . . . I don’t even know what to say.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied, holding back my own tears. “We’re going to get through this. All of us. Together.”
“Yes, we are,” she said. “I can’t believe you did that. How can I ever thank you?”
“Promise that you and Margarita will never take me out again and we’ll be even.”
Carrie laughed.
“I’m not sure I can keep that promise. But I’ll try.”
“No you won’t.”
She laughed again.
“No, you’re right. I won’t try. But I love you.”
“Love you too.”
GAGE
An hour later, I stood on the porch, watching as Tinker and Carrie pawed through the Mustang’s trunk together, laughing like it’d been a year since they’d seen each other. Guess that made sense—the past week had felt as long as a year. My phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket, not recognizing the number. I answered it anyway, figuring it might be one of the brothers on a burner.
“Hey, Gage,” Talia said. “Have to say, I liked the name Cooper better. Miss me?”
“No,” I said shortly.
“See you’re back in town,” she continued, and I looked around, wondering if the bitch was spying on us right now. “Shame about your girlfriend’s building. I was hoping it’d go up with the rest of the them, but we don’t always get what we want, do you?
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She giggled. “That next time I’ll have to plan better. You can’t blame me, though. I’ve never burned down a town before. There’s a learning curve.”
I stilled. “What did you just say?”
“That I started the fire,” she replied, her voice growing more serious. “You know, when I blew up the clubhouse—you should just be thankful I needed you out of there to set it up. Otherwise you’d have blown up, too, but I couldn’t figure out how to pull it off. Burning down the town was a nice bonus, though. Marsh says hi, by the way. He wanted me to pass along a little message.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, eyes searching the street even as I reached for my gun. Was she out there?
“He said to tell you that if we can’t have Hallies Falls, you can’t either,” she told me. “Oh, and Gage?”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck you.”
The phone went dead, and I lowered my hand, slowly sliding it into my pocket. Sociopathic cunt. Tinker turned toward me, smiling so beautifully that it hurt, and right there I made a vow. I’d protect her. Forever. Didn’t matter what happened or who I had to kill.
I’d take care of her.
I’d take care of this town, too. Cord and I needed to get together, start making plans to rebuild, because I’d be damned if I’d let them win.
EPILOGUE
NINE MONTHS LATER
HALLIES FALLS
GAGE
“Anyone got an extra pair of gloves?” Cord asked, holding up a torn leather work glove in disgust. We’d been clearing out debris from the old clubhouse for the entire morning, and while we hadn’t managed to salvage much, we were making good progress overall. This was important, because nearly fifty Reapers would be pulling into town next weekend to help us put up a new building. Our goal was to raise the clubhouse in four days. Totally doable, provided we did the right prep work in advance.
“I’ve got some,” I told him, mentally adding more work gloves to the supply list. The building hadn’t been covered by insurance, but we’d gotten a lot of support from the other chapters. Between their fundraising and our sweat equity, things were looking good. Walking over to my truck, I opened the tool box in the back, digging through as I searched for the gloves. Like everything in Hallies Falls these days, the truck was filthy. No matter how much we cleaned, the soot and ash clung to everything.
There were signs of life though, too.
New grass poked through the barren landscape, and the other day I’d seen a deer and her fawn carefully picking their way down a hillside. The sound of construction filled the air, and while we’d lost a huge chunk of the population, people were starting to come back and rebuild.
My phone rang, and I pulled off my glove, tucking it under my arm as I answered.