Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Sway is a lot like my brother. Easy-going, friendly. Detroit is kind of the heart of the club. Loves to cook and brings us together around the table for meals. But he’s a bit more reserved. Not out of unfriendliness or anything, just keeps to himself more.”
“I get that. I’m kind of excited to have some home-cooked food,” I admitted.
“Me too,” Riff agreed. “Restaurants are great, but I swear you can taste the love in home-cooked meals.”
That was exactly it.
No matter how sad or hurt I was, my grandmother’s food could heal it, I swear. I missed that more than I even realized. Lord knew I could use a lot of healing now.
“What about the others?” I asked.
“Judge is in full-on dad mode right now. We might not even see him much. But he’s an ex-con. Figure you might want to know that about him as well as Coach, Rook and Colter.”
“What… what did they do?” I asked, my stomach starting to cramp up.
“Nothing to hurt women,” he was quick to tell me. “Judge was pulled in on charges that had to do with the organized crime he was involved in at the time.”
“Oh, okay,” I said, nodding.
“Rook… Rook is a hacker. And he has a kind of… delicate mom. She got screwed over by a man she trusted which kind of… fractured what was left of her mental health, and she had to get put away. Rook went to jail for assault on that man.”
“I mean… did he even deserve time for that?” I asked, imagining I would have done the same for my grandmother if someone hurt her.
“That’s our feeling too. Finally, Colter was away in the military when his best friend moved in on his wife. You could say… he didn’t handle that information well. And decided to show his ex-best friend exactly how he felt about it.”
“What about his wife?”
“He divorced her, didn’t put a hand on her.”
“I mean I kind of understand beating up his friend in that case too,” I said, shrugging.
“Yeah. Slash would never let anyone on the team who was in any way dangerous to women. I’m leaving someone out…”
“Coach,” I supplied.
“Right. Yeah, Coach. So, Coach has a little sister and she came home with marks on her face one night. Coach went over there, broke in with a crowbar, and was going to beat the fucker with it. But he’d already called the cops, and Coach got hauled off and charged for B&E and making ‘criminal threats.’”
“Again, understandable,” I said.
“Yeah. I think you’ll like Coach. He’s very chill. In a zen way. He does yoga and meditates and shit like that. But he’s also a big reader, so you’ll have that in common.”
“I’ve never really known any men who like reading,” I admitted. “What about the women? I mean, you told me that Morgaine likes gardening and chickens.”
“She also makes pottery. And poisons.”
“Wait… what?”
“Poisons,” he told me, nodding. “Alright, this can’t be repeated, okay?” he asked.
“Who would I have to tell?” I asked.
That was good enough for him, because he took a deep breath. “I can’t tell you her motivations for it, that’s her business, but Morgaine creates poisons and she sometimes uses them to avenge women who were wronged by men.”
“Wronged?”
“I mean, she will whip up a mild poison to make a cheating bastard have a stomachache. But I’m talking… the bad shit. The domestic abusers. The men who… do worse. She makes stronger poison for that.”
“Is it wrong that I don’t see anything bad with that?” I asked, gaze lowered because I didn’t want him to see the look on my face as memories flashed across my mind, ones that made my stomach twist, and bile rise up my throat.
“No,” Riff said with certainty. “I don’t think that’s bad at all. I know it’s not a popular opinion these days, but I think some people are too fucked up for this world. I don’t think you can fix the sick that is in some people’s heads or light up the darkness in their souls. And I’m fine with those people not being here anymore.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, swallowing back the bile, then forcing myself to take a few slow, deep breaths.
“Judge’s woman, Delaney, is the little sister of an Irish mafia family. She’s very sweet. In full on mom mode now.
“Slash’s woman, Nyx, worked as a bartender for the same Irish mafia family. Now, she owns a martial arts studio in town.
“Everleigh worked at the gym until recently. Really sweet girl. Definitely who you want to talk to if you like girly shit and pop music.
“And Murphy actually designs specialty guns. She’s a badass. Might be a little more standoffish at first than the others, but she’s nice. Just harder to get to know.”
“Thanks for telling me,” I said. “I think it might be… easier being around people if I feel like I know them a little.”