Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Sonya rolled her eyes. “You really need to get that giant stick outta your ass, Lawdawg.”
Rycks barked out a laugh before schooling his expression. Or rather, he tried to. “Yeah. This should be fun.”
“I tell him that all the time.” Eden, Lawdawg’s spunky wife, wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged him from behind. “If you figure out how that works, let me know, Sonya.”
“Hey, Eden! Is Bella here?” If Sonya thought Rycks and Lyric’s daughter would save her, she really needed to think again.
“Doesn’t matter if she is.” I was done with this shit. “This doesn’t involve Bella. This is between me and you.”
Up to this point, I’d done everything in my power to stay away from the woman. I’d been attracted to her since she’d come back from her second semester of college. She and Caroline had spent the entire summer with Bella because she’d been in a motorcycle wreck and had been broke all to shit and back. Though I knew Sonya and Caroline were closer, the two girls had pulled Bella into their circle and the three of them were fast friends. The only reason Bella hadn’t been in that mess today was because she was still recovering from the most recent surgery to her leg.
“Just because my dad doesn’t like my life choices doesn’t mean he can dictate to me. If my own father can’t, you most certainly can’t.”
That was it. I ducked and put my shoulder against Sonya’s abdomen and lifted her so she was draped over my shoulder.
“Hey! Put me down, you bastard!”
I swatted her ass. “Mouth shut, missy. You’re in enough trouble as it is.”
“I will totally carve out your balls for this, Archangel.”
I ignored her. “Rycks. Is Mechanic on the way?”
“Yep. He is.” The man looked too amused for my peace of mind.
“If you, Thorn, and Doc had spanked those girls when they were little, I wouldn’t be in this fuckin’ situation.”
“Hello?” Sonya beat a fist on my back and squirmed, trying to get down. “I’m right here! I can hear you talking about me!”
I swatted her ass again. “Told you to shut it, woman. I meant it.”
“Leave me outta this, Angel.” Rycks put his hands up in surrender. “I personally think Thorn needs to be shook up from time to time, but I suspect he gets more of a kick outta her antics than he wants to admit. And Bella is a contained, well-behaved young woman.”
“Uh-huh. Seem to remember going to get her out of more than a couple scrapes when she started college.”
Rycks waved me off. “You can’t count Freshmen Orientation. Those parties are supposed to be wild.”
“Seem to remember Bella’s roommate got her head shaved after passing out drunk, and Bella didn’t even attempt to deny it. As I remember, she told the girl she was going to do it if Bella had to help her back to the room.”
“Look. To be fair, I told Bella not to let people walk all over her. She tends to lean toward the side of caution.”
“Not that time.”
“I’ll pass on to Thorn and Doc instructions to spank their kids more often. All right?” I could tell Rycks was amused, but I wasn’t feeling it. Much.
“You do that. Call and talk to him. When Thorn asked me to take this on, the man was furious.”
“Furious?” For the first time, Sonya looked less than confident. I looked over my shoulder to see she had a sliver of worry in her expression. I probably liked it too much.
“Nervous now?” I raised an eyebrow at her. Hopefully, the scope of her transgressions was finally dawning on her. “Think you finally pushed your daddy too far?”
“Why are you so fucking pissy, Archangel? I didn’t do anything to you.” Oh, she was angry. She was also worried and lashing out. Anger was a classic response in someone who was such a force of personality, especially when someone she cared about was upset with her. Good. She needed to understand what she was facing as the consequences of her actions.
“I already told you. I got called out only to be told half my day is about to be gone and I’m being expected to sacrifice the other half -- and God only knows how many more days –- bringing a stubborn wild child to heel.”
She snorted. “Well, good fucking luck with that, hot shot. Besides, I’m not the one who called you outta bed and away from your fucking beauty sleep.”
Rycks, the fucking bastard, outright guffawed. “I think maybe I understand now why you’re such an ugly bastard, Angel.”
“You’re not helping, Rycks.”
“Not trying to.” The bastard was still grinning, not to mention looking entirely too smug.
We were interrupted when Mechanic pulled up in the requested side-by-side. “Someone call for a ride?” His grin was wide and all too knowing. What the fuck was up with everyone having so much fun at my expense?