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)
“What d’you mean, the rest?”
“All of the goddamn women, Dad!”
“What about ‘em? Use your fuckin’ words, boy.”
At thirty-one, he was far from a fucking boy.
He was about to remind his father of that when a beam of afternoon sun swept across the room as the back door opened again.
His brothers, the prospects, and the sweet butts had been going in and out all fucking day, but these newest arrivals were none of those.
All of the “missing” women walked in.
With huge fucking smiles on their faces.
And wouldn’t you fucking know, Lyric was in front, leading the way with her partner in crime, Avery.
She looked perfectly fine. No crying, no injuries, no panic.
She immediately took in the packed common room. “Wow! I didn’t know the party was going to continue here.” She elbowed Avery. “Was this supposed to be a surprise?”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ. Gotta go,” he growled, hanging up on his father before he got a response.
“No music? No food? Nothing? You guys don’t know how to throw a birthday party. At. All.” Lyric shook her head like she was disappointed in them.
Rage forced himself to keep his boots in place, not rush up to her and squeeze the shit out of her in relief.
The women fanned out, but Lyric kept coming.
“This some kinda sick joke, ain’t it?” he managed to ask as calmly as fucking possible.
Confusion wrinkled her brow. “What do you mean?”
What did he mean?
Something inside him snapped. While he was relieved she was okay, he just spent the last few hours pissed off and worried.
And feeling powerless, which was fucking worse.
“We thought you were all fuckin’ kidnapped!” Rage roared so loudly the top of his head might have blown off.
Avery grimaced. “Oops.”
“You thought we were kidnapped?” Vi asked, pushing her way to the front. Her confused eyes landed on Reaper.
“This was planned?” Reaper kept his cool a hell of a lot better than Rage.
She scratched her ear. “Sort of. It was a last minute thing.”
Rage noticed the moment she realized they might have fucked up.
Lexi elbowed her way to the bar and snapped her fingers at Chaos, who currently stood behind the private bar but normally bartended at The Iron Horse. “Get us a round. Something extra special for the birthday girl.”
Birthday girl?
Oh fuck.
He forgot about that. It was hard to keep track of everyone’s birthdays. She was now…twenty-four. A year closer to him, if only for the next few months.
“Who you snappin’ your goddamn fingers at, woman?” Chaos growled.
“You!”
“Who’s fuckin’ idea was it?” Zeke asked Vi, trying to ignore the other two snapping at each other.
“We took a vote.”
“A goddamn vote,” Rage muttered.
“Jesus Christ! Couldn’t have shared your plans with us?”
“I guess so…if we answered to you,” Vi told Zeke. “But we don’t. And you men have proven you can’t keep your pie holes shut. You would’ve ruined the surprise.”
“Couldn’t have told Reaper at least? You don’t think he can hold his fuckin’ tongue?” Rage asked.
“Funny. I don’t answer to him, either.” Her brow creased. “Not sure why you’d think that.”
Rage’s gaze flicked to Reaper. Seemed as if he was sticking firmly on the men’s side by keeping a carefully controlled expression.
“Get a fuckin’ clue. We ain’t all here for a goddamn birthday party, Vi. We’re here because we thought Lyric was kidnapped. Hell, we thought all of you had been snagged when none of you would answer your fuckin’ phones!” Rage roared.
“Did you miss the part that the three of us who took Lyric had tits?”
“If we couldn’t spot them…” Zeke snorted and stepped out of arm’s reach. “Sounds like more of a you problem than a problem with our eyesight.”
“Where’d you fuckin’ go?” Rage demanded from Vi since she seemed to be the ringleader. Lyric wasn’t to blame since it was a surprise for her, too.
“We took her to the spa for her birthday.”
“The fuckin’ spa?” Nix shouted. “All this fuckin’ shit for a goddamn spa day?”
“Yes. Because it’s your sister’s birthday, asshole. Did you forget?”
“Need a fuckin’ shot of whiskey,” Nix muttered and headed behind the bar.
Rage needed a hell of a lot more than a shot.
He stared at Lyric, who was listening to all the exchanges around her with her bottom lip clamped between her teeth.
She might not be at fault, but she was the cause.
Before he could think about it, he grabbed her arm and hauled her into the room where the officers met to the right of the club’s bar.
It took every fucking ounce of control he had left to not slam the door behind them.
“Ash—” she started as she turned to face him.
“Had an appointment with you today.” He managed to keep that right below a roar.
Barely.
She grimaced. “No one reached out to cancel it?”
A muscle jumped in his cheek. He attempted to control the tornado twisting inside of him but it was already picking up speed. “Shouldn’t that have been you?”