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)
Dude said it like a tease.
I grunted at him.
“Cover is solid, and you know it,” I said.
“Yeah, it’s good, brother. And I know you’ll always keep it that way.”
“Just let me know if anything is out of sorts.”
“Will do.”
He ended the call, and I blew out a sigh to release some of the tension. Trying to erase the dread that sat like a rock in the pit of my stomach. The sense that something had been off with that SUV.
Even though Cash had given me every reason not to worry about it, there was something about it that didn’t sit right.
A feeling that something was off.
Problem was, I wasn’t quite sure where that feeling was coming from.
I turned in the lot, my focus traveling to the outlines of the two cabins that could barely be distinguished between the trees.
Heart tugging like mad as my thoughts moved to Piper.
Wondering if it was her that set me off kilter. If it was the awareness that she was hiding something that set me on edge.
If this thing that made me feel like I was losing my grip was entirely because of the woman who was crawling right under my skin.
Her and that little boy whose smile might be the death of me.
Guilt constricted, sharp claws tearing at the inside of my throat.
My greatest failure screamed from that black hole in the deepest part of me.
The truth that I didn’t know how to love even when I tried.
There was something intrinsically broken inside me.
Maybe I’d inherited it from my parents.
Maybe it was some mutilated part of my DNA.
The only thing I knew for sure was I only fucked things up and made them worse.
Shame clamped down on my chest.
Crushing.
God knew she would have fared so much better if I had left her in that vacant lot.
THIRTEEN
THEO
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD
“What the fuck, man?” Kane hissed it low as he looked between Theo and the girl who was on the couch in the living room.
The two of them were in the hall, their voices hushed.
Agitation rolling through him, Theo roughed a hand over his head as he glanced at the girl curled up on the couch.
Hugging her knees to her chest as she rocked.
Her hair was still wet from her shower, and the dark brown tendrils stuck to Theo’s plain black tee that she wore.
Raven had also given her some casual shorts and undergarments.
Every piece of it hung off her frail frame.
“What did you expect me to do? I couldn’t just leave her there.” Theo’s words were low and hard.
“But you brought her here? To our home?” Kane pressed, brows cinching tight as he studied Theo.
Theo blew out a sigh.
It wasn’t even an unspoken rule that they didn’t bring strangers here.
It was clear and patent.
A promise they’d made to this family that they would keep this house pure and untainted.
“The rest of the guys are gonna fuckin’ flip when they get back,” Kane continued.
Unease stirred through Theo, and he rubbed at the back of his neck as he looked at his boots. “Know it. I just didn’t know what the fuck else to do.”
Sighing, Kane rocked back on his heels as he looked at Scarlett again. Scarlett who was chewing at her thumbnail, constantly peeking in their direction.
No chance was she oblivious to the heated conversation, of which she was the topic.
“Take her to the fuckin’ hospital, that’s what. She’s beat to shit, man.”
“She said she couldn’t go there.” He paused, anger making a rebound as he muttered quietly, “You know she’s in trouble.”
“Yeah, her and half the population of this city,” Kane said.
“And she’s the one who was put in my path.”
Air huffed from Kane’s mouth, and he slowly shook his head. “So, what do you want to do?”
“Gonna see what the rest of the crew thinks of her sleeping on the couch for a couple nights. Just until she heals enough that she can take care of herself.”
Theo jolted awake to the light tapping at his door. He sat up in bed and scrubbed a hand over his face as he tried to orient himself. “Yeah?” he called softly.
The door clicked open.
Scarlett stood in the middle of it.
Cloaked in darkness, the barest light illuminating her brittle shape.
Theo squinted as he studied her. “You okay?”
She itched on her feet.
“I can’t sleep.” Her words barely broached the dense air.
Theo gave her a tight nod. He got it. The unease and fear she felt.
It’d been a whole showdown with the rest of his brothers after they’d arrived back from a run they’d done for the MC.
He doubted she felt that welcome, and on top of it, she was in pain.
Likely both the physical and emotional kind.
Raven, the sweetheart, had tended to her wounds and given her a couple Tylenol, so Theo was honestly surprised that Scarlett didn’t go knocking at her door rather than his. But maybe there’d been some kind of trust formed between them.