Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
“Thanks.” Street popped those into his mouth and drank half the cool liquid in thirsty gulps. “Do you mind hanging around while I talk to the MC president? I’m having trouble remembering details.”
“Of course. Then I need to make plans to disappear. You can stay here for as long as you need to. I’ll go pick up a few things and get on a bus out of town.”
“Rosa, you can’t go back to your place. The bar has your address, right?”
“Yes. I’m stealthy. I can’t leave without something,” she told him.
“Is that item worth your life?” he asked, trying to stress to her the risk she’d run.
Rosa hesitated for a few seconds and nodded. “I won’t abandon…. Something important is waiting for me.”
“Then I’ll help you figure out how to retrieve whatever you need so badly. You saved me. I won’t let the Ravagers hurt you. Sit down with me. Can you find Diablo?” Street asked. “I can’t focus on the small print.”
Without saying a word, she held the phone up to his face to open it. In a few seconds, she pressed the call button and handed the device back to him.
“Turn on speaker for me, Rosa.”
She tapped a button, and Lucien’s voice blared into the quiet barn, “Where the fuck have you been, Street? We’re all gathering to come find your ass.”
“Aw, you’re worried about me,” Street said, grinning despite his discomfort.
“Talk, Street.”
Street had no problem recognizing the tense tone of the MC’s Enforcer. “Hi, Wraith. Sorry. I’m currently sheltering in a barn—somewhere. The Ravagers drugged my bottle of beer. Thankfully, an employee saw the bartender drop a pill in my drink and alerted me to get out of there. She’s here with me. Say hi to Rosa, everyone. I have you on speaker.”
“So, you’re snuggling with Rosa while we’re imagining you dead in a ditch?” Vex snapped. His name was well-earned. Vex had a wicked temper that matched his fiery red hair.
Beside him, Rosa stiffened. Before Street could answer, she snapped, “If you consider snuggling as holding your friend on the motorcycle while outwitting a horde of pissed-off bikers, then, yes.”
Street controlled the grin that threatened to curve his lips. His firebrand didn’t need another reason to get pissed off. That claim, his, repeated in his mind. What was it about this woman that called to him?
“Vex, my head hurts too much to argue with you, but needless to say, you owe Rosa a huge apology for being an ass to someone who saved my hide last night,” Street stated firmly.
“Tell us where you are,” Lucien demanded.
“I’m not sure. I just regained consciousness.”
“Ten miles out of town on South Highway 82. There’s an abandoned farm with a gravel driveway and a battered red mailbox that says Stewart.” Rosa provided the information in an even tone that didn’t hold any of the previous animosity she’d directed at Vex.
Smart woman. Snapping at Lucien was not a wise move. Street liked this Rosa more with every moment he spent with her. The fact that she’d saved his ass and ridden his bike through conditions anyone would have found difficult only made him realize how lucky he’d been to have her around. His pounding head had already started to ease.
“Lucien, Rosa can’t return to her apartment. The Ravagers are going to be watching it. They know who she is and where she lives. Could you send someone to grab some stuff for her so she can get out of town?” Street asked. Rosa tensed beside him.
“We owe her that much,” Wraith said. “I’ll take some backup and head there now. Text me the address and a list of what she needs. Rosa, I’m on a bike so only the most necessary items I can carry easily when they attack.”
“One thing is my priority. Everything else can be replaced,” she assured him.
What did she need to retrieve so badly? He had a feeling that would tell him anything he needed to know about Rosa. He wouldn’t ask while several members of his MC were listening though. She’d text from his phone.
“Street, drink more water than you think you’d ever need. You need to flush whatever substance they gave you out of your system,” Razor, the MC’s doctor, ordered.
Street lifted the bottle to his lips and guzzled down the rest. “On it, Razor. I ordered a bottle of beer: under the stupid assumption they couldn’t spike that. A glass crashing on the bar floor distracted me. They must have dosed me then.”
Rosa nodded. “The bartender dropped a small, white pill into the bottle when you turned. That was the second time I’ve seen them do that. The first guy didn’t fare well.”
She didn’t have to add that she’d obviously decided to help the next victim. “You should have left when you saw that once,” Street said, surprised at his stern tone.