Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Warden’s going to have to call reinforcements.”
“And you two need to shut up before I make an enemy out of my father-in-law and kill you both,” Rosalie said, drawing their attention.
Colt grimaced. “Shit, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I’m not worried about me. Petal’s asleep. I refused to let her drive home. She is so tired. I’ve never seen her this way before.” Rosalie sighed. Her gaze wandered toward him.
Since she had learned the truth, Rosalie didn’t like him. She didn’t make waves because he was still club, and well, his personal life didn’t affect the running of the club. His and Petal’s business was exactly that. No one would interfere.
He looked at Rosalie, and he wasn’t interested in starting an argument with her. He wanted to make sure Petal was okay. If she wasn’t sleeping well, he didn’t like that, and he wanted to make it easy for her.
“You better be gone by the time she wakes up,” Rosalie said.
He held his hands up in surrender.
“Come on, he’s harmless and we need him here,” Colt said.
Before Rosalie could say another word, Colt was already leading her away. Dirty waited a couple of minutes and then went to take a shower in the other guest room. Stripping out of his clothes, he didn’t care where they fell. He took a shower as fast as he could and then dried his body. Even though he was still damp to the touch, he changed into a pair of sweatpants and a shirt.
He stepped out of his room and went straight into Petal’s. She was sleeping, but even in the dark, he saw it was a troubled sleep. He didn’t like this.
Moving closer, he slowly began to climb onto the bed, being careful not to make any sudden movements as he got as close to Petal as he could. He waited several minutes and when she didn’t stir, he wrapped his arms around her, inhaling her deep floral scent.
She began to stir, just a little, and he pulled his arms back, giving her space. Dirty loved the way she smelled. It was truly a beautiful scent.
Seconds passed and they turned into minutes, and once she had settled down again, he wrapped his arms around her, relaxing into the movement. He waited.
And then, he felt Petal’s troubled body relax and her snores deepened just a little.
Dirty stayed awake, holding her. Sleep wouldn’t come to him, not yet. For now, he just wanted to bask in holding her. It had been too long since he held Petal in his arms.
She had no idea how he wished they could go back to that moment—the instant he saw his words hurt her, and shred that part of her feelings for him. Instead of asking if the baby was his, he’d tell her how happy he was.
A baby.
He was an asshole.
The times he was alone now, he thought about Petal, about a life with her. He watched Warden and Kim with a new appreciation. They were married and tight, and … happy. Yes, they knew heartache, but they had each other. Warden never looked at another woman. There was no one else he wanted. It was always Kim.
Then he saw Colt and Rosalie. An unlikely couple right from the start, her being the daughter of the enemy, but also a man Colt wanted to kill. Yet, they were married, thriving, and pregnant.
He and Petal made no sense. Petal had a smart mouth. She was stunning, beautiful, and had the prettiest smile, but also the saddest of faces when she was upset. One of the days on that cruise after talking with Rosalie, he saw how much this life had affected her.
She was so gutted for her friend, but she tried to be the strong one—the one Rosalie could rely on, and as he watched her, he couldn’t help but notice she had no one. There was no one’s shoulder for her to cry on. No one for her to rely on. She had no one. And he decided to be her someone.
Now he fucked that up.
He stared down into her sleeping face, and he knew there was never going to be anyone for him. He had his chance and he lost it.
****
“It’s clever,” Warden said. “And I didn’t see it coming.”
“We both knew what Daemon was capable of. This is just another element of it.”
“The man is dead, Kim. D-E-A-D, and yet, he is still finding a way to fuck everything up.”
Kim sighed and went to her husband. She took the whiskey out of his hand and placed it on the counter. “Stop. Deamon is not responsible for this. He might have put it in motion, but he is not here. He is dead, and we made sure of that.” She took a deep breath.
This was hard. The truth was, seeing Warden like this, she knew it was bad. Even when the Evil Fuckers MC with Daemon in charge was a threat, he never acted like this. This was different.