Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Reagan walks over, putting her hands on my shoulders. “Don’t worry about what I am doing. You need to make the decision that feels right to you, honey.”
“Yeah,” I exhale. “Maybe I should just go back. Lord knows that’s what Travis wants.”
She snorts. “Travis is full of it. Just give it some time, yeah? Want to go shopping today? Or apartment hunting? Maybe if I get a cute apartment, you will decide to stay with me.”
I laugh. “Not a bad idea. Let me find Chief first, I need to ask him a question.”
She claps. “I’ll get changed.”
I wait for Reagan to get changed, then we head out to the MC compound where everyone is already busy working on a transport company’s trucks. I don’t bother asking why they would be working on a fleet of trucks, because I have no doubt it includes transporting very illegal things. We are about to round the corner into the main building when shouting distracts us. Reagan frowns, and as we turn, I see Travis standing by the entrance, shirtless, waving his hands at an older woman who looks less than impressed.
She is mid-sentence when I catch the drift of their argument. The older woman, hair pulled into a tight bun, points a finger with stunning accuracy at Travis’s bare chest. “You want to see Amber, you come sober,” she spits. “That’s the condition, Travis. You got it? Prove to the court you’re not a fuckup, or you can rot in hell before you lay your hands on my granddaughter—”
He throws up his hands, his voice a hiss. “Do not tell me my rights, Dolores.”
“Look at you,” she hisses at Travis. “Look at where you are living, with a bunch of bikers. You bring that around Amber and we’ll see who wins. This isn’t the life for her, you need to accept that and move on.”
Reagan winces and mutters, “Christ, she is rough.”
I step closer, feeling the overwhelming need to pull this up before Travis does something he will regret. He is already vibrating, fists shaking against his sides like he’s holding them back from breaking something. He sees me, and his eyes narrow with anger, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but maybe you should walk away for now, Trav,” I say gently, voice low. “This isn’t going to help you.”
He glares at me, eyes flicking up and down like I’ve betrayed him again in some way. “Do not come in here and act like you have any fuckin’ idea what’s going on. You don’t.”
He turns and charges away, boots grinding over the gravel. Dolores turns to me and Reagan, her features reset and her face relaxes just a little. I wonder if the front is because she fears Travis, or maybe she is just an old woman with a backbone. “Sorry you had to hear that,” she says. “But he needs to get his act together if he wants to see Amber again. Or ever.”
“Sorry, who are you?” Reagan asks, never holding anything back.
I love her for that.
“I’m her grandmother. I loved my daughter, for all her faults, but she went down a dark path and lost her life, and I’ll be damned if I let Amber go down the same. It took me so long to get her out of that system, and now he wants back in her life.” Dolores stands up straighter, taking a long pause. “If he really wants her, he will remain clean for six months, otherwise, I will fight to make sure she never sees him again. Not to mention,” she waves a hand around, “he won’t bring her here.”
That offends me a little. “What’s wrong with this place?” I ask, straightening now, too.
“It’s full of bikers, sex, and drugs. It is no place for a child.”
“I grew up here just fine,” I grind out.
Dolores looks me up and down, and then smiles in a way that makes it feel like a lightning bolt rips through me. “Oh, and you’re telling me that you have had no problems in your life? Save it for someone who believes you, girly.”
She turns and walks out, after having her say.
We watch her drive off until the taillights disappear.
“What a bitch,” Reagan snaps.
“Maybe she’s right,” I murmur, as much as I hate admitting it. “Look at how things went for me. Maybe it is best to keep Amber away. I didn’t know Travis wasn’t clean again...”
Reagan frowns. “No, that’s not a good thing. Explains his bad mood.”
Everything inside me is screaming that I should just turn around and go home, to leave him to his life and his problems, but my heart is begging me to stay, to help him fix this, to get his daughter back.
Goddammit.
Reagan nudges me with her elbow. “You doing okay?”
I shrug, but don’t answer. Travis is gone, I have no idea where. For a second I think about chasing him, but I know better. You don’t chase a wild thing when it’s bleeding, you don’t corner it, not unless you want it to hurt.