Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 70488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Creed slapped me on the shoulder. “Take care of her, man.”
I looked my good friend in the eyes and promised, “I will. With my life.”
He grinned. “I know.”
Then I was alone.
I headed into the bedroom and woke my future wife up.
Though she didn’t know that she was my future wife, yet.
She would when we found a damn diamond.
The moment I found one—which I damn well would—I’d propose.
I just didn’t realize how damn hard it was to dig through the fucking dirt looking for a needle in a haystack—or a diamond in a field of dirt.
Thirty
Do I get bonus points if I act like I care?
—Bernice to Baylee
Bernice
Thirteen Days Later
I was having the time of my life.
I sat on a low stool sifting through dirt, a heater on one side of me and a woman named Baylee on the other drinking a beer.
We were at Crater of Diamonds State Park, and I was surrounded by the Dixie Wardens MC, Benton, Louisiana Chapter.
I’d met Baylee and Sebastian. Kettle and Adeline. Viddy and Trance. Loki and Channing. Torren and Tru. Sawyer and Silas. And, finally, Sterling and Ruthie.
I loved them all to death.
They were my second-favorite chapter of the Dixie Wardens.
My Montana chapter would forever hold my heart.
“Your man is on a mission.” Baylee tipped her beer toward Hux.
Hux was on a mission.
He wanted to find a diamond.
We’d found plenty of other fun things—quartz, peridot, and jasper.
But we hadn’t found the diamond yet.
Well, we being Hux.
I was happily digging through my small sections with my mask on half the time and sipping my dirty sodas.
Hux never let my drinks run dry, and he never let a couple of hours pass before I was getting a snack of some sort.
He was super worried about all the weight I’d lost—that I hadn’t really had to lose—after the incident.
“He’s going to find one.” I chuckled. “But his days are almost up.”
“Are you excited to go home?” Baylee asked me.
“No,” I admitted.
I’d hoped that, while Hux and I were gone, they’d find him.
But no such luck.
They’d been searching far and wide for him, and he was like a ghost.
We hadn’t spotted him anywhere.
Sebastian came up before Baylee could give me another pep talk and said, “Baylee.”
Baylee looked up at her husband.
“Can I have a minute?”
Baylee patted my hand and then got up to follow her husband.
They spoke in low tones that I couldn’t make out, then Baylee was back.
But her face was hard.
“What is it?”
She opened her mouth to tell me, but Hux was there, his face excited.
“What is it?” I asked. “Did you find one?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Then why do you look like you did?” I grumbled.
He studied my face for a long second before he said, “They found him.”
I shot forward. “They did?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Here.”
My mouth fell open. “What?”
“Sterling and Torren caught him in the parking lot trying to sneak inside,” he said.
I lowered my voice. “What are you going to do with him?”
His eyes gleamed. “Bury him alive, of course.”
I had no clue what that meant.
In fact, we were all ushered out.
Every last Dixie Warden left, leaving the diamonds we had yet to find behind.
We followed a van to our Airbnb, then Hux ushered me to the van and said, “I want you to make sure it’s him.”
I steeled myself, then glanced inside when they barely slid the van doors open.
“That’s him,” I confirmed, seeing his soulless eyes staring back at me.
He looked unsurprised that he’d been caught and didn’t look like he even cared that his reign of terror was now over.
I stepped away, feeling this weight lift off my chest, and said, “Take him away, Hux.”
He cupped my chin. “Don’t worry about a thing, baby. I got him.”
And I knew deep down in my heart that he did. This man would tear the world apart for me. One serial killer wasn’t going to stop him.
“Guess we’ll have to come back sometime to find my diamond, huh?” I asked.
He winked. “Of course.”
The rest of the night, I didn’t worry about a thing.
I had fun with my new friends.
I went to bed late. And when Hux crawled into the bed with me later that night, I turned to him and knew that it was over.
Randel and Chan wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again.
Thirty-One
I was a good kid, and it got me nothing.
—Bernice to Hux
Hux
The night before had gone exactly as I’d planned it.
We’d known that he’d do one of two things.
Lie in wait for us to come back, then make a mistake and out himself. Or he’d follow us here and fall right into our trap.
He’d chosen door two, and we’d caught him and taken him out to an abandoned property near the diamond field.
It was where they’d dumped scraped-off dirt to be used when needed.
It was dark, secluded, and the perfect burial place.