Total pages in book: 8
Estimated words: 7625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 38(@200wpm)___ 31(@250wpm)___ 25(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 7625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 38(@200wpm)___ 31(@250wpm)___ 25(@300wpm)
Going on my knees, I dragged the long, low plastic container out from under the bed, pulling off the lid, and finding all the weapons I could possibly need inside.
I wrapped each gun up in a piece of my clothing before slipping them into Bear's enormous camping duffle bag, not wanting them to clink together as I made my way out of the club. Sure, the music was blasting, and the men were drinking, bullshitting, and laughing, but I wasn't taking any chances.
I had no other way to get the kinds of weapons I would need to do whatever I could to get Bear out.
I wasn't naive.
It wasn't going to be easy.
I was one person.
They were a club of at least fifteen.
What I had working in my favor, though, was the fact that I was a woman. Because of that, in this community at least, I wasn't a threat.
If I stopped back at my place really quickly to throw on something slutty, go heavy on the makeup, and maybe slide my hair under a wig, yeah, I had a good chance of being able to walk into that club like your average, every day, run-of-the-mill clubwhore looking for a good time.
Then I could find Bear and get him out.
Was it the smartest of plans?
No, of course not.
Smart would be for that entire club of useless dickheads to grow a spine, get off of their lazy asses, and go save him.
But, no.
Never send a man to do what a woman could, I guess.
Story of my damn life.
Until I met Bear, that is.
The first and only man I had ever been able to be myself around, to trust, to envision a future where I wasn’t stubbornly alone.
I would be damned if I let some rival club tear him and that future away from me. Not on my watch. Not if I had even the tiniest chance of being able to free him.
The Razer’s Edge Raiders—possibly the most pretentious, ridiculous club name I’d ever come across—had the kind of reputation you expected from a club whose racket was extortion.
Lots of big guys with violent tempers.
But not a lot of brains.
Which was what I was banking on for getting Bear out.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the ass,” Dick called as I made it to the front door.
“Hey, wait, maybe I want a piece of that ass, now that Bear won’t be enjoying it anymore,” another voice called.
I didn’t turn to see who said it.
It didn’t matter.
I knew enough about bad men to know that it was mostly truth said “in jest,” and they were just testing the waters to see if they could get away with it or not, if you’d roll over and take it or not.
I made my way out the front door calmly, casually, then hauled ass to my car, locking the doors as soon as I slid into the driver’s seat.
I don’t think I truly understood the threat that Bear’s club was to me. Because, up until this night, I’d always been under the protection of Bear himself.
Men like Dick and the others, they only respected a woman for her attachment to a man. So, Bear claiming me, that meant that I was left alone, that no one grabbed my ass or said creepy shit to me.
But with him gone, I was fair game.
I didn’t doubt that any one of them would hold me down and force themselves on me if they wanted something I wasn’t offering up.
I floored it out of the driveway, making my way across town and back to my own apartment where I found my tightest, tit-forward, practically labia-revealing dress, went heavy on the smoky eye and red lipstick, then found my biggest purse that didn’t make it look like I was hauling a bunch of illegal weapons with me.
I wanted to bring the micro, very illegal, submachine gun, the thing that could rain bullets at a clubhouse full of bad guys who would want me dead if they caught me, but only after they all took turns abusing me first, likely making Bear watch before killing him as well.
It wasn’t the smartest option, of course. It would be loud. It would draw attention. The cops would likely be called. But if quieter methods didn’t work, at least I knew I had it as a backup.
“You can do this,” I assured the tarted-up version of myself in the mirror as I slipped in some big silver hoops to complete the look. “It’s Bear,” I added, seeing the way my eyes warmed even at the thought of him.
The man who changed everything.
The man I wasn’t entirely sure I could live without.
It was worth risking losing my life to try to save his.
If we were going down, we were going to go down together.
That was the deal you made when you offered your heart and soul to a man who not only wanted the gift, but cherished it, protected it, nurtured it.