Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 66480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
I made one stop to make doubly sure no one was following before I took the freeway on a route with multiple exits very close together to where I needed to change roads. When no tail gave itself away, I took my route with more purpose, exiting to a highway that would eventually take me up winding mountain roads. I drove for three hours. Overkill? Maybe. But what I had to tell Tori could not be heard by anyone who could use Wren against me.
By the time I reached my little hunting cabin, it was two in the morning. I’d had to leave my bike in a barn closer to the county road, but I was more confident about that barn being secure than anywhere other than my cabin. No way was I taking my Harley through the woods. I had an ATV in the barn specifically for this reason.
I parked outside and scrubbed a hand over my face. Despite the time it took to get here and the remoteness of the location, this cabin represented the only place I ever felt truly at home.
Once I cut the engine, the silence nearly overwhelmed me. I took a breath, closing my eyes to center myself. My heart pounded with the enormity of my situation and I had to admit, I might be in over my head.
Honestly, what the fuck did I know about women like Wren? She challenged me with her harsh innocence. She had a vulnerability about her at odds with the way she presented herself. I pegged her as experienced. While not a virgin, I was fairly certain she’d never had a man like me.
With a deep breath, I dismounted and went up the steps to the one room cabin. I called it a hunting cabin but the place was more like a one room apartment. I took pains to make it look rough on the outside, but it was sturdy and well insulated. I had a basic security system designed mostly to detect game in the surrounding area, but there was just enough cell service to get a message when motion was detected and recorded everything for thirty minutes after the last detected movement.
Once inside, I locked the door again, then used my phone’s flashlight until I got a lantern lit. I pulled the sat phone from my pocket. For a moment, I just stared at it, wondering what the fuck I'd say to Tori when I called. I owed the man the truth. Besides, since he’d ordered me to form a friendship with Wren, I considered this as much his fucking fault as it was mine. Even though it sounded far too much like I was an amature who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, I prided myself on my ethics. I’d do whatever I had to, but I didn’t hurt innocents. In any way.
I'd fucked women on jobs before. Used sex as a tool, a way to get information, to solidify cover, but never with someone who was completely innocent or ignorant of the situation. This was different. Wren was different. The way her eyes had seen through my bullshit, the way her laugh had cut through my defenses like they weren't even there. The way I couldn't stop thinking about her, even when my life depended on focus. And I had no idea how she felt about me. Kind of ironic. Or poetic justice.
I also had information he'd want. The fragments I'd been piecing together over a couple of months. I dialed Tori ’s number from memory.
"Rocky?" Tori sounded puzzled but he hadn’t been expecting my call. I had another couple of days before our next scheduled call. Tori had guided me since I was seventeen and he’d helped me kill my father after the bastard had killed my mother. I’d followed him loyally ever since.
"Yeah," I said, my voice steady despite the tension coiling through my body. "We need to talk."
“Do we need to do it face to face?”
“Up to you.” I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “Honestly, knowing what I’m about to tell you, I think I’d rather do it from way the fuck over here.”
There was a beat of silence. Then he said what I knew he would say. “You bastard. You fucked that girl. Didn’t you.” He didn’t phrase it as a question and I didn’t feign ignorance.
“It was more like a mutual fucking.”
“Christ, Rocky. How long did you wait before dragging her to your bed?”
“You make it sound a lot worse than it was.”
“Yeah? So you didn’t fuck the daughter of Bound in Blood’s VP, who, by the way, is barley in her twenties.”
“You’re the one who put her in my path. You ordered me to make nice with the girl!”
“Don’t remember telling you to have sex with her.” He sighed and there was a long pause. “Kind of expected it, though.”