Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“And by claiming a woman, they’re declaring for everyone to see that she means something. That’s a real handy thing to know if you want to threaten someone into doing what you want. Becoming a member’s property means we swear our loyalty to them, and they accept responsibility for our actions. If Jessica fucks up, her men might have to pay the price. It’s not something to be taken lightly. It’s not about being less than, it’s about accepting our own role in the club.”
Logan appears in the doorway. “Mommy? We’re jumping the motorcycles, and they—they have to watch out for biiiiig acid pits and bad guys. Are you gonna come look?” He’s shifting from foot to foot in the doorway, torn between wanting to tell me everything and get back to play.
“I’ll come in a minute. You go play with Anne, okay?”
“Okay!”
“It sounds pretty intense.” I smile at Bonnie. “But I think Logan would hate me forever if I separated him from his heroes.”
“Well, at least you know you won’t be the only one if you make the plunge. We have a girls’ only shooting club that meets weekly, and could always use more members.” She makes a finger gun, shooting and then blowing the imaginary smoke from her finger tip.
I blink at her. “Really?”
“A girl’s got to know how to protect herself, and it’s a good excuse to get together and gossip. Don’t let their macho acts fool you. Sometimes the drama in a bike club is better than any daytime TV. Just don’t let Jessica hustle you. She can put a bullet through a half-dollar at fifty paces.”
I glance over my shoulder. “Does Anne…”
“If anyone comes for your little guy, she knows exactly how to put them down.” When she sees my horrified expression, she quickly tacks on, “Not that I think it’ll be necessary. It’s very safe in here, I swear.”
“Right.”
“Mommy!”
“We should probably see if Anne and Logan want anything to eat.” I nod towards the living room. I need a little time to actually process all this. I may have bitten off way more than I can chew. I wonder what Georgia would think, looking at me living here in a motorcycle club, even considering what it would mean to choose to stay. If they’d want me to, of course. I bet she’d never let me hear the end of how I used to warn her away from here, but then I know she’d laugh and it would be something we could share.
On the screen, a little guy on a motorcycle is doing backflips through a whole row of rings on fire, with acid pools filled with alligators underneath, and Logan is locked in. Anne seems to be the one manning the controller, but Logan has crawled up to sit in her lap while she plays around him.
The motorcycle guy lands safely and rolls across a finish line. A gold medal fills the screen as that deep male voice yells, “You won the gold! Way to burn rubber!”
Logan jumps to his feet and cheers. “We won!”
Anne laughs as he runs around the living room. “We sure did.”
It’s the most at home I’ve felt in a long, long time. It’s really nice.
26
DAKOTA
“Relax, you look great,” Jackal says as he takes my arm to lead me to the church, where I’m about to attend my first biker party.
Bonnie refused to tell me anything before she sat down to keep an eye on Anne and Logan for their first (mostly) solo night. All she said was that it might get a little wild. Which doesn’t sound so bad until I remember that she was the club president’s old lady for many years and runs a social gun club for fun.
So it could really be anything.
I dressed cute, just in case, so I’m glad the guys seem to appreciate it. I’m wearing a skirt for the first time in forever, and I re-did my nails in a dark, sparkly gunmetal black. I’ve left my hair down, free to flow over my shoulders in a way I never can at work. Then a hint of perfume, a cute powder blue V-neck sweater and ankle boots. I’ve heard they have big parties at least once a week, and it’s not uncommon to have smaller ones happen spontaneously, but for me, this is the first dress up party I’ve been to in years. It feels like our first date.
The front doors to the church are wide open, blasting driving rock music for all the neighbors. Even in November, the cool outside air has no chance against the radiating heat of a fully packed church. Not that this is like any service this church has ever seen, I’m pretty sure of that.
Lash takes the lead, plowing a path up the steps and through the main doors. I take everything in, shocked by the spectacle. Most of the church has been torn out, but there are some old wooden pews pushed to the sides. Tables, chairs and couches have been added to give people places to hang out. The altar has a girl with blue hair sitting on it, and there’s a bar behind. A massive wooden chair sits at the back, and where the cross would usually hang, there’s a banner with the club logo hanging below a solitary leather vest. Others dot the wall to the sides, but whoever that vest belonged to, it clearly stands alone. From what little I know, I bet it’s General’s.