Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“They’re not what I’d call exactly sensitive to a woman’s feelings. But they’re all very proud. Knowing that they’d same as raped a woman will never sit well with any of them. If they got rough during sex? Yeah. It would haunt them. Assuming they’re all like Rocket, they like rough, aggressive sex. But forcing it on a woman? Forcing any kind of sex on a woman would be unforgivable to them. So yeah. If you ask them, they’ll tell you taking you for rides on a pink Harley doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what they owe you. And, by the way, the Harley sacrificed to the cause was Falcon’s.”
She gasped, her eyes going wide. “He… painted his own bike… pink?”
“Yep.” I omitted the part where I’d actually been the one to sacrifice his bike, but I was pretty sure Falcon would thank me for this later. The girl was interested in him, or I’d suck my own dick. “Ask him if he did. I guarantee you he’ll confirm what I just told you.” Falcon might be a smartass, but he wasn’t a dumbass. If he wanted to try to make Gina his, assuming she ever got comfortable with the idea, he’d take credit for that shit in the blink of an eye. Especially if she told him I’d said painting the bike pink was his idea.
“I think that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
Fuck…
The tears really did start flowing then. Gina was still pretty Goddamned fragile, and I completely got it. I hadn’t meant to cause her more distress, but I think maybe she needed to hear that she meant something to someone. What better way to show he cared than painting his bike pink just to make her smile? Yeah. Falcon owed me. Big fucking time.
It took everything in my power not to pat her shoulder and say, “There, there, dear,” and hope she quit crying. I would not be the old granny woman taking care of everyone. I might at some point be able to pass for the motherly type, but I doubted it. There was no Goddamned way in the whole fucking universe I would ever be the grandmotherly type.
Thankfully, Gina finally sat up and wiped her nose with a tissue from the box on the coffee table. “I’m sorry.” She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes. She wasn’t a pretty crier, but she tried to keep the snot to a minimum. “I’m still a bit of a hot mess.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. If you feel the need, you can make it up to me by making every single man in this compound who ever touched you take you on a ride on that bike. It will be the highlight of my day.”
She gave a watery laugh. “Yeah. I think I can do that.”
“You believe me when I tell you they won’t hurt you?”
“Yes.” She nodded and dabbed at her nose again. “I do. I had the feeling there was something not right, and none of them ever hurt me or got as rough as I’d heard some of the girls here mention.”
“What do you mean?” I tilted my head, wanting to make sure I understood anything she was about to say.
She shrugged. “A couple of the guys -- Falcon being one of them -- always asked me if I was good. Like before they had sex with me. I knew better than to answer in any way other than yes because saying no meant someone confronting Hammer. If he got the best of them, then Hammer would’ve hurt me worse. So, it’s not the guys’ fault.”
I sighed. I had to be careful here. What happened to Gina had been a tragedy. No woman should have to surrender her body to anyone if she didn’t want to. I got how the guys missed that she wasn’t willing, especially if they’d asked her and she’d said she was good.
“That whole situation was fucked up, Gina. I’m not saying it wasn’t their fault because you don’t seem to think it was. You’re scared and I get why. But I’m not sure I’m willing to say it was entirely their fault either. Hammer did a number on everyone. Because of him, the guys are finding it hard to trust each other without there being some standoffishness.” I omitted the part about how they’d never been a really open bunch, holding everything close instead of trusting their brothers to have their backs.
“I never thought about it that way,” she said. “I guess Hammer took us all for a ride.”
“I can’t tell you to give them a chance to make it up to you. If you don’t feel safe, you don’t feel safe. This is your home. You don’t have to be social with anyone you don’t want to. But I can promise you that none of them would ever hurt you intentionally. I’m not asking you to take my word for it, though. You test them out any way you like. Or not at all. I’ll do anything I can to make you more comfortable, Gina.”