Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“That’s more like it,” he murmurs against my lips like I’ve somehow pleased him.
I tell ya…the urge to rebel is immediate.
I settle for a bored look as he pulls away with that smug look still on his face. The guy I forgot about groans from behind him. Without even looking away from me, Rush slams the butt of his gun against the guy’s temple, and knocks the man back out.
He glances behind him as the man in the suit curses, stomps his foot in a tantrum for about two minutes, runs a hand through his hair, and then calmly walks away…
Axle bends to pick up where he left off, grabbing the man’s foot that Drex dropped.
“I can’t see nothing. Can’t hear nothing. Don’t want to know nothing,” Drake says as he puts an arm over his eyes.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be around,” Rush bites out, glaring at him.
“Ain’t after your girlfriend even a little bit,” Drake adds.
“Although he did talk about tattooing her—”
“Fuck’s sake, woman, why do you hate me?” Drake shouts in interruption to Maya. “I’ve been good to you,” he adds.
“How fucking good?” Axle grinds out, pausing his body-dragging-routine.
“I don’t know why I make friends. People suck,” Drake decides as he stands and walks toward the door.
Maya grins as she skates backwards in front of him, putting very little space between their bodies, and Axle eyes the motion before he drops the foot he’s holding and stalks toward them.
“You’re banned from my shop,” Drake says as he darts around her, darting a quick glance over his shoulder to a fast-approaching Axle.
“It’s the closest thing to comedy hour we get around here,” Colleen tells me as she sips her coffee.
Drake bolts out the door, and Drex checks his phone. “One more incident caught in the press, and we won’t be able to hold the feds back any longer. Even with Maya’s contacts,” he tells us.
Maya’s smile falls. “Surely I have more power than that.”
I glance around, wondering how freely they just discuss shit like this. It’s still just us in the room, but who the hell’s this Colleen chick?
Abruptly, Colleen stands and heads into the parlor room, and music starts playing like she’s intentionally cutting herself off from this conversation.
Hmmm. She really isn’t too curious about stuff.
“You really don’t have quite as much power as you apparently think you do,” Rush informs her a little flippantly.
“I have friends. I can make some calls,” she says as she skates off, already pulling her phone up to her ear.
“Just a normal day around here?” I muse.
Drex cuts his eyes toward me, as Rush scratches his own forehead with the barrel of his gun and kicks at his towed hostage to ensure he’s still unconscious.
When the guy grunts, Rush knocks him over the head again.
“I knew that fucker was faking it,” he mutters, glaring at the limp man like he’s offended him.
“Taking him to a hidden dungeon for rats to eat his body?” Maya asks as she studies Rush very intently.
Rush gives her an incredulous look. “Who the fuck has rats in a hidden dungeon?”
She bristles. “It was just a question. Sheesh. You just beat a guy unconscious, and it still feels like you’re judging me for having an inquiring mind.”
“Your old lady scares me,” Rush says very seriously as he looks at Axle.
Axle eyes the pistol Rush is using to scratch under his chin.
“I need a drink,” Axle says as he abruptly turns and walks to the bar.
“I need to interrogate, and I can’t sing worth a damn, so I have to do things the hard way. Be back soon,” Rush tells me before dropping a rather domestic kiss on my lips…and dragging the unconscious man away.
As soon as he disappears through a code-locked door that makes a heavy whoosh when it seals shut, Drex stalks toward me so quickly I startle.
“What the hell is wrong with him?”
“He’s not always like this?” I ask in surprise.
“No,” Sledge bites out. “Leave it, Drex. Fuck this up and he really will kill you.”
“Pardon him for not wanting his sister bashed over the head and whisked off to a private island for the rest of her natural days,” Maya quips. “Personally, I’m a women’s rights activist. Possibly because I have a vagina and identify with women and stuff.”
She rolls to a stop at Axle’s side, and he wraps an arm around her, drawing her so close to him. I never expected to see a soft side to someone like him. He always scared the shit out of me, because he was rough, brash, and scarred. It set the scene for a violent sort of guy, and…he is violent…
I’m a hypocrite. I hear it in my own head.
“Are you listening to me?” Drex asks, waving a hand in front of my face.
“Actually, no. I wasn’t sure how long the bickering would continue and I sort of zoned out,” I confess, rocking back on my heels when that telling angry muscle jumps along the side of his jaw. “I mean, yes. I heard every word, and I…agree?”