Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Sable laughs. “Come on.”
We do a lap of the place. The kitchen is still uninhabitable. The living room is a scattered graveyard of rodent carnage. The only place safe to sit is on the porch, so we sit down on the steps and eat. I am starving, and these donuts are so damned good I want to cry with happiness.
I expect them to grill me about Knox within the first five minutes, but it only takes two.
“So,” Mera says, “you’re really Knox’s old lady’s cousin?”
I nod, chewing. “Yep. Harper was more like a sister to me, though. I knew about Knox; I just never met him until now.”
“So, what happened to Harper?” Nia asks.
Mera elbows her. “That’s not really—”
But before anyone can finish, there’s a thud on the roof overhead. And another. Then a slow, slidey scrape that makes it sound like we’re in a horror movie, about to be murdered by some unknown being on the roof.
“What the hell was that?” Nia whisper-hisses.
I tip my head up, eyes wide, heart racing.
Then, as if in some sick kind of slow motion, a snake falls out of the tree onto the porch railing three feet from us. It probably isn’t as big as my mind makes it out to be, but that doesn’t matter; it’s a snake, and it is alive. The sound we make is less a scream and more a pack of feral goats. I lunge away from the snake, and Sable’s already thrown her coffee cup at it. Mera’s standing on the porch chair screaming, and Nia is gone.
I mean off the porch. Gone.
The snake is unimpressed and vanishes between the boards.
None of us move for a long, long minute.
My chest rises and falls with adrenaline, and I’m scared to take a step in case it pops its head back up.
“I think you’re going to need a bigger tent,” Mera whispers.
I shoot a look in her direction.
“You can come and stay with us at the club,” Sable offers.
“No, because then he wins,” I grumble. “It’s fine. Only six more sleeps to go.”
“Well,” Nia says, popping up from behind the tree. “We can at least find somewhere safe to put your tent, so you can sleep at night.”
We all stare at each other, and I know we’re all thinking the same thing.
There isn’t anywhere we can put a flimsy tent that will keep these things out.
I’m screwed.
“I think I’m going to need a gun,” I exhale.
“Someone say gun?”
We all spin to see Knox and another biker walking up the drive. I didn’t even hear them come in, but judging by the smirks on their faces, they saw the whole damn thing. Great.
“You ladies scream real fuckin’ loud.”
The biker who speaks is gorgeous, like knock-your-socks-off gorgeous. His patch says he is the President, whatever that means. Mera leaps off the porch towards him, so I am guessing he belongs to her.
“Callie, this is Wolfe; he is the club president and my guy.”
I nod in Wolfe’s direction, and he nods back, a grin on his face.
I turn my attention to Knox.
“I’m going to need you to leave a gun with me, because there is no way in hell I’m losing this bet.”
Knox looks to Wolfe, then back at me. “Nah, that wasn’t part of the deal.”
My mouth drops open.
“Don’t be such a douche,” Sable crosses her arms. “That’s just nasty.”
Knox doesn’t take his eyes off me. “City girl can handle a few nights, right?”
Oh.
I’m going to make him work so damn hard when I win this bet.
He can laugh now; we’ll see who is laughing when it’s all over.
I HAD NOT REALIZED what exhaustion was until I spent six hours on just one damn room in the house. It was such a mess, it took all four of us that long just to get it looking somewhat livable again. The girls left with promises to return, and I couldn’t help but lay on the porch swing, exhaling loudly, a cold beer in my hand. I smell really bad, and I know I’m going to have to use the public showers up the road because I’m too scared to even look at the one inside.
One baby step at a time.
It’s dusk when I finally force myself up and decide to take a look at the paddocks before going for a shower. I put my beer bottle down and head towards them. There’s a gate leading me to them, nearly rusted shut, but I’m stubborn and unafraid of tetanus. Beyond it is grass that is far too long for me to be trudging through it like this and a barn in the distance in a paddock that is a little tidier.
The wind carries a weirdly sweet smell I can’t place. It makes me think of childhood and old melted popsicles. I make my way to the nicer paddock to check out the barn and see an automatic filler keeping the water going, even though the trough needs a damn good clean. I guess that’s how these cows are still kicking. The grass is lush, but they’ve mowed it down pretty low.