Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
I clench my fists, and I’m seeing red that someone is killing our townsfolk and using our logo to do it. There is a lot of trust behind that logo. A clean escape. A safe high.
“I’m calling Church,” I growl.
Gambit steps forward. “It’s Viper’s night. He needs this. They all do. And if war is coming, which it sounds like it is, then this might be the last night they get to enjoy for a while.”
I look at the dirty yellow powder. “We need to take action now.”
Lars frowns. “You want to take a battle to the Psychos tonight? You’ve got a bar full of half-cut bikers.”
“He’s right,” Gambit says. “Bear and Balls are already through a bottle of Jack each. And Sticky just fell down the stairs. Ain’t one of our brothers okay enough to take on the Psychos tonight. We need a plan as much as we need the brawn.”
“And right now we have neither,” Lars adds.
They’re right. As much as I want to storm the Psychos clubhouse and burn it to the fucking ground, this situation requires strategy.
“Okay, we let our brothers have tonight. But tomorrow, we take the next step.”
“Which is?”
“I don’t give a fuck how hungover everyone is, we’re going to spread far and wide until we find whoever is dealing this shit, and when we do, we’ll ever so politely make them take us to the source.” And by ever so politely, I mean we’ll hang them over the side of Deadman’s Bridge by the feet until they give up the name.
Waiting goes against my better judgement. But I need the power of the club behind me. And right now, that power is three sheets to the fucking wind.
Tomorrow, I’ll call Church.
We need to get this shit off our streets and I will stop at nothing to make it happen.
CHAPTER 17
BELLE
“So, you’re the reason my cousin has been sneaking out at night.”
The voice comes from behind me, and when I turn around, I come face to face with Annika. Up close she is even more beautiful. But her icy blue eyes are hard and suspicious as she looks at me.
“I’m Belle, it’s nice to meet you.”
She offers me a closed-lip smile, but there is no warmth to it. “It’s true then? You and Beast are a thing?”
“Well, it’s so new I don’t really know how to describe what we are.”
Again she smiles. Again it lacks warmth. She’s suspicious. And I get the feeling she’ll be hard to fool.
And what will that mean for Uncle Maurice?
“You’re Beast’s cousin?” I say because I’m nervous. I don’t want to fuck this up.
She nods. “His father and my mom were brother and sister. How did you meet my cousin?”
Nervously, I think of a story, wishing Beast and I had figured this out before now. I don’t know what Beast has said about me. Until now, I had no idea he’d even mentioned me, let alone told people I’m Mya’s cousin.
We really need to get our stories straight.
With Uncle Maurice’s life on the line, I have to pull this off, and looking at the scrutiny on Annika’s face, it might be harder than I thought.
“In town,” I say vaguely.
“I thought you were Mya’s cousin.”
“Yes, I just moved here. I met Beast with Mya one night.”
“But Mya never goes to town.”
Fuck. That would’ve been handy to know.
“Yes, I met him here when I came to visit Mya.”
Her eyes narrow slightly. “But you just said you met him in town.”
Okay Inspector Annika.
I let out a shaky laugh. “I mean, I met him here briefly. Not even a real meeting really. Just one of those, hello, goodbye encounters. Then I ran into him one night in town.”
I’ve never been good at lying.
Truth is, I’ve never wanted to or had a good enough reason to. But I think I might’ve pulled it off. Although Annika seems far from finished with her interrogation.
But suddenly electricity snaps in the air around us, and the temperature in the room changes, and I can feel him before I even see him. Beast. He’s behind me. His energy eclipsing everything else in the room.
Annika smiles at him as he approaches us.
“I hope you’re playing nice, Annika,” he says with a hint of affection in his rumbly voice.
“Why start now?” she says with a mischievous grin. She kisses her cousin on the cheek, rising up on tiptoe to reach it.
“I see you’ve met Belle,” he says, his dark eyes meeting mine.
Annika’s smile dips. “I have, no thanks to you, Beast. You kept her a secret.”
Beast places a big arm around my shoulders and pulls me against his powerful body. “I wanted to keep her all to myself for a while.”
Annika is suspicious. It’s written all over her face. “Belle was just saying that she met you—where was it again?”
Yep, she’s trying to catch us out on a lie. She knows something isn’t right but can’t quite put a finger on it.