Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
We hit the top landing and stepped through the hidden opening and into Kane’s office.
He kept it decorated in dark, carved woods and rich leathers, like the goof thought he was some kind of reigning king from long ago.
Once we’d all piled out, Kane pushed the false bookcase in front of the passage, making sure it was locked up tight.
We all grabbed our coats, slinging into them as River unlocked the main office door.
“Anyone sticking around?” Kane asked as he stepped out into the hallway, the long, dank corridor leading into the fray.
River shook his head. “Nah, gonna get home to Charleigh.”
“Yeah, my girl is likely snuggled up in bed reading one of those romances, so she’s going to be in need of me.” Otto wagged his brows.
“Was thinking I’d head straight home, too. Em said she was going to wait up.” Kane gave a nod of agreement.
A year and a half ago, all of us—minus Cash, of course—would have stuck around. Threw back a few drinks while we prowled through the crowd, hunting for someone who was game for a good time.
Now, if Charleigh, Raven, and Emery weren’t here? The guys almost always bailed.
Even though they ditched me, I usually stayed.
Needing the breather.
The reprieve.
I’d seek out someone who wanted to be touched the way I needed to be.
A surface connection that would last for a few hours before we parted and went our separate ways.
Easy.
Detached.
Didn’t know what it was that didn’t sit right about that tonight, and I scratched my fingers through my beard as I followed my crew out into the long hall that led to the raving crowd beyond. “Think I’m going to call it, too. Been a long day.”
Otto’s attention whipped toward me like I’d grown a fucking tail, though his expression turned smug. “Ah, I see.”
“You don’t see anything, brother,” I muttered as we hit the end of the hallway and stepped out into the melee of Kane’s, emerging at the far back corner of the club.
My gaze wandered over the crowd that was packed shoulder to shoulder.
Lights flashed and strobed over the crush, and laughter and voices attempted to rise over the roar of the music that blared from the speakers. The heavy bass thudded through the club, the old, worn wooden floors vibrating with the lawless beat.
You could feel the energy in the air. The barely fettered chaos that rippled through the mass.
People pushed up against the long bar that ran nearly the full length of the wall to my right, and the dance floor that sat below the elevated stage on the far back wall was packed with writhing bodies.
The bands had finished their sets, and now the DJ was set up in that prime spot as he incited a riot on the floor.
All five of us began to make our way through, the crowd parting as if they felt us coming, eyes sweeping over us as we passed.
Never was a time when we were all together that we didn’t garner the attention of those around us. Those who were attracted to the tumult we exuded and those who were repelled by it.
Instinct telling them to keep far away.
We cut through until we made it to the massive double doors at the front, and Ty who was manning the entrance opened one side to let us out.
“You need anything, sir?” he asked as Kane went to slip out.
“Just keep an eye out and don’t hesitate to call if anything goes awry.”
“Always.”
“Good,” he said with a clipped nod before he ducked out into the cold.
Ty dipped his head at each of us, the guy not fully in the know but discerning enough to recognize our crew wasn’t exactly on the up and up.
Long stairs ran the entire front of Kane’s, and we ambled down them, stuffing our hands into our pockets as we were slapped in the face with the cold. The five of us rounded the side of the old brick building to the big parking lot on the side.
Our bikes were parked along the wall, each facing out, all gleaming metal and anarchy.
“Hells bells, it’s cold,” Otto complained as he smacked his hands together before he threw his leg over his bike. “This shit was just fine back in LA in the winter, but I’m beginning to question it here.”
“You gone soft?” I asked, sending him a smirk as I climbed onto mine.
“Hell yeah, man, and I’ve got no shame about it. Good to see you’re going soft, too.” Dude grinned at me, all teeth, not giving me time to dispute it before he kicked over his bike.
It roared to life, that grumbling, powerful sound only amplified as each of us did the same.
River jutted his chin in parting before he lifted his boot and pulled out. Otto and Cash rode out behind him, River going left at Culberry Street, and Otto and Cash going right since they both lived in cabins on the opposite side of town up high in the mountains.