Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Knuckles jerked his head toward the hallway. I nudged Veda toward the door. Her hand felt cold when I wrapped mine around it, but she let me lead her up the stairs, to the hallway, and out into the main compound. The rest of the club was lying low, either because Knuckles had told them to or because they’d caught the tension rolling through the compound. I walked Veda toward the garage, not thinking about why until we were already inside.
The garage was nearly dark, save for the thin strip of LED lighting over the workbenches. The bikes sat in their usual rows, tanks catching the blue-white glow. I moved to my bike and sat on the overturned milk crate next to it.
Veda stood just inside the door, arms crossed tight, her gaze on the floor. I could see the knuckles of her right hand were white from how hard she was gripping her own arm.
I couldn’t stand to see her like that, so I dropped my gaze to the floor and started wiping down the bike’s already spotlessly gleaming tank. She waited for a long minute, not moving, not saying anything. I let her. Sometimes you gotta give people space to come at their own pace. I knew she hovered close to the breaking point, but I also knew how much she hurt.
Eventually, she crossed the room. She stopped in front of me and didn’t speak, just looked at me for a long moment.
I dropped the rag and wiped my hands on my jeans. “You all right?”
“Don’t ask me that.” I could barely hear her whispered voice.
“Fair enough.”
She waited another moment. Then, “You didn’t have to let me see that. In the basement.”
“You followed us down, so I figured you needed to,” I said.
She nodded, almost like she agreed, but not quite. “Does it always go like that?” Her voice was soft, but there was steel behind it.
“No. Sometimes it’s worse.”
She looked away, at the bike, at the racks of tools, anywhere but my face. “Do you think Tessa’s still alive?”
“I think whether or not she is, we’ll find her. We’ll bring her home to you.”
She finally met my eyes. “I need to know you’ll get whoever’s responsible. Not just because Knuckles or the club says so. I want you to promise me, Griffin. Not them. Me.”
I stood, reaching out to frame her face with both my hands. “I promise, Veda.” I did my best to convey my sincerity and determination. “I will find her. I will bring her home.”
She stared at me for a long time. Whatever she searched for, Veda must have finally found it because her shoulders finally dropped, the tension easing slightly. “Thank you,” she said, so quiet I barely heard.
I wanted to say something else, to reach out and touch her, to offer something better to cling to. I thought she might leave then, but she didn’t. I cleared my throat. “You should get some rest. Tomorrow’s going to be a long one.”
She didn’t move. “Will you be here?”
“I’m not going anywhere, honey.”
She finally turned and walked back to the door but stopped in the frame. “Griffin?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t die tomorrow.”
I grinned, even though she couldn’t see it. “Wouldn’t dare. You’d probably come after me.”
She let out a sound that was almost a laugh, then disappeared into the main building, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I counted the hours until we rolled out. I never slept before I went out. Sleep would come after. After I’d kept my promise to Veda. There wasn’t a force in the Goddamned world that could prevent me from keeping that fucking promise.
I finally stood and locked up the garage. The night outside was dead quiet, the kind of silence that comes before a storm. The approaching squall didn’t scare me. I understood my assignment.
I would find Veda’s sister. I would bring her home. It was time to go hunting.
Chapter Eleven
Veda
I couldn’t sleep, and it wasn’t just the nightmare replay of Blaine’s execution, or the blood that seemed to stick to my hands no matter how many times I washed. The pain in my palm and the bruises along my side faded to background noise compared to the relentless, gnawing worry that chewed through my chest. I tried closing my eyes, letting exhaustion drag me under, but every time I started to drift, my brain would cough up another image of Griffin. Sometimes he was breathing, sometimes his brothers brought him to me broken and bleeding.
I rolled over, pulling the covers to my chin, and stared at the faint green glow bleeding around the blackout curtain. The longer I lay there, the more the restlessness clawed at me, until I finally sat up on the side of the bed. Fuck.
I dressed in borrowed sweats, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and canvas shoes with no laces, my hair pulled back in a rough knot. I moved down the hallway, down the stairs, and outside into the dark, predawn hours. I passed Knight as I entered the courtyard, and he pointed me toward the garage without a word.