Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 47615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Then the Bones and Salvation’s Bane MCs came along and took care of everything. Not all at once, but faster than it took me to get out of fucking prison, that’s for sure.
But why watch Ada? Why not go straight for club leadership?
The answer made my stomach tighten. You hit a man hardest through what he loved. The men of Kiss of Death clearly adored their women. Any of the women made an easier target than a patched member. They’d probably followed her from the clubhouse. Whether or not they did something to cause her car trouble I’d have to work out later. I accelerated slightly, closing the gap between us as the road straightened into a long stretch.
In prison, trust was earned through blood or fear. No one gave it freely. Even before, in my old life, trust came with conditions. With expectations of return. Ada’s easy faith in my assessment of danger hit me like a physical blow I hadn’t been expecting. Something fragile inside me cracked open at the realization that someone saw me as trustworthy. As worth listening to. It was uncomfortable. Destabilizing. And I didn’t know what to do with the feeling.
Knight had warned her about me. I was certain of that. He’d have told her I was dangerous. Different from the other members. Yet she’d trusted me anyway.
A truck appeared in my mirror, gaining speed. I tensed, hand moving to the knife strapped to my ankle out of pure instinct. The truck changed lanes, passed us both with a roar of its engine, and continued down the highway. False alarm. But my heart hammered against my ribs anyway. If someone was targeting Ada to get to the club, they wouldn’t stop with one failed attempt. They’d be patient. Wait for another opportunity. Which meant she needed protection beyond today. All the women did. She needed someone watching her back who understood the kind of danger an old club beef represented.
As we approached the gates, I made a silent promise to myself. I would find out what this threat was. And I would eliminate any threat to the club. More importantly, I would protect Ada with my dying breath. Why? Because she’d given me a priceless gift and hadn’t even realized it. She was a good person. Maybe one of the best I’d ever met. She certainly didn’t deserve to be collateral damage in someone else’s war.
The sentries recognized us as we approached, opening the gate without hesitation. Ada drove through first, and I followed, feeling some of the tension ease from my shoulders as the gate closed behind us.
My unexpected protectiveness toward Ada didn’t diminish as we entered the compound. If anything, it intensified with each passing second. She parked near the main clubhouse, and I pulled up beside her, killing the engine.
Knight burst through the clubhouse door before Ada even stepped out of her car. He must have been watching for her arrival after she shared her location. His expression shifted from relief to concern to suspicion as he looked from his sister to me.
I knew I’d have to explain what happened. Knew I’d have to admit to the protective instincts that had surfaced without my permission. But first, I needed to make sure the compound was secure. Needed to verify our safety before I could process what these new feelings might mean for me…
And how I kept those feelings from Ada.
Chapter Four
Ada
I followed my brother and the three other men down the narrow staircase into the concrete bunker beneath the main warehouse. Knight’s tech room had always reminded me of a submarine command center from some action movie. Only with less space and more exposed wiring. The blue-white glow from multiple monitors cast stark shadows across the men’s faces as we filed in, making their expressions look harder and more severe. The door closed behind us with a soft click that seemed unnaturally loud in the humming silence.
“Sorry for the squeeze,” Knight muttered as we crowded in. “Not exactly designed for meetings.”
That was an understatement. The room barely fit the five of us. Cables snaked across the concrete floor like technological vines, disappearing beneath tables crammed with equipment. The constant whir of cooling fans created a white noise backdrop that made my skin prickle. I found myself wedged between the wall and Jag’s solid frame, the heat radiating from him warming a chill inside me I hadn’t realized I felt.
“Show us what you found,” Knuckles said, leaning forward, his hands resting on the edge of the desk.
Knight nodded, clicking through several windows. “Traffic cams first.” His tattooed fingers tapped commands, and the largest screen filled with footage of an intersection. “I’ve been running facial recognition software across every camera I can access. Found this yesterday.”
The timestamp showed early morning, two days ago. Knight zoomed in on a figure crossing the street, a big, tall man with a distinctive limp.