Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
She was quiet for a moment. “I wanted it,” she whispered, “but I realized that too late.”
I squeezed her to me and laid down, still holding her in my arms. “One day, we’ll have a second chance,” I assured her. She sniffled. I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “For right now, we focus on healing you, my girl. Everything else will fall in line.”
20
A week later, every bit of progress I’d made with Jessie was gone. It was like dealing with the same woman she’d been when she had been rescued from Charles.
She was a shell of herself.
Losing our baby seemed to have killed her inside.
“Come on, my girl,” I coaxed as I eased my arm under her shoulders, lifting her up into a sitting position. She groaned in protest. I put the straw at her lips, needing to get some nutrients in her. I had warm broth in the cup. I figured if I couldn’t get her to eat anything, I could at least have her on a liquid diet.
She was testing my patience, but I understood. So, I remained calm and gentle with her, keeping my voice firm. “I need you to drink this.”
“No,” she mumbled.
“Yes,” I said firmly. “Open your mouth, my girl, and drink this.”
She slowly parted her lips, and I placed the straw on her tongue. She scrunched her face up in distaste as she drank the warm broth, but eventually, I guess her hunger won out, and she leaned against me, allowing me to support her as she closed her eyes, drinking the broth.
I brushed my lips to the top of her head. “That’s my good girl,” I praised.
The sound of bikes tearing onto the lot reached my ears before Jessie could do or say anything in response. I tossed aside the cup and yanked us both down to the floor just as the room windows shattered, glass exploding everywhere. Gunshots ripped through the air. Jessie screamed from beneath me.
I grabbed my gun out of my cut all while rolling her to her back. “Get in the closet,” I ordered. “Go. Now, Jessie.”
I kept her covered as she rushed towards the closet, locking herself inside. Now that she was safe, I rushed out of the room, snatching the AK that Whiler held out to me. We positioned ourselves at windows in the barroom and opened fire.
It wasn’t long before we heard the bikes tear back off the lot. While Whiler and a couple of the other guys rushed outside to begin taking care of shit, I rushed back to my room to check on Jessie.
“Jessie?” I called. I stepped into the room. Fear crawled through my veins.
The closet door had been busted down, and Jessie was gone.
“No!” I roared. I slung my dresser to the floor and ripped the room door from the hinges. “Joey!” I roared, feeling fucking volatile. “Goddammit, Joey, where the fuck are you?!”
“Chill the fuck out,” he told me, coming down the hall. Antonio was on his hip, Elaina’s hand held in his own. Glad to fucking see his family had goddamn made it unscathed.
“Chill out?!” I roared at him. Elaina flinched. Joey released her, handing Antonio over to her. “She’s fucking gone! They took her!” I shoved past him. Every man wearing a cut turned to face me. I didn’t give a shit if I was overriding any orders Joey had given. “Find her!”
“Stand down!” Joey shouted. He gripped my shoulder, swinging me around to face him. Whiler stopped me from swinging on him. “Alejandro is on his way here,” he told me. “I want my sister found, too, Ink, but goddammit, brother, running out of here blind and full of rage is going to get all of us killed, and no one will be alive to save her. That what you fucking want? Because I made that mistake once. I tried to rescue her from Charles while I was full of rage, and it almost cost me both of our fucking lives.”
I shoved my hands through my hair. “I promised her I wouldn’t let this shit happen to her again,” I snapped, pulling my bike keys from my pocket, spinning away from him. Joey yanked me backward, and I shoved him off of me. “Get your fucking hands off of me!”
Black SUVs rode onto the lot. “Block the bikes in,” I heard Alejandro order through the shattered windows. He strode into the clubhouse, his eyes landing on me. “Look on your face tells me she’s gone.”
“Don’t test me right now, Alejandro,” I growled at him.
“Easy,” he told me, holding up a hand. I gritted my teeth. “I’ve already got some intel. Hellistic Saints MC ambushed you.”
“Already know that,” Whiler spoke up, looking just as pissed as I was that Jessie was gone. “You got some shit we don’t know, or are you just here to repeat everything?”