Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
For me, I felt like we were past that. We were opening up. She’d told me so much about her upbringing. Less about her early adulthood, but I’d gotten pieces.
In turn, she got my childhood, my life before prison, what it was like inside, and how it felt readjusting to being on the outside again.
We were heading somewhere. I could feel it down to my damn bones.
So why the hell would she feel the need to lie about what happened to her face?
Had the Novikoffs threatened her?
That didn’t feel like them to me. Then again, we only had a casual business-type connection to them. I really didn’t know much at all about how they handled their business or even how they treated their employees.
I hemmed and hawed about how to handle it the whole next day. For a good part of it, I figured I would let her come to me when she decided she wanted to be more honest.
But as the night fell and she still didn’t show, I realized that it was childish to wait. If I wanted answers, I needed to ask the questions.
It was late as I made my way into town, using the club’s SUV instead of my bike so I could drive Este and Trix back to the clubhouse once we got shit sorted.
The pool hall was closed. Este was probably washing the day away and trying to get some sleep past the racket of renovation sounds at her house. The last thing she likely wanted was a confrontation. The longer we let this stew, though, the harder it was going to be to get past it.
So I made my way to her street, frowning at her darkened house.
Was she asleep already?
But she told me even when she slept, she kept a light or two on in the house.
“I know it only feeds the fear, but I can’t stop doing it.”
Knowing there was nothing around that was still open, save for the pub, I made my way up the porch steps.
Each step felt like it got heavier.
It wasn’t apprehension about a difficult conversation, though.
It was something else.
Something that had the hairs at the back of my neck standing up, that had my skin pricking.
It was the same sensation I felt when the cop car sirens wailed outside my house, knowing I’d just lost years of my life.
It was what I felt while doing a drop for the club and seeing shadows move in behind us, knowing we were surrounded and fucked.
It was the sensation of something having just gone horribly wrong.
I tried to shake off the sensation as I got to the door and lifted my hand to knock. Once. Twice. Three times.
But there was no sound from inside.
Not even Trix barking.
And from what Este said, the dog hated anyone at the door.
Unease intensifying, I walked around the porch, checking the backyard.
Nothing.
And I’d checked when I’d driven into town.
She hadn’t been walking anywhere.
Her car was in the driveway.
She was home.
My stomach clenched, wondering if she was inside and hurt. Had she started a new project and cut herself? Was she bleeding out? Had she been on a ladder and had it knocked out from under her? Was she unconscious in there somewhere, clinging to life?
I rushed back to the front door, knocking harder.
When I got no response, I tried the knob.
My heart flipped when it turned in my hand.
And when I reached inside to flick on the light… and nothing happened.
What the fuck was going on?
“Este,” I called, reaching for my phone to turn on my flashlight. “Este?” I tried, louder.
It was just then that my torch flicked on.
And caught on a prone figure on the kitchen floor.
Not Este.
Trix.
“Trix?” I called, my voice choked.
I dropped down beside her, my hand going to her belly, feeling for a rise and fall and feeling a little bit of the tension around my heart lighten.
“It’s gonna be okay, girl,” I assured her, petting her soft fur as I scrolled to my contacts.
“What’s up?” Colter answered.
“I need you to drive to Este’s house. Right now. Then load up her dog in the SUV and drive her to an emergency vet.”
I could already hear him moving. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Este is nowhere to be seen. The power is out. And Trix is out cold on the kitchen floor. Breathing but… something’s not right.”
“Do you need me to bring Saint?”
“No, let him stay there. I’m gonna call Slash.”
I could hear his bike roar to life before he hung up.
I murmured an assurance to Trix before turning and running through the house, calling out for Este.
But she wasn’t there.
She wasn’t fucking there.
I heard Colter’s bike making its way down the main street and ran back through the house. Carefully gathering Trix in my arms, I rushed outside just as he was walking toward the house.