Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“The government knows,” she countered.
I nodded. “Maybe,” I conceded, “but the more time goes by, fewer in government remember. Administrations change. Agency heads change. Paperwork gets buried. For teams like us, paperwork never existed.”
“Aren’t you afraid someone will find the place? I mean, just because it’s off-limits doesn’t mean people don’t wander in. For that matter, there have to be scientists who wander through.”
“Not in this area. When it was set up by the land owners, it was to allow no one in. Let nature take its course. While there is a huge area around us, we are in the very center. We keep things small, only using what we need to be self-sustaining, and we never hunt outside our area, and only small game like squirrels and raccoons.”
She nodded, my answer apparently making sense to her. “OK, so back to Hammer and Gina. They were an item?”
I frowned. “To be honest, I’m not sure. I thought they were, but then Claw said Hammer and Scarlet wanted to be together.”
“Well, obviously that went south. I know you don’t think Gina could have been Hammer’s plant, but what if she was?”
“So, we need to talk to Gina.”
“No.” She shook her head. “We don’t need to do anything. I need to talk to Gina. One on one.”
“You can talk to her, but you’ll do it with me and Crush present.”
“She might not talk with the two of you around. It’s obvious she’s scared of Byte. Why would she not be afraid of Crush too?”
“OK, then I’ll be with you.” Lemon pursed her lips and I knew she was going to try to argue. “Stop right there, sour puss. Me being with you when you question Gina is non-negotiable.”
As I hoped, she scowled. I had to smother my grin. “Sour puss? I thought we were past that.”
That grin tugged its way free. “Still fits.”
If I lived to be a hundred, Lemon’s beautiful chuckle would always warm my heart. Like it did now. “Point taken. So, we talk to Gina. If Byte is right and she hasn’t left her house in months, she’ll feel safer there.”
“Good. On to the next thing.”
“Falcon is on my shit list.”
“Really. Never would have guessed. Guessing you’re on his too.”
“For refusing to come after you when I told him you’d been shot, he deserved what he got.”
“There’s a reason for that, Lemon.”
“Yeah, yeah. If they couldn’t contain the damage the whole club could be outed. You said that before.” She stuck up her chin. “Not buying it.”
“Lemon --”
“No! The men of Grim Road are your brothers. Right?”
“Yes. They are.”
“Brothers are family and family always protects family.”
“He was. By not going after me he was protecting the rest of his family.”
“So you guys use Spock logic.”
I tilted my head. “Aren’t you a little young to know what that means?”
“Dude. It’s Spock.”
“Yeah, well, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
“You realize he also said the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many. Right? Same fuckin’ movie.”
“What’s your point, Lemon.”
“The point is, when your family is in danger, you protect them. The bigger family was safe, and there were enough Grim members with Falcon they could have contained the damage.”
“Falcon isn’t an officer.”
“So he can’t make decisions for the club. Is that where you were going?”
I grinned. “You know me so well.” It was an answer to her question. Not an observation.
“Right. Should a’ known. Fuckwit isn’t smart enough to make decisions for himself.” Before I could comment she plowed on. “We’ll come back to that, but we’ll do it with the rest of the club present.”
“Whatever you say. Next.”
“Just to recap. You admit you were stretched too thin to realize you should have questioned Hammer’s motives and actually talked to Scarlet after you sent her off.”
“I will probably never forgive myself for my negligence in that matter. Being busy isn’t a reason for not doing right by Scarlet. Especially when I didn’t insist on speaking to her after she left. I also should have trusted my brothers to keep everyone safe inside the compound. I trusted them to keep Sunshine and Rainbow safe here. I should have kept Scarlet here as well. My only defense is that I thought anywhere would have been safer than this compound. But I wasn’t sending the women or girls away without protection, and I thought Scarlet wanted to be with Hammer. Claw told me she did.”
“I guess that’s not a mistake you’ll be making again anytime soon. Or ever, really.”
“I’m not, as you say, a fuckwit. I learn from my mistakes. Especially one as big as that one was.”
“So now, we need to go see Gina.”
“It’s close to three a.m. I doubt she’s awake.”
“So, first thing in the morning, then.”
I grinned. “So we’ve got time.”
Her smile was simply to God glorious. “Oh, yeah. We’ve got time. And I know just what I want to do with that time.”