Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 93698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Staring at Ledger was like staring at himself in the mirror at that same age. His parents—Ledger’s grandparents—were going to shit a brick. If they didn’t fucking clobber him with one first.
“Ledger, do you remember this man? We met him at the fair.”
Shit. That meeting hadn’t gone so well.
Ledger nodded. “Mommy, he made Gwen bleed.”
Damn right he did. And he’d fucking do it again.
Zeke closed his eyes and pulled in a breath.
“You said I shouldn’t hit people.”
“That’s right, buddy. Hitting people is wrong.”
Depends on the reason.
Zeke opened his eyes and plastered a smile on his face. “Your mother’s right. Hittin’ people is wrong.” Damn, was that difficult to say. “Hi, Ledger, I’m…” At a loss on how he should introduce himself, he glanced up at Kyra.
“Ledger, this is Zeke. I’ve known him since we were in school together.”
“That was a looooong time ago, Mommy.”
“It certainly was.”
“You’re old now.”
Kyra rolled her lips under.
Ledger turned his attention to Zeke. “Why’d you make Gwen bleed?”
How the fuck did he answer that?
“He lost his temper,” Ky answered for him, then her narrowed eyes locked with his. “He promised to never do that again.”
Ledger tugged on her hand. “When we goin’ home, Mommy? I’m hungwy.”
“Soon.”
“Sorry I scared you the other day, my man.”
That pulled Ledger’s attention back to him. “Buy me more cotton candy. It was yummy.” He rubbed his little pot belly.
“Ledger, that’s a bribe. And no, you’re not getting more cotton candy. You were wired for at least an hour.”
Ledger’s forehead puckered. “What’s that mean?”
“You had a lot of energy. Do you want to sit next to Zeke?”
“Why?”
Kyra answered, “To get to know him.”
“Why?”
She opened her mouth, then shut it.
Zeke decided to wade in. “How ‘bout I take you to get somethin’ to eat?”
Ledger’s face lit up. “Cotton candy?”
“Your mommy said no cotton candy. How ‘bout a burger and fries?”
“Mac and cheese.”
Was his kid negotiating? “Damn, you drive a hard bargain, lil dude. Okay, how ‘bout mac and cheese?” He glanced up at Ky. “Guess you haven’t introduced him to Bangin’ Burgers yet.”
“He prefers chicken nuggets.”
“Chicken nuggies!” Ledger yelled, jumping up and down while yanking on her shorts. “Mommy, I want chicken nuggies!”
“Then you’re gonna get chicken nuggets, kid.” He glanced up at Ky. “You good with that?”
Even though she shrugged, her face told him otherwise. Good thing she didn’t want to disappoint their son.
And neither did Zeke.
Chapter Eleven
Zeke had made mental notes when he walked Ky and Ledger out to her car. His son had to sit in some sort of car seat. He asked if it was required and she informed him that it was.
He guessed his son wouldn’t be riding on the back of his sled anytime soon.
At the diner, Ledger sat in a booster seat across from him and next to Ky.
Their son chatted about everything and nothing as he ate. Zeke never saw so much chewed chicken in his life.
Zeke hardly got a word in edgewise. He sat back and carefully watched mother and son interact. How she constantly instructed him. To use his napkin. To not speak while his mouth was full. To use his inside voice. How to sit still so he wouldn’t knock over his lemonade.
Goddamn, being a parent was hard fucking work.
Ky had picked at her meal.
Ledger scarfed down most of his, then let out a big belch, making Zeke grin and Ky frown.
Zeke was too busy feasting on Ky when Ledger wasn’t pulling at his attention.
Was this what his life was going to be like? Chicken nuggets, booster seats, playgrounds, minivans, and runny noses?
Were his hell-raising days over?
Fuck that.
“Yo! Prez!”
Zeke was jerked back to the room and the club officers circling the table. Shit. They were supposed to be discussing important business.
Like starting a medical marijuana dispensary to make a shit-ton of scratch.
That thought reminded him that he had spent the last of his cash at that diner. He needed to hit up Cruz after the meeting to get access to the accounts since the club’s treasurer must have changed the passwords while Zeke was “away” on his unexpected vacation full of bars. Not the drinking type.
If he had to, he’d head over to The Iron Horse tonight after closing and clean out the till. If there wasn’t enough scratch in that, he would head over to Heaven’s Angels and hit that up after.
“All right,” he started, glancing over at his brother. “What the fuck did Lily say?”
“She looked into the legalities, the applications and the requirements. She pretty much said it’s best to start an LLC without ties to the club before applyin’.”
“She workin’ on that?”
“Told her to wait ’til we had this meetin’. No point in tyin’ up her time if this shit ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
Zeke didn’t like the sound of that, but it was what it was. “But it’s doable?”
“Yeah, she thinks so. But the LLC should be squeaky clean.”