Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 130761 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 654(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130761 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 654(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
“Lilah,” I said softly.
She smiled. “And I will be an aunt. I cannot wait.” The sound of rustling leaves came from behind me, and I laughed, knowing it was Grace running through the woods.
“Coming, ready or not!” I shouted. I turned from Lilah and ran into the woods. Curiously, with every step, I felt somewhat lighter. Yet something dark remained in the back of my head. Something out of reach that I could simply not decode.
*****
The smell of the smoking barbeque drifted into the woods. I heard the sound of laughter and felt my stomach flip in nerves. This was the rest of the Hangmen. The men who had seen me that night at the bar, seducing, fishing. AK had told me of my actions that night. And as much as he told me I should not be embarrassed by my behavior, I could not help it.
I paused behind AK’s cabin and leaned against a nearby tree. You can do this. I took several deep breaths, and just as I was about to step out of the woods and into the clearing, I saw Ky and AK walking my way. I smiled, about to reveal my presence, but the look on Ky’s face stopped me in my tracks.
“They’ve been circling for about two days now. They ain’t done nothing but drive around the compound in a white van. Same fucking time every day: eleven a.m. Like clockwork. Some built skinhead fuckers. But they’re Klan, no doubt. Or Brotherhood—I can never tell these assholes apart.”
“Meister?” AK asked roughly, and my heart felt as if it ceased to beat.
“Not him personally, but his men, we think.” Ky laughed. “Thinking they can intimidate us. Assholes.”
My hand shook on the tree when I thought of Meister. I closed my eyes. Images of him holding me down in New Zion came sailing to my head. Of him biting into my flesh, taking me hard . . . nothing like how AK had taken me. Then . . . I must eradicate what you have seen today from your weak mind. Take all of these new memories away . . .
I stumbled when an image I had not remembered before this moment came sailing back to me. A chair of some sort, hard and uncomfortable. Meister’s huge form over me as he injected needle after needle into my flesh. And I fought. I fought to hold on to something I could not forget, had vowed not to forget. I fought and I fought, but it had disappeared. There was nothing.
“What’s the plan?” AK said, breaking through my thoughts.
“We’re watching them. They don’t look like they’re gonna attack, more just scoping us out for some reason. They can’t see shit from the road anyway. Tanner is monitoring their systems for any red flags. But they try anything, anything at all, we kill them all,” Ky said and hit AK’s arm. “Just wanted you to know. They’ll be looking for Phebe. He knows she’s here. Now she’s your old lady, you needed to fucking know.”
“Thanks,” AK said. Ky gave him a wide smile.
“Fucking tied down, brother!” He laughed louder. “And to Li’s sister. Does that make us related somehow? You and me fam now, brother?”
“I fucking hope not,” AK said in response, and I could not help but feel a warmth in my heart as he laughed. Ky punched his arm, and together they walked back to the clearing.
I stayed in the woods for several more minutes, just trying to calm down. Meister knew where I was? Then he would put everyone here in danger. These men did not know him like I did. My stomach dropped . . . Lilah, Grace . . .
He would never stop until he captured me. I knew him. I knew how far his obsession with me ran. His men would not simply be circling for intimidation. Meister always had a greater purpose.
A loud burst of laughter drifted on the breeze toward me. I made my feet carry me into the clearing. Viking, AK’s best friend, was on his feet. He turned straight to me. “Here she fucking is! The ginger pussy who’s whipped my best friend!”
My face paled when all the men and women stared at me. Some regarded me warily, others with kind smiles. I did not know what to do, where to go, or what to think, until . . . “Red. Get the fuck over here.” AK’s voice cut through the music that had started playing. I looked his way and saw him in a chair beside Flame and Maddie. Another dark-haired man, with a beautiful raven-haired woman on his lap, was on his other side.
She was pregnant.
AK pulled me down onto his knees—a move I had become increasingly used to. His lips came to my ear. “You good?”