Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Yeah.” I take a swig of my beer. “It’s what my parents felt like that the time.”
Her grin gets bigger. “A man with an attitude, fine by me. Your friend Dakoda here has a bigger one, and he’s yet to make me flinch.”
Koda glares at her, and I grin. “Like you know you have already figured out how to push his buttons.” I jerk my chin in Koda’s direction. “We’ll talk in my office.”
She smirks. “After you, Prez.”
The last word is dripping with sarcasm, but I act like I don’t notice and turn, striding toward the office. When all three of us are inside, I turn to her. “Koda or Maverick has no doubt told you what we want?”
She leans against my desk, crossing those slender ankles and staring at both of us, her eyes strong. She’s fiery, and she’s determined. It looks as though very little would scare her. But I don’t buy that there isn’t a solid reason for that. She’s got a different kind of darkness in her eyes. She carries secrets that would probably make even me cringe. She’s hard. Scarily so.
“I know what you want,” she tells me. “I also know what I want. Are you willing to bargain for my help?”
“What makes you think you’re worth bargainin’ for?” I ask her, voice firm, harsh even.
“What makes you think I’m not?”
Challenge.
I like her.
“Okay then, my interest is piqued. What do you want, Charlie? Money? Drugs? What?”
“I want protection.”
Koda’s eyes zero in on her, and I can nearly see his ears perk up. He’s very much into the protection game. I’ve watched him take out people in cold blood if he’s trying to protect someone else. In fact, he makes it his mission when he isn’t tangled up in the club, to find people who have hits on them, learn their stories, and if he doesn’t think they’re guilty, he will make sure they get away safe.
By putting a bullet in whoever paid for the hit.
It’s a dangerous game.
It’s a story untold.
None of us knows 100% why he does it, all we know is it has to do with his twin brother, who is now dead.
Koda is an easy-going guy; he comes across as fun and playful, but he is deadlier than any of the men I have in my club. He’s lethal, and he’s deadly, and when he shows that side, he’ll stop even the scariest person in their tracks.
“You goin’ to tell me what you need protection for?” I ask her, watching Koda studying her now, eyes trained on her face. He can read people like a book.
“Are you going to tell me what I need to go ‘undercover’ for?”
“Answerin’ a question with a question, you’re a smart girl, Charlie. But I’m a whole fuckin’ lot smarter. You either tell me what you want protection from, or we don’t have a deal here.”
“Listen here,” she says, pushing off the desk. Her voice is hard. Her eyes harder. “I’m not here because I want to be. I’m here because you want me to be. My condition is this, I will help you, I will get whatever you need me to get, all I ask is that while I’m doing it, I’m fully protected. Both on the job, and off. I do not have to tell you why. My business will not blend with yours. Whatever I’m hiding from will not come back to bite you. We either have a deal, or we do not. It is no skin off my nose, believe me.”
I stare at her, jaw tight, and, for a moment, we just glare at each other.
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t,” she says, voice determined, unwavering. “But you can rest assured I’m not stupid. I know exactly what will happen to me if I cross you. I’ve dealt with people like you. I have a brain in my head, believe it or not. I have no intentions of doing anything but what you ask, so long as you can assure me I’m safe while I’m doing it.”
She’s got balls. I’ll give her that.
And yet I believe her. She’s telling me the truth. I can see it in her eyes. I can see it in her stance. She isn’t afraid of me, or my club, but she’s also not stupid. She knows the consequences if she betrays us, and she’s willing to do it anyway.
“Then we have a deal. I’ll have members of my club protect you, you just say when and where, and you’ll get the information I need. Nobody can know there is any association with us, so this is the last time you’ll be seen here. All our meetings to share information will be done privately, making sure we are not seen. Clear?”
“Fine by me,” she says.
“You got somewhere safe to stay around here?” I ask her.