Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Then of the voice of the younger guy as he came closer. “Hey, are you okay? Can you move?”
All I could manage was a garbled sound.
“No,” the older guy called. “Don’t move her. They always say not to move someone that’s hurt. Cops are coming, honey,” he told me, but I was suddenly too tired to care. I could barely keep my eyes open.
Until, over the sound of the men talking, their adrenaline still pumping, judging by the shakiness of their voices, I heard another voice. Loud. Fierce.
“Runa!”
Before I could even try to push up, he was inside the bedroom, rushing past the men, and dropping down to his knees beside me.
“Don’t touch the evidence!” the older man yelled as, I imagine, York reached for the belt. “She can breathe now.”
“Runa, fuck,” York said, reaching to touch the side of my face.
“D…enny,” I rasped, each syllable a knife scratch down my throat.
“Denny’s fine. She’s with Eddie and Harmon. She’s fine. You’re gonna be okay, too.”
“That’s the cops,” the older man said. “Gonna go out and show ‘em up.”
The boy must have followed, judging by the two sets of footsteps.
“What… do… say?”
“Tell them the truth of what happened. Here. Don’t mention the stalking. Just tell them what you saw, what happened, but only here, okay?”
“‘Kay.”
“I’m gonna get you fixed up after this, I promise. But right now, I’m gonna hide your gun safe.”
The gun in it wasn’t exactly legal.
He rushed to do that, and I was pretty sure it was moved into Denny’s room somewhere before he came back to me, reaching to pull me up as the cops came into the room.
It was a lot of questions then, ones that grew harder and harder to answer as the adrenaline wore off and the pain in my throat intensified.
I was checked over by paramedics who tried to convince me to go to the hospital. But a hospital meant bills, ones way too high for me to pay, since I didn’t have insurance.
“I’ll get her there,” York promised them before, finally, it was over. And we were alone.
Or so I thought.
Because five minutes after the cops and neighbors left, as I was sitting in the living room with an icepack to my throat, the door opened, and there were several men in biker cuts.
“What?” I tried, but couldn’t manage anymore.
“You two can’t stay here anymore. You’re coming back to the clubhouse with me. They’re just getting you some clothes. And basically everything Denali owns,” he said with a smile. “Don’t object,” he demanded, coming over to sit down on the coffee table and grab my knees. “You almost died tonight, babe. You have to be somewhere safe.”
I nodded.
I mean, what else could I do? He was right. I’d almost died. If it hadn’t been for my neighbors, I would have. But what if the next attack happened while they were at work or out with friends? What if someone hurt Denny?
No.
I couldn’t stay.
And the only other option if I wanted to stay in the area, was to move into the clubhouse.
“They won’t be able to get to you there,” he promised me. “If they tried, they’d have to get through me first.”
I looked up at him, seeing the determination on his face, the anger, and beneath all that, the concern.
That was what had tears flooding my eyes as the bikers carried bag after bag out of the bedrooms and into the hall.
“Hey, it’s alright.”
York shifted over to the couch, pulling me into his arms and letting me cry it out until there were no more tears left.
Someone must have passed him a box of tissues, because he pressed some into my hand, letting me wipe my eyes and blow my nose.
“I need to get you checked out.”
“No insurance.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It does—”
“For Denali’s sake, we need to know there is no hidden damage lingering under there. I don’t mind footing a hospital bill for her to keep having her mom. Or I know a clinic we can go to, if that is more comfortable to you.”
It would likely be less financially, so that was what I’d agreed to.
I stood when he did, but the whole world seemed to spin, and my legs gained fifty pounds in an instant.
Before I could even voice what was going on, I found myself swept up into York’s ridiculously strong arms.
“I got you.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
York
The sound of her crying out for me was going to haunt my dreams for years to come. That bone-deep fear in her voice, crying out to me for help. Not the cops. Not a neighbor. Me.
I didn’t even explain anything to the confused Denali as I ran through the house, barking out to Eddie what was happening, telling him to call Harmon over to help him with my daughter, then flying the fuck out of the clubhouse and peeling down the street on my bike.