Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Anderson sighs. “Should I make more eggs?”
9
WRAITH
King stands at the front of the common room, in Eagle-eye’s spot. “Sit your asses down and listen up!”
“I can’t fucking believe this. How did you let this happen?” Blade, who usually keeps his cool, at least until he stabs you, is pacing back and forth like a caged panther. He flips a small knife back and forth between his fingers like a fucking fidget toy, and everyone’s giving him space just in case he decides to ventilate someone.
I don’t blame him. We’re all still reeling from what happened during yesterday’s run, but for him it’s even more personal. Eagle-eye might as well be his father-in-law, and Alpha’s part of his family with Faith, their old lady.
“Trust me,” growls Tank. “If there was a way to go back and do this without getting us all fucking killed, we would. They put their own fucking skin on the line to get the rest of us out of there.”
“Fucking prospects,” Blade growls.
“As any of us would,” King interrupts loudly, cutting through. “Eagle-eye is the Screaming Eagles. He’s loyal to the fucking bone, and when lives are on the line he’s not going to leave anyone behind. So stop all this fucking bickering. The old man made his choice and now it’s up to us to get them back and not act like a bunch of goddamn idiots.”
The door bursts open and Faith, Eagle-eye’s daughter and Alpha’s old lady stalks into the room like a fucking valkyrie on the rampage.
“No cunts in Church,” yells Snake, an old-timer who moved back into the clubhouse recently after his own old lady kicked his ass to the curb.
Before anyone has the chance to agree or disagree, Snake is on the fucking floor with Blade’s knife sticking out of his bicep. It’s not deep, but enough to hurt like hell. “What the fuck, man?”
Ripper, Faith’s third old man, stalks over and puts his boot on Snake’s shoulder before pulling the knife free and wiping it off on Snake’s shirt. “Talk to her like that again. I fucking dare you.”
Faith’s eyes are wide, but she recovers fast. “Anyone else think I don’t have a right to be here? My father is in jail, and last night I had to comfort a baby girl who doesn’t understand why one of her daddies is missing. So tell me again that I shouldn’t be here.” She looks around the room, with eyes the same steel gray as Eagle-eye.
Everyone keeps their fucking mouths shut, including Snake who gets back into his chair and tips his head in acknowledgement while clutching his arm.
“That’s what I thought.” She shifts her glare to King, who takes it without flinching. “So what are we going to do?”
Razor, an old fucker who’s known Eagle-eye since his days before the Screaming Eagles, speaks. “We’re wasting time if we sit around bitching about who should’ve done what. That fucker’s always going to do what needs doing even he’s the one that pays for it. If he was the kind of man that would leave a brother behind to save his own ass, we wouldn’t follow him.”
“What are they claiming he did?” Faith asks. “He didn’t murder anyone.” Razor snorts. “Fine. He hasn’t murdered anyone recently.”
I’d be more shocked at how easily Faith accepts her father’s past, but like me, she grew up with this shit. Biker family recognizes biker family. She broke away for a while, but it’s in her blood. She might be a sweet little bookshop owner on the surface, but underneath she’s tough as fucking nails. I’ve never given much thought to what I’d look for in an old lady, but they’re going to need some steel in their spine to live this life.
King nods. “Something’s going on. There’s too much fucked up shit happening at once to be a coincidence. The cops are using the shooting to point fingers at us, but they know better than to come after us on our own turf, and if they need another lesson, I’m more than happy to remind them what happened to Hawthorne.”
He’d know, since he was at the center of that whole mess when he, Wild Child and Hero kidnapped Hawthorne’s daughter Emily, only to end up shacking up with her before the dust settled. It feels like a whole lot of pasts are coming back to bite us in the ass these days.
“This would be a fuckton easier if we just knew who to shoot,” Tank growls.
The room is tense, but everyone nods. There isn’t a single person here, even the assholes, that wouldn’t put their own skin on the line to protect what’s ours.
King laughs. “I know you fuckers want to go in guns blazing, but we’ve gotta play it cool for the moment. We’re calling in some favors to see if any of our connections have info, and our lawyer is working his ass off to get our boys out. In the meantime, we need to keep our eyes and ears open.” He points our way. “Wraith, Tank and Nitro. This is your chance to show the club what you’ve got.”