Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Of course he only grunted because he couldn’t disprove what she said. When he didn’t even try, she went back to touching up the outline of the tattoo.
“Still doin’ the self-defense classes with Kat and Diamond?”
She kept her head down and the tattoo machine moving when she answered, “Occasionally.”
“How often?”
Not as often as she should. “It’s hard to find the time.”
“Supposed to be for you to learn to protect yourself.”
She wanted to respond with, “Why would I need that when I have you? A man who calls himself Rage. A man who would protect his family and friends with the ferocity of a cornered grizzly bear.”
She didn’t. Because she would never want to be one of those women who relied solely on a man. The women in the DAMC were strong, intelligent, and independent. They could fight their own battles.
But she understood his concern and why he was asking.
“We don’t even know who they were, Ash.” She tipped her head to the side and watched his expression carefully when she said, “Unless you do and are keeping it from us.”
No matter who it was, they had approached the Angels of Fury formation from behind. It was basically a hit and run. When they hit Piper, it knocked her and her sled into both Lyric and Bri.
The brush burns on her arms were starting to heal, but she still took pain medication for her left shoulder. Her Harley was also in the shop being repaired. Luckily, it wasn’t totaled and she hoped to have it back soon as good as new.
He brushed his knuckles over the one of the skinned areas that was no longer raw but still a bit red. “How you feelin’?”
She frowned. “Nice deflection. Will you tell us who it is if you find out?”
“Know who it is, Lyric, but don’t want you girls goin’ all vigilante on them.”
“We’re not girls.”
“Women,” he corrected. “We warned you and your club sisters that the Twisted Souls were takin’ over the Demons’ old territory.”
“But why would they see us as a threat? When I say ‘us,’ I not only mean the Angels of Fury, but the DAMC.”
Clearly, he didn’t want to tell her. Most likely because it was considered “club business”, and to the men, club business wasn’t the women’s business.
“Are they trying to take over the club’s territory?”
“Don’t know that, baby, but that’s always a risk.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Ashton tended to be gruff. He grumbled and growled a lot, but whenever he called her baby, his tone changed. It softened, and so did his expression.
She figured it was the age difference between them that stopped him from pursuing her. If so, he was ignoring the fact that Lyric’s mother was twelve years younger than her father and her parents were still madly in love and were true soulmates.
She grew up being told that age was only a number and love was timeless.
She believed that.
The seven years between her and Ash were nothing.
It could be that it wasn’t her age at all and it was something else. Maybe he was sweet to her solely due to her being a part of the DAMC family and he might think of her as a sister. On the other hand, Ash respected her father a lot. All of the DAMC brothers did, past and present. He could be worried Crow would discourage anything more than friendship between them. After all, she was her father’s “baby girl.”
Growing up in a motorcycle club, she was used to the men being overprotective. Her father, and now her brother, were no exception.
She finished doing touchups on a few different pieces, cleaned up the areas, and applied a protective ointment. Since a tattoo was technically an open wound, it could get infected if not taken care of properly.
With as much ink as Ash had, he was now a pro at taking care of any new or touched up work so she didn’t have to lecture him, or even give him pointers like she had to with so many other clients.
“Do you want to hang out here while I find a hawk? I’d do the tattoo today if I didn’t have another appointment coming in right after you and I want to take my time with it.”
“I can wait. Next client’s gonna actually give you scratch and that’s a fuckuva lot more important than my freebie.”
She tattooed anyone in the DAMC family for no charge. Especially since a lot had let her practice on them when she was new. Members of the Blood Fury, the Dark Knights, and even the Blue Avengers got a deep discount.
It was a tradition her father started decades ago. It was also one reason so many of them were heavily tattooed. If Ash had to pay for his, he would’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years.