Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Hazel had brought them lunch, and Ava took hers to the office, sitting on the floor as Bernice settled between her thighs, and she ate her lunch. It was peaceful. Quiet.
And she was able to just relax, at the same time thinking about the future. Quitting her coffee shop job was going to be hard. She didn’t want to do that to Lauren. She liked Lauren, trusted her, and they were friends. No one else had stuck around. They didn’t like the hours, but for Ava they worked.
She liked to be doing something, and yes, it had affected other areas of her life, like her love of sewing, but she had met Pat. Sure, she had seen him around town, but she hadn’t gotten to know him like she had at the coffee shop.
Ava would talk to Lauren, make something work out. Maybe she could find someone who was like her. Either way, she was not going to leave her friend high and dry.
Chapter Nineteen
Pat stood outside the hospital room as Bull finished talking to Dylan. The sheriff had woken up and was now recovering from a concussion and a gunshot wound to the leg. They hadn’t hit any major arteries, which made no sense. The cartel didn’t leave people alive.
The mother and daughter, the mechanic, and everyone along the way had died. Outside of Carnage, there were several dead bodies. Before Dylan was attacked, Bull had him looking into recent unexplained murders and deaths. There were at least five other people, who were spotted coming and going through the town of Carnage.
Some details were hazy, but there were drugs linked to one woman. A potential kidnapping from another. All the murky details that spelled the cartel’s name right over it.
Bull came out of the hospital room and he looked glum. Rusty refused to sit this one out, even though the guy was pushing the limits of his wounds. He didn’t like sitting around on his ass, doing nothing.
“What’s the word?” Pat asked.
“He didn’t see,” Bull said. “He’d send Grace home for the night as he was looking into more of the suspicious deaths in the local area. He was trying to find a link that would place them within Carnage at the time of the attack on Pat’s bike, the animal shelter, the garage, you name it. He heard noise coming from outside. Didn’t think much of it. A bunch of kids like to cause trouble even after Halloween. He went out, his name was called, and then he said he woke up here. Doesn’t even remember getting hit over the head or shot.”
“And the security tapes have gone,” Pat said. That was the one part he didn’t like.
He looked toward Bull, who had this frown on his face, but it wasn’t his usual, pissed-off-with-the-world kind of frown, this was something else.
“What is it?”
“Someone knew about Dylan. Someone had to have watched the sheriff’s office, but why?” Bull asked. “It makes no sense.”
“Someone had to have known Dylan keeps his place locked up tight. Taking the security tapes suggests someone local,” Rusty said. “Someone who knows how Dylan operates.”
“You’re talking a potential spy within the club,” Pat said.
“There is that risk. Trust me, I don’t fucking like it, but it’s there.”
“We currently only have three prospects close to earning their patches. I know we have a couple of others who want to take the patch of Prospect and start earning their place.”
Yeah, Pat knew they had a sudden influx of young men and boys who wanted to join the club. Watching fucking television shows, thinking they knew how shit was going to be. The club had no choice but to put all their prospects through rigorous tests. They had to be trusted, be willing to have their backs, the works. Sure, they loved the life and the pussy, but it was about the club, the brothers having each other’s backs. That was what was important. Nothing else. Pat still didn’t know if the three they had now, had what it took. Boyd, Jake, and Gaz.
Gaz had been with the club the longest, but only by a couple of months. He was probably the closest to making patch, as he’d been sniffing around the club when he was ten years old. The kid’s mom was a piece of ass. She didn’t know who Gaz’s father was, only that she had the kid before she came sharing her pussy with the club. No one in the club was Gaz’s father.
As for Jake and Boyd, the truth was, they were good men, but were still pretty boys. They had good family at their backs, and he sometimes got the feeling they were just entering the world to rebel.
None of the prospects had any reason to step out on the club. Apart from Gaz.