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)
If she had paled before, she probably looked like a corpse right now without a drop of blood left in her face. In fact, she swore her heart seized and she was actually dead. They might need to break out the AED.
Did her father actually know? Or was he trying to flush out the truth?
Either way, that wasn’t good.
None of this was good.
“If it wasn’t for a tryout, then why the fuck were you there?”
Think. Think. Think!
She couldn’t. Her brain was frozen.
She scrambled to come up with something. “Ash asked me to stop by and rebraid his hair.”
“He uses the girls for that.” By girls, her father meant strippers.
“Yes, but it was early and they weren’t there yet. His braids were all messed up.”
“He could’ve waited ’til they got there.”
“Only a couple of them can do it right. Neither will be working today.” Crow stared at her for what felt like a lifetime. She swore he could read minds. Lyric tamped down her panic and continued. “You know that, like us, he only trusts a few people to touch his hair.”
Did she actually manage to come up with something he’d believe? Because there was no way in Hell she was discussing with her father what really happened in Ash’s apartment.
While Crow knew she and Ash were close, he didn’t know just how close after this morning.
Once again, she was saved by the bell when her next appointment walked in.
Phew.
“Be right with you!” she yelled out, then turned her attention back to her father. She pointed to the drawing she’d been working on. “Do you think he’ll like it?”
“What’s not to like? You’re a great fuckin’ artist.”
That compliment thawed the ice clogging her veins.
Stepping behind her, Crow cupped a hand over her forehead, tipped her head back, and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. He then whispered, “Tȟečhíȟila.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
While her father was technically only half Lakota, he’d been sent to his mother’s reservation and raised by his aunt after his parents were brutally murdered by the Shadow Warriors when he was very young. Once he was old enough to become a prospect, he returned to Shadow Valley to be with his DAMC family, but while in South Dakota, he’d learned a lot of Lakota and decided to pass the language on to his own children.
Even to this day, his father still called her mother Kachina, despite the term for the Native American doll belonging to the Hopi and not the Lakota tribe. All these decades later and her mother still melted every time her father used it.
The same happened to Lyric when Ash called her “baby.”
But then, maybe she was reading too much into it and the club’s sergeant at arms called every woman he slept with the same.
It was best to remember that women were a dime a dozen to bikers. She wasn’t special.
Now that the crisis had been averted, she needed to get to work. A deposit on an apartment wasn’t going to pay for itself.
Then a scary thought hit her.
What if Crow went to confront Ash next and their stories didn’t match?
Chapter Fourteen
The text from Lyric said: Crow knows I was at your place this morning. I told him you had a hair emergency and asked for my help.
What the fuck?
You tell him you were here? Rage texted back.
NO!
Then how the hell did he know?
Hard to sneak around in this damn town, came her answer.
Wasn’t that the fucking truth? He believe you?
Don’t know.
Crow had a goddamn sixth sense about everything. He could see shit others couldn’t. It wouldn’t take much for him to put two and two together.
Lyric’s father was so damn laid back he normally got along with everyone. Unless you fucked with him or what belonged to him, including his ol’ lady and his kids.
And Rage had fucked his daughter only a few hours ago.
His virgin daughter.
Even over the DJ’s music, he heard Shimmer call out, “Hey, Crow! Are you here looking for me?”
Rage glanced over at the dancer and his jaw automatically clenched. Since she was also a sweet butt, Shimmer knew that Crow would never fuck around on his wife Jazz. So, of course, he wasn’t looking for her.
The OGs were insanely loyal to their women—unlike in some other MCs—and they expected the same from Rage’s generation.
Unfortunately, the DAMC president ignored that memo four years ago.
As Crow approached, Rage hid his phone under the bar top and quickly texted Lyric: He’s here.
He muted his phone in case Lyric began to panic text, then lifted it as if he was about to take a picture of Lyric’s father. “Damn, brother, need to take a shot of this. Never saw you in here before.”
“Never had a reason to be in here before,” Crow answered without breaking stride.
Rage raised his eyebrows. “Now you do?”