Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
ELDEN
“We got a situation with Violet.”
Every cell in my body tensed. Before this moment, I had been relatively calm. We were sitting in church, going over business, discussing strategies for dealing with the new sheriff who was not as agreeable toward donations to his retirement fund as the previous sheriff had been.
Fucker had a stick up his ass and ethics. He also had some plan to rid the town of us. Good luck to him on that one.
Everything else was running smoothly. As smoothly as things could go in this life.
I thought of her every day.
Every fucking day.
Multiple times a day.
I had to remind myself, hourly, of what would happen if I got on my bike, rode to her and made her mine.
There would be blood.
The club would suffer.
More importantly, she would suffer.
And I would do a lot of things for her. Would gladly bleed. Even though I’d never thought I’d be willing to cause shit with the club—the only thing that had mattered to me in a long time—I was willing to do that... For her. To make her mine.
But one thing I’d never do was cause her pain. Not even for a second. And I knew that me acting on instincts that kept me up at night, instincts I battled with daily, would ruin the rest of her life. And no way was I willing to do that. I’d suffer through every fucking second I had left on this earth to protect her.
So I’d hide my feelings for her from my brothers, my only family. Which is what I was trying to do after Hansen had said her name.
Swiss was right fucking across from me. Swiss who loved that girl like she was his own. Because of that, we had her monitored every day, to make sure she was safe.
Swiss, who had a pregnant wife at home, who he was protecting from all the shit that was going on with Violet.
He’d been on me the second I got back from Rhode Island, dealing with her father. I’d spent a couple of days in Carver Springs, sitting on my bike outside the shitty condo he was now living in, watching him, making a point.
I assured Swiss Violet was fine, which was true. Except she was too fucking skinny, those curves of hers fading fast. She had shadows under her eyes from lack of sleep. She was not fine.
But there was nothing any of us could do to save her from herself.
So we waited.
Until we got this call.
“She’s been arrested,” Hansen added, eyes flying to Swiss whose fists were balled on top of the table. He was pissed but obviously not surprised. Hansen had obviously filled him in first before we sat down at the table.
As he should’ve. That was his right, as her stepfather. No one else should’ve been entitled to that information.
Except I found myself angry, fucking furious that it wasn’t mine. I didn’t have ownership over her like every cell in my body was convinced I deserved.
“Don’t want Kate to know,” Swiss bit out. “And if she finds out I hid this from her, she’ll have my balls.” His eyes went around the table. I restrained a flinch when they skimmed over me. “So I’ll be cutting things off the motherfucker who doesn’t keep this shit locked down.”
I didn’t doubt him. Despite Swiss being one of the most depraved motherfuckers in the club—tied with Hades—he loved his wife more than anything and would move heaven and earth to make sure her life didn’t hold any more discomfort than was humanly possible.
“What’s the charge?” Lucas asked, concern in his tone. No doubt he and Colby were both pissed and worried, both of them close with Violet, something I fucking hated. Colby closer of the two.
They were just friends, which was why they were both still breathing, but I hated that he knew her, hated the protective rage in his voice.
“She was involved in a bar fight,” Hansen sighed, rubbing his temples. “Don’t know much else since they haven’t processed it into the system. We’ve got a lawyer en route, and hopefully, she’ll be out by the time someone from this charter gets there. But we also want to get the details of this incident, make sure the proper party faces consequences.”
“I’ll leave now,” Lucas said without hesitation.
My fists clenched, and it took all of me to stay stationary.
“No,” Hansen said. “Need you here. Also need someone who will be able to keep his shit locked down.”
His eyes found mine. I was known to be the most controlled in the group.
“You good with this job, brother?”
I kept my face blank and searched his own for any kind of inclination that there was something beyond my even temperament as to why he was choosing me.
Surely, he didn’t know shit. Hansen wasn’t someone to find out shit and hold onto it. He would share it, and he sure as fuck would’ve talked to me about it. Because his main job was keeping this club together and destroying things that would tear it apart.