Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
“My daughter was the one who was tricked!” The man holding the sobbing young woman yelled. “And we’ll be pressing charges.”
Patti gasped and turned to her husband, speaking furiously in a low voice. He shrugged after a second, then turned and went into the house.
The expressions of the crowd slowly shifted to haughty disgust, and when the cruiser drove away, they quickly dissipated, leaving Patti standing all alone. She looked scared and utterly defeated.
“We’re done here,” I announced as I climbed onto my bike.
“Wait,” Tatum muttered, grabbing my biceps.
He was peering at the house, and I turned my head to see what had caused him to stop me from leaving. Scott stood on the porch with a duffel bag in one hand as he slipped a pair of sunglasses on his face. He spoke to Patti, whose face drained of color, then stalked off the porch and over to a sensible white sedan.
“Cherry on top,” Tatum snickered.
“What are you going to do about him?” Kane asked, well aware that I wouldn’t let this go until all three of their lives were ruined.
“He works for the church,” I informed them. “There’s no way he’ll keep his job, and he certainly won’t get a reference. Also, Deviant hacked his credit and trashed it. He won’t be able to rent anywhere. So he’ll have to live in shitty motels until the money runs out, then go crawling back to his wife. Who will never let him forget he abandoned her.”
“Can’t think of a worse punishment than being stuck with that bitch for the rest of my life,” Tatum commented with a grimace.
I nodded and met Kane’s piercing stare. “That other thing?” I asked.
He nodded. “He’ll be sent to Saber’s cell block after he’s arraigned. He’ll be waiting for the motherfucker.” His lips tipped up in a rare smile. “And you know what they’ll do to someone like him.”
I was counting on it. Criminals or not, a lot of prisoners had no tolerance for anyone who was being charged with a sexual crime. Especially involving someone underage. Bryan would be breathing through a tube before long…if he even survived. But Saber would be out, so there’d be no blowback that would keep him from Blakely.
“Thanks,” I muttered gruffly, and the brothers both jerked their chins up in acknowledgment.
“Tell Fox I have a new guy racing next month. He should come down and check him out.”
“Will do.”
As I pulled out onto the road, I felt lighter now that all that shit was dealt with. My focus was all on Blakely and our future.
10
BLAKELY
“Your man will be here any minute,” Viper muttered.
He’d said maybe a dozen words in the hours since Gideon had left, but I didn’t take offense. I just assumed that he was the silent type, like so many of the bikers I’d met when I was growing up.
I heaved a deep sigh of relief at knowing he was okay. Him leaving his club brother behind to watch over me was unsettling. It made me worry that whatever he did was much more dangerous than the club business they’d handled yesterday. I wished he’d taken Viper with him to watch his back. “Thanks.”
He gave me a chin lift in response, then lifted his bottle of beer to his lips.
Sliding off the stool I’d been sitting on, I waved off his concern when he moved to follow me. “Don’t worry. I’m not going far. Just going to wait for Gideon near the front door.”
“Good call.” He set the bottle back down with a nod. “Storm’s got something he’s gonna want to share with you.”
My brows went up at his reply…and not just because it was more words than I’d heard him string together before. I hadn’t expected Gideon to tell me what he’d been doing since he had said it was club business. I had taken that explanation at face value without wondering much about where he had gone because I assumed I would never know. But now my curiosity got the better of me, and I twisted my hands together while I heard the unmistakable rumble of bikes pulling up in front of the clubhouse.
As soon as Gideon walked through the door, I threw myself in his arms. It was almost impossible to believe how much my life had changed in only a few short days. I wasn’t sure when or if I would ever see him again, and now his club brother was calling him “my man.”
“You’re back,” I whispered.
“Yup.” He wrapped my hair around his fist and tugged my head back to claim my mouth in a deep kiss. “And I have some damn good news for you, baby.”
“You do?” I asked.
Pulling his phone from the back pocket of his jeans, he tapped on the screen to pull up a story on the web browser. Then he tilted the screen toward me so I could read it. As I scanned the headline, my eyes went wide. “Holy crap! Bryan was arrested?”