Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“But we also just go with people who we think we can chill with. And we give a shit about what crimes they’ve committed. No drugs, no crimes against women or children, that sort of thing.”
“The club cares about that?” Tessa asked, seeming almost confused by that fact.
“Yeah. I mean, if someone has been clean for a long time, that’s different. But addiction would be… problematic for many reasons.”
“I meant the… crimes against women thing.”
“Of course we care about that.”
“That’s not, you know, common with clubs. At least, it doesn’t seem that way.”
“It’s common with our clubs. Goes back two generations with the mother chapter. That place is full of badass women. Paramilitary leaders, bomb experts, all that kind of shit.”
“Kind of like Murphy and Morgaine?”
“Exactly. All our girls are badasses in their own way too. And we all respect the fuck out of them.”
“Doesn’t that kind of clash with the whole… clubwh—club girl thing?”
“Not really, no. We’re not abusing the club girls. We’re not taking advantage of them or promising anything to them. We all know we are just having fun. We all want that. That’s all it is.”
“But don’t the club girls get jealous or possessive? Their hierarchy has to be—”
“What hierarchy?”
“The club girl hierarchy.”
“They have no hierarchy. The club girls are only around when we have a party going on. They’re not just hanging about all the time.”
“Oh.”
This wasn’t the first time I wondered about her life before, about the clubs she’d been around, about the men and women there.
From what I’d heard so far, it sounded like everything and everyone was toxic. Which made sense with the knee-jerk trauma responses I’d seen from her already a few times.
Maybe, eventually, she’d feel comfortable telling me more about it.
But that day was not today.
“You’re planning on working today?” I asked.
“Oh, uh, yeah. I like having something to do. But I will make sure I’m done around five or six, just so I can be here if Nancy shows up again.”
“Sounds good. We can order in.”
“Is this town even big enough for take-out?”
“Well, we have… the diner.”
“Do they have curly fries?”
“They do.”
“Then I’m in,” she said, shooting me a smile before making her way to the door.
The weird thing was that I was sad to see her go.
And excited for her to return.
That seemed like it could get sticky quickly.
But it was too late to turn back now.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Tessa
It was three nights and three mornings of Rook tossing and turning, then waking up aching and grumbling before, finally, he found himself called across the street to talk to one of the guys, allowing me the chance to grab my stuff and get on the couch before him.
I was feeling pretty victorious until my own body tried to adjust to the hard cushions that made my hips, knees, and shoulders almost immediately start to ache.
But, hey, it was my turn to suffer.
At least I didn’t have a trick back to worry about.
I had no idea how long I tossed and turned before sleep finally claimed me.
But the next thing I knew, I was dreaming of being lifted into someone’s strong, but gentle arms, being hugged against their firm chest that smelled a lot like Rook’s spicy cologne that always—
My eyes shot open.
And I was looking right into his eyes.
“Nice try, babe,” he said, maneuvering around the coffee table.
“Put me back down,” I demanded, wondering how he wasn’t doubled over in pain while carrying my extra weight.
“I will. On the bed. Where we agreed you would be sleeping.”
“You agreed. I wanted us to rotate.”
“Sometimes, we don’t get what we want.”
“Rook, your back has been killing you every morning.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re going to cause some sort of serious damage.”
“Don’t worry about me—,” he started as he folded forward to lower me down.
It was right then that his back decided to give out.
I dropped down.
Then he fell on top of me.
Both of us let out a grunt.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Rook growled, his breath panting out of him.
This was another of those ‘I told you so’ moments. But the man was clearly in a lot of pain. I wasn’t going to rub it in.
“Don’t move,” I told him, even if his weight was crushing me, making it hard to pull in a full breath. “Just give it a minute,” I added, even as I suddenly started to notice a lot of things I really had no business noticing when he was incapacitated.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.”
“Stop moving,” I demanded when he tried to press up, but his face went so red that I worried he might pass out.
So I did the only thing I could do.
I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him against me, so he couldn’t move.
“Just let it pass,” I said, my fingers going to the back of his neck, fingers massaging the tight muscles there.