Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
“I told you,” a feminine voice said, and then Aidan and Carys were moving toward their Dom. Carys was in street clothes and had an ice pack in her hand. Like she’d expected the violence.
Aidan chuckled and looked Tris over. “Just had to gossip, didn’t you? You had to tell Big Tag, let him know you knew something he didn’t, and now here we are.”
“It slipped out,” Tris complained.
Why were they still in the conference room? Her mom was standing in front of it like she was guarding it or something. Kala was pretty sure she should get in there and stop whatever the hell was happening.
Her mom put a hand up. “Unless you want to sit down and talk about what happened tonight, you should go to the locker room.”
She put her hands on her hips and stared her mom down. She wasn’t a child anymore. She hadn’t been for a very long time. “You don’t think I have a stake in whatever the hell Dad’s doing in there?”
“I think your father loves you and wants the best for you.” Her mother was unmoving. Charlotte Taggart was a force of nature, representing strength and love and devotion. She was everything that was good in Kala’s world.
She turned and walked away because she couldn’t punch her mother the way she had Tris.
She was antsy and emotional. Could she find someone who wanted to spar at this time of night?
She strode down the hall, conscious of how everyone in her way suddenly decided they needed to be somewhere else.
The evil Domme was pissed, and everyone was scrambling for cover. There were days when she would find it amusing. Today was not the day.
Up ahead she saw Kenzie and Tasha still arguing with Lou about how to handle her.
She didn’t want to be handled.
Maybe the decision whether or not to stay with the team would be easier than she thought it would. She should go to the locker room and get ready for the ride back, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t. She couldn’t get into TJ’s truck and pretend like nothing happened. She couldn’t stay here and watch as Cooper walked out of the conference room, shaking hands with her father, likely commiserating over how hard she was to deal with.
So she turned and walked out of the club. She could walk. Or call a ride. It didn’t matter.
“Hey, you okay?” Lena Gallagher stood outside the entrance, her cell phone in hand. “I thought y’all would be going a little longer. I was waiting to see if I could catch a ride with Drake. We’re at the same hotel.”
“I’m fine,” she lied. “It’s getting late, and the parents get crabby when they miss bedtime.”
She looked behind Kala as though trying to catch sight of someone. “Any idea if Drake came out?”
She shook her head. “I lost track of him. Sorry. I’m going to head home.”
“I know you hate me, but give a sister a ride?” Lena asked, sounding less shrinkish than usual.
“I was going to walk,” she admitted. “I didn’t bring my car.”
“Do you live close? This seems like a kind of deserted part of town and it’s late,” Lena said, glancing down the street as though looking for danger. “I know you’re a badass operative, but still… Also, is this club what I think it is?”
Kala stared at the darkness and remembered another night when things with Cooper McKay went hideously wrong and she’d walked away alone. Huisman was out there. Was she really this dumb? Was her pride worth living through that nightmare again?
Or was that precisely the point?
Did she make the same mistake again and again because deep down she knew she deserved whatever happened to her?
That was the moment TJ stuck his head out the door. He hadn’t changed from his leathers, merely thrown a T-shirt over them. He pointed her way. “Kala Taggart, I swear to god if you try to walk home, I will fucking find you and drag you back, and I will tell everyone I found you crying like a girl who lost her favorite teddy bear. I have secrets, sister. I will tell every one of them if you leave this club without me or Cooper.”
Fucking TJ. She sighed. She’d just come to the revelation herself, so she couldn’t exactly argue. She could, but it would be counterproductive, and going home with TJ and Lou would be better than anyone else. “I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
He sighed as though he’d expected more of a fight. “Were you serious about not being hungry? Because there’s a Waffle House on the way. I mean, if you want.”
He was a walking never-full gut. But she did like waffles, and Lou wouldn’t push her. Lou would talk about everything else that happened in the club and what she was going to do in Sweden. Listening to Lou would be soothing. If they stayed out long enough, Kenzie might fall asleep, and then she could avoid her twin’s questions. “I could eat.”