Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
“Where are you going?”
Her voice was soft, but she couldn’t hide the concern that lined it.
Zipping myself up, I turned and wished I hadn’t. She wore her worry like a second skin. “Just making a house call.”
Lexi’s arms came up and she hugged herself, and that small move had me wanting to stay in and be by her side, sleep beside my woman, and feel at home with my family. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. This shit needed to be nipped in the bud, and my brothers and I were the only ones capable of doing what needed to be done.
She jerked her chin, gesturing to my side. “You always take a gun on house calls?”
Didn’t miss a beat, my angel. “On these types of house calls, I do.”
I was worried about her reaction.
I shouldn’t have been.
Straightening, she nodded and then sighed softly. “Okay.” She dropped her hands to her sides, and said, “Well, tuck your son in before you leave.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
This woman.
Solid.
When I moved, I did it slowly, with purpose, and when I reached her, I looked down into her big blue eyes before I spoke low. “Kiss me before I go.”
She looked me deep in the eye. “No.”
When my brow furrowed, she smiled widely, and my dick jerked.
When she backed out of the room, I moved down the hall to say goodnight to my son. After I did that, I noticed her waiting for me at the front door. I approached leisurely, and when I got close, she stepped into me. It was second nature to have my arms around this woman.
This woman who had given me so much.
Her heart, a son, a home. She gave everything I didn’t know I wanted and continued to give on the daily.
I was a lucky man, and one day this angel would be my wife, wearing my ring, and after we made our vows, I’d keep her barefoot and pregnant and fucking happy.
Looking at her the way she was, I decided I needed a daughter with Lexi’s rare sweetness and diamond-like strength. A girl who loved her daddy regardless of the piece of shit he was.
Her gentle caution cut through me like a hot knife through butter. She spoke quietly into the crook of my neck. “Be safe.” When she pressed a soft kiss to the old gunshot wound, the rounded scar that I got protecting her that fateful day six years ago, I lost my composure.
I growled low in my throat then pulled back to set my dark gaze on her. “Keep lookin’ after me like this and I’mma marry your ass.”
Her response gave me shivers.
Looking up at me, wide-eyed and pretty as a peach, she tilted her head slightly, and asked, “Promise?”
The sound of a car pulling into the drive caught our attention, and I leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Later.”
Without another word, I stepped out of the house and made it over to the black SUV, opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat. The second I closed the door, the car took off and I turned to Julius. “What’s the go?”
Happy spoke from the backseat. “Her shit’s tight, man. I don’t know how we’re gonna get in, let alone get close enough to pop her. Her men guard her like she’s the second coming of Christ.”
Julius grunted. “She’s got an apartment in the city, off the books. Ling thinks she’s smart, but the cockier she becomes, the sloppier she gets. She goes to this apartment to lay low. Almost every night, she’s there and—” When I turned to him, he glanced at me a moment before he turned back to the road. “—you won’t believe who I see coming in and out that place on the regular.”
“Who?” I asked, my brow lowered.
“Aslan Sadik.”
When Julius said what he said, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Motherfucker.” I slammed a fist onto the dash, hard enough to make the plastic creak. I looked to Julius. “Guess who saw me at the fuckin’ mall a couple weeks back?” I twisted to look back at Happy. “Aslan the fuckin’ Turk.”
Happy’s frown was deep. “What? You think he and Ling are a thing?” He shook his head. “No way. The Dragons and The Lost Boys hate each other, man, have since the dawn of time, and that hate runs deep. She’s already disgraced. I don’t think she’s that dumb.”
“She is,” Julius stated darkly. When he peered over at me, his lips were thin. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
I threw him a look that said “are you fuckin’ kidding me?” then blinked at him a long moment. “You weren’t answering my calls, because I,” I drawled slowly, “hurt your feelings.”
Julius narrowed his eyes at me before turning back to the road. A while later, he spoke. “Okay, so Aslan is feeding Ling info.” He looked in the rearview mirror to look at Happy. “That’s the only thing that makes sense. The question is, why?”