Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“Of course not. But a frontal charge right now would be fucking suicide, and I don't think even you're that stupid. Am I right? We’re bringing Prez home, and we’re getting him his rites before we go to war.”
Badger's hand twitches near his gun, but he shakes his head. “Fine. But once we’re back….”
The way he hisses it angrily through his teeth almost has me believing that he gave a shit about General, but for him this is just another reason to want the Eagles dead in the ground. Meanwhile, I’m the one that’ll have to tell Bonnie her man is dead and make sure General gets the seeing off that he deserves. It’s my job to hold this fucking club together now.
“We’re going to do this smart.” I'm impressed with myself for keeping my tone even. I hate this motherfucker’s guts, but we’re in this together. “They have the bigger numbers, but we have more firepower than they can even fucking imagine.”
If the Screaming Eagles want war, then war is what they'll fucking get.
22
SLEDGE
“A sidecar?” Shelby eyes the loaner from the garage curiously. “Is that really safe?”
“Hundred fucking percent. We keep a couple of sidecar bikes for club use, and Mia won’t be the first kid out in one. If someone can't ride bit—” I glance over at Mia, who's just enough out of range that she hopefully doesn't hear my language. “Can’t ride behind for some reason, or isn’t old enough, it works.”
Shelby smothers a laugh. “It’s hard, isn’t it? Watching your language all the time. There are things I didn’t even realize I said so much until I heard them coming back out of Mia’s mouth. Alright, I trust you.”
Shit, the weight of her trust is real fucking heavy, but it’s the kind of weight that could give me the strength to be a better man.
Any worries that Mia might be scared evaporate the moment she gets into the padded seat and buckled in. She’s wearing Izzy’s old helmet, and she thinks it's the coolest fucking thing. It's got purple and pink stripes, and a low ridge of rubber spikes over the top. Shelby’s badass little biker chicklet. As soon as I start the bike, she sits up as much as she can in her seat and makes pew pew sounds while she fires her finger lasers. Shel shakes her head with a smile as she gets on behind Havoc.
“Ready?” I ask my tiny copilot.
“Yay!” She stretches both of her hands up into the air, and then we're off.
Phoenix takes the lead, with me and Mia in the middle so Shel can keep an eye on us from behind. We stick to the back roads, not wanting to deal with too much traffic or high speeds. Today is more about showing Shel and Mia that our lives aren’t death and fear all the time. I glance down at my little charge. She's all fucking smiles, her hands still up so she can catch as much of the air rushing by as she can. It’s in her fucking blood, and even if the man who should have stepped up to be her father can’t show her, we will.
I never thought I’d have kids, but I always wanted ‘em. Probably a terrible fucking idea, but it is what it is. Mom and Dad probably tried their fucking best, but they didn’t know what to do with me. I was too awkward, too out of control. Too much of a fuckup. They had other kids to worry about and washed their hands of me when I ended up in juvie.
Thank fuck for Grandma. I’d probably be dead without her. Let me be myself, made me wanna do that for someone else. She was real family, the same way the Screaming Eagles have become my real family. Me, Havoc and Phoenix? We’re all a little fucked up, but Shelby sees me—the real me—and fuck, if that doesn't feel good.
On the old parkway, the speed goes up a bit, but most of the traffic’s on the highway these days. I check on Mia. She's gripping the handles on the inside of the sidecar, but she's leaning in and doesn't look nervous at all. I can't see her face through the helmet, but she looks all good. I raise my hand in a thumbs-up so Shelby and Havoc can know everything’s fine.
Phoenix pulls off after a couple exits, leading the way. The city's well behind, and hills are rising in front of us, foothills before the mountains. The road winds upwards, in lazy zig zags until we reach a plateau where there’s room to park and look out over the area. One of my favorite places.
Once we're stopped, I unbuckle Mia and help her get the helmet off. “You okay, kid?”
She fucking beams up at me. “That was fun! We went so fast! Zoooom!” She flies her hand through the air like an airplane. It's impossible not to laugh at her enthusiasm.