Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“And why were you supposed to do that?”
“So I could get closer to her and earn her trust.”
I’d been struggling with the fact that Elsie’s life had been in danger, and hearing Ben discuss the details of it made my stomach turn. I’d already heard from her what had happened. It didn’t take much to piece the rest together. Bruton wanted his grandson to sweet talk Elsie into giving him information on the club, and when she didn’t buy into his tricks, he panicked and tried to take her.
He'd threatened her life, and for that, I wanted to charge into that room and beat the hell out of him myself. The fact that I couldn’t kill him, much less beat him, was eating at me. I could feel the tension building inside me. My palms were sweating, and my heart was racing. I wanted to hear everything the asshole had to say, but I was quickly reaching that point of no return.
I needed to step away and clear my head before I lost it.
I didn’t like it, but I knew Stitch would get the information we needed. With that in mind, I turned to Torch and said, “I’m going to check in with Big.”
He nodded, then said, “I’ll keep you guys posted.”
“Appreciate it, brother.”
I took one last look at the two-way window and felt a twinge of satisfaction as I watched Stitch punch him once more. The guy deserved everything he got, so I felt zero remorse as I turned and walked out the door. As soon as I stepped outside, I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and inhaled a deep breath of fresh air. I stood there for a moment, just taking in the night air.
It helped, but it wasn’t enough to calm the storm that was raging inside my head. I opened my eyes, and the second I saw the sky full of stars, I knew the perfect place for me to get the reset I so desperately needed.
But first, I needed to check in with Big.
I took in one final breath, then made my way into the main clubhouse. I wasted no time and went directly to the office. When I walked in, I found him sitting at his desk with Maverick. As I approached, I could see that they were going over all of Bruton’s financials and were trying to make some headway on the offshore accounts. “Having any luck?”
“Yeah, I think we’re getting closer.” Big glanced up at me, and the second he saw my face, he fussed, “Damn, brother. You look like hell.”
“Been a long day.”
“No sense in making it any longer. Go take a break.” Big motioned his head towards Maverick. “We got this covered.”
“I’m good. I’ve still got a couple of hours in me.”
“We got it. Now, get the hell out of here and go check on your girl.”
My first instinct was to argue and jump right into working with them, but deep down, I knew my head wasn’t in the game, and I wouldn’t be any help to either of them. I also liked the idea of checking in on Elsie, so I did as Big said and left them to it.
As I started out into the hall, I thought about Elsie and the shit day she’d had. I figured she could use a break from the crazy, too, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed a few drinks and a bag of her favorite chips. Once I had everything I thought we’d need, I made my way down to Elsie’s room. My hands were full, so I had to knock with the tip of my boot.
It took her a minute, but eventually, the door eased open and Elsie appeared with a surprised look on her face. “Whoa. What’s all this?”
“Grab your coat. I have something I wanna show you.”
“My coat?” Her brows furrowed. “Are we going somewhere?”
“Elsie, get it and come on.”
“Okay, okay. I’m getting it.” She reached behind the door and grabbed her coat. As she slipped it on, she asked, “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
I handed her the bag of chips, then started down the hall. When we reached the roof access, I reached up and pulled the cable for the stairs. Once I had them down and in position, I started up the first step and said, “Come on.”
To my surprise, Elsie didn’t argue and followed me up to the roof.
When she reached the top, I took her hand and led her over to my secret spot. It wasn’t anything special. It was just a couple of old chairs that were lit up by a strand of old Christmas lights, but it was quiet, and I knew no one would disturb us. When I plugged in the lights, a bright smile swept across Elsie’s face. “This is so cool.”