Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Someone had attacked her.
“I was going to help her, but I … there were customers and Al said I could take out the trash next time. I had no idea. Honestly,” Petal said.
Colt turned toward Ox. “Go to the kitchen, make sure he doesn’t make a run for it..”
Ox nodded. His friend looked grim.
“You don’t think Al had something to do with this?”
Oh, he did. He had a feeling Al and Daemon had everything to do with this.
“She can’t die, right? She can’t … you know.”
Colt gritted his teeth. There was nothing for him to say. People died from beatings and this looked like Rosalie had taken a bad one. He stared down at Rosalie’s face. Her lip was bleeding and one side of her face looked red and swollen. They had punched her in the face. Colt had dished out his fair share of beatings to know what they looked like.
“I’ve got you, Rosalie. I’ve got you.”
Colt heard more bikes and Petal sobbed, holding onto her hand. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
He looked up to see Warden, Dirty, Loner, and Myth had arrived.
“The ambulance is on the way.”
“Petal, I need you to go and wait for it,” Colt said.
She looked up at him with tears running down her face. “I can’t leave her.”
“I need you to wait for them.”
She wanted to argue, he saw that, but she got to her feet and brushed past the men, rushing toward the main parking lot of the diner.
“Daemon did this,” Colt said.
“Son, you don’t know that for sure.”
“Oh, I know. They organized this and I have a feeling they did it after the party. Before we got men watching them.” Hatred filled him.
“Dude, it’s his daughter,” Myth said. “Don’t you think that is a bit much, even for this?”
“Daughter or not, we know he doesn’t give a shit about her. If he did, he would never have forced the issue of marriage. She means nothing to him and it’s clearer now than ever before.”
“If he’s going to use her, why beat her up?” Warden asked.
“So we’d stop suspecting her. He did this. I know he did. They were waiting for this.”
Petal came back with two ambulance crews, a man, and a woman.
“I need to know what happened here.”
He and Petal started talking at the same time, but Colt took over. Petal was way too panicked.
“We can only have one person in the ambulance.”
Petal looked toward him, tears streaming down her face. He knew Rosalie would want to go with her friend. Colt didn’t want to leave her.
“Go with her,” Colt said. “Make sure she’s safe.”
Petal nodded. She threw her arms around him quickly. “I will.”
She rushed into the ambulance and he kept his gaze on Rosalie until the doors had closed.
“I’ve got to tell Kim and she’ll inform Gabrielle.”
Colt nodded. “Al did this. Al did this with Daemon.”
“Colt, have you ever thought that this could be a case of the wrong place at the wrong time? It’s the diner with so many different customers,” Loner said. “Shit like this happens.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Colt said. “Rosalie and Petal have been working at this place for over two years. Even the waitresses before then had never been attacked. This is not one of those places where someone gets beaten up on a regular fucking occurrence.”
“That’s enough,” Warden said. “You say it’s Al, then we take Al back to the clubhouse for questioning. We get this shit resolved. We figure out the truth. We’re here for you, Colt.”
Colt looked toward the diner then toward where the ambulance had disappeared. He wanted to get to Rosalie.
She was supposed to be protected and this was his fault. Anger flooded his body and in his mind, he saw her on the beach just a few days ago, in that red dress that seemed to flow across her body and looked sexy as fuck. He wanted to go back to that day, where he could hold her, pull her in close, and listen to the sound of her laughter. Their moments together had been so fleeting.
He pulled himself together. Rosalie didn’t need him wishing for a time that had gone by. He had to focus. Stepping through the diner, he saw that all the customers had left. All that remained was Al, who looked a little pale.
“You all right there, Al boy?” Colt asked.
“What is the meaning of this? You clear out my customers allowing them not to pay, and now you’re keeping me prisoner!”
Colt walked right up to him, right into his face, and then drew back his own head, and slammed it against Al’s. The man stumbled back. He’d not drawn blood. The guys were around the kitchen, covering the exits. They had his back.
“What the … what’s going on? Warden?” Al looked toward Warden for mercy.
“Don’t look at me. You specifically asked Rosalie to take the trash out. You stopped Petal from going with her. I’m not an idiot, neither is my son. We all know what that means.”