Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Good. That was good. She needed someone to keep an eye on her. Someone who wasn’t me. Because it wasn’t my damn place.
“Good. And Perish, I’d prefer it if you stayed inside the clubhouse for a few days. You’re a hard target to miss,” he added with a smirk. “Let’s just let the dust settle for a bit before you are out in the street again.”
“Alright.”
“Are we on lockdown?” Cain, the other new prospect, asked.
The two men stood next to each other, which only made their differences more apparent. Where Spike was thin and dark-haired, Cain was gym-fit with a square face, light blue eyes, and dirty blond hair.
Also, where Spike had basically been on the wrong side of the law since he was a kid, Cain had been on the other side of law enforcement for a good chunk of his life, working for a SWAT unit until he tried to report corruption and was fired for whistleblowing. He took a hard left turn and became an outlaw biker as a middle finger to the institution he no longer believed in.
“I don’t want to use the word lockdown,” Fallon said. “But I want us to all have our heads on a swivel. Suspicious people watching you, cars sitting around that feel off, any of that, I want reported. And we are going to add another guard to each shift temporarily. But I’m not gonna tell you to lock your sisters and wives up or not have parties here. Just be smart.”
“If you’re looking for volunteers, I’m used to guard work,” Cain said with a shrug.
“Good. Brooks will work out the schedule.” Fallon’s gaze flicked to mine again. “How’s Gracie?”
Too fucking enticing for her own good.
“She’s alright. Think it didn’t sink in until the cops were gone. But no grazes or anything. Maybe some scratches from being tackled,” I added, kicking myself for not inspecting her for that.
“Small price to pay,” Reign said, shaking his head.
“Think we all should have a drink,” Dezi said, “in honor of our hero here,” he added, knocking me on the shoulder as he moved through the crowd to set up the shot glasses on the bar.
“That’s not—” I started, uncomfortable.
But to my surprise all the men got up and grabbed a shot glass, lifting them up as Dezi started to speak again.
“To Perish. Saver of our princess. Tonight, we’re all thankful you’re basically the size and density of a tank.”
I just barely resisted the urge to shift my feet as everyone cheered and looked at me before throwing back their shots.
“Have mine,” Lazarus said. He’d been clean most of his life, so he passed me his shot glass after he toasted with everyone else.
And fuck if I didn’t need some liquid courage to deal with all this damn attention and admiration.
I threw back the shot, then went ahead and accepted a drink that Dezi brought me.
“What’s your favorite kind of pastry?” he asked, making my brows pinch. “You know, as another thank-you.”
“I, uh, don’t know.”
“No? Well, seems like I need to order some of each kind for breakfast, huh?”
I was pretty sure those pastries were more for him than me, but I welcomed his chatter about baked goods over more appreciation from the club brothers.
Little by little, most of the OG and married members of the club headed out until it was just me, the prospects, the twins, Fallon, Brooks, and Duke, who was waiting for Luca and Matteo’s guy before he brought his women home to fret over them all night.
As for me, I waited until no one was looking at me and snuck out the back door, glad to have some fresh air and quiet.
“Hated every minute of that, didn’t you?” Spike asked, making me turn to find him leaning against the clubhouse, taking a long drag off a vape, then filling the air with, of all fucking things, coconut.
“Pretty much.”
“Not used to being the center of attention.”
“Not for any good reason.”
I got a dark chuckle for that.
“I know that feeling. Figure it will all go away in a week or two. Fill the time with those groups of women you like to have fawning over you.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
But, suddenly, the last thing in the world I wanted was to gather up some of the club girls and nearly suffocate under a pile of them.
The very idea of it made me feel hollow.
I made my way back inside and into my room, dropping down on my bed fully clothed, smelling Gracie still all over me.
Immediately, my cock started to stiffen, pressing so hard against the fly of my pants that I had no choice but to reach down to undo my button and zipper to ease the ache.
To my credit, I tried to think of anything else. Anyone else.
But all I could focus on was the soft curve of her body beneath mine, against mine, wrapped around mine. The press of her breasts. The curve of her hip.