Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
I do, and my heart sinks that he’ll be leaving so soon.
Chapter 6
Ruin
* * *
That two weeks I planned on staying turned into three quicker than I could have imagined. A whole three weeks that they’ve had Warner holed away pretty tightly because he probably knows I’m hunting him. Revenge takes time if you want to do it right, so I’m biding my time, traveling between Diamond and Harmony. I’m not complaining because I’ve also been busy getting to know the world’s most fascinating woman—Dakota.
The guys were wrong about her never going for a man like me. I still haven’t met the mayor, but I’ve definitely tarnished her squeaky clean image. My girl is all kinds of dirty and I love it.
Best part, she accepts my way of life as if she was born to be a part of it. She baked cookies for the cookout today, and as delicious as they are, nothing is sweeter than her.
I take a drink of beer as one of the club’s prospects tells me how he once saved a woman from a coyote on the outskirts of town. I’m pretty sure he’s spouting bullshit, but I listen like it’s a captivating story.
Across the backyard, Dakota laughs with Felix’s old lady, Lainey. Her eyes meet mine and she smiles. It nearly knocks me off my feet.
She’s so damn pretty.
“Looks like you’re smitten with this one,” Chaos says. His long beard blows in the wind as his green eyes focus on Dakota. He glances back at me. “You’ll need to be careful with her.”
I scrub my hand against my jaw. “Yeah, I know. Her dad is the mayor. She’s really down-to-earth though.”
Chaos clasps my shoulder. “The good ones usually are.”
“Yeah. I guess you can say I’m smitten pretty hard.”
As if Dakota knows we’re talking about her, she saunters over, snagging a hot dog on her way.
“I’d say more than smitten,” Chaos whispers before he walks away.
“You look hungry.” Dakota winks. “Thought I’d feed my man.”
Hearing her call me her man does strange things to my chest. To my heart. I swipe the dog off her plate and take a bite so I don’t make her shout that I’m her man to everyone here. “Thank you.”
“Never thought I’d say those words without laughing, but it’s surprisingly easy.” She sets the paper plate on a nearby table and wraps her arms around my waist. “I’m having a great time. Everyone is so nice.” She points toward Lainey. “She says the Diamond King’s ranch is even bigger than this one.”
I nod. “It is.”
“Did you grow up there? Was your father president before you?”
I finish off the hotdog and kiss the top of her precious head. “It doesn’t really work like that. The presidency isn’t passed from father to son, but yes my father was a member back in the day.”
“He’s retired?”
I chuckle softly at how cute she is. “He died.”
Her face grows solemn. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
I get that same sense of sadness that washes over me every time I think about my father. I swore at his funeral I’d kill the man responsible for his death.
And now here I am. With the chance to make the asshole pay. Believe me, I won’t let this shot get away from me.
I’ve been hunting this man since the moment he took my father’s life. Since the moment he rolled into town and made allegations against our club.
I’d just become president over the club from our previous president, my uncle. Axe wanted to retire and spend the rest of his days making his old lady happy. I thought he was foolish at the time, but the more time I spend with Dakota, I can see the appeal.
Warner wanted to buy our land, but Axe refused. So Warner retaliated by having his goons set our barn on fire, thinking he could scare us off our land.
My father was in there that night, passed out drunk, sleeping in the barn. Sure, Warner didn’t light the match—I’ve already killed those two men who did—but it was Warner who orchestrated the whole thing.
After that night, Warner vanished.
No one heard from him again until he showed up here in Harmony and started buying up land in town. I won’t let him try to take Harmony like he tried to take Diamond.
Nope.
This asshole is going down.
“You look like you’re thinking hard,” Dakota says as we move to a picnic table.
“Just a lot on my mind.”
She stares at me for a moment, like she can see into my mind, before sitting down next to me. “Like why you’re really here in town?” She lowers her voice, her hand landing on my thigh. “I’m not going to ask you about it, but I want to know if you can get killed from it?”
I smile, leaning over to kiss the worry line between her brows. I love the fact that she’s worried about me. “I'll be ok, promise.”