Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
By the time we’re in the Ditch, the traffic eases. I close my eyes and enjoy the last few minutes of the ride, wishing it was longer. If they're going to keep insisting on driving me to work, I'm not going to find it hard to adjust to, that's for sure.
Travis’s car is already in the parking lot when we pull in, and the lights are on in the front. Probably doing paperwork, as usual. Which is fine. He’ll usually do a quick visual check when he gets in, but it’s me or Carl that does the morning routine. It’s one of my favorite parts of the day, to be honest. There’s something satisfying about hosing everything down and socializing with the dogs. They're all so excited to see me.
I give Piston a brief goodbye kiss, but then he gets off his bike.
"Are you coming in, too? You don’t have to. Junkyard’s fine. Jerry’s watching her for a couple more days. Want me to send a picture to the group chat?"
"Yeah, but that’s not why I’m staying. There’s been a lot of trouble lately, and I didn’t like the look of that guy we ran off the other day. We talked about it last night. One of us will stick around while you’re working." He shrugs like that makes perfect sense.
"Funny, I don’t remember that conversation and I feel like I’m an important part of it.” I cross my arms over my chest. First under my boobs, but when his gaze drops, I readjust. "I'm serious. You can’t just babysit me at work."
His smirk is unapologetic. "This isn't a macho thing. Some trouble has moved into the Ditch, and it’s connected to the club. And like it or not, so are you now. It’s probably fine, but I don’t want to risk it."
"We're an animal shelter. What are they going to do? Steal our flea shampoo?" I gesture at the worn building. "And that guy shouldn’t be back. I told him we didn’t have a dog matching the description he gave, and Travis told me that when the guy called later to complain, he backed me up."
Piston looks unsure. “He said that?”
"Yeah. He wasn’t happy with me, but he had my back. The point is, I have enough people in my life telling me what to do.” I reach out and stroke my hand down his arm, trailing our fingers together. “I'm having fun, I think you're having fun, but if we weren’t—whatever we are now—can you honestly tell me that I’d be getting the guard duty experience?" We lock eyes, and holding my own is tough, but I need him to know I mean it.
He sighs. “Maybe, but probably not.”
"Then let’s find a compromise, okay? I’ll suffer through the horrible pain of not having to take the bus back and forth so you guys know where I am, and I promise that I’ll let you know if anything happens or if I go anywhere else."
"I’m going to hold you to that until we know the danger is over. We’ll take you to work. We’ll pick you up. Every day, no exceptions. And if anything, and I mean fucking anything, happens, you're gonna blow up our fucking phones. Got it?" He crosses his powerful arms over his chest and glares down at me. I’m sure he’s trying to be stern, but it’s mostly just sexy.
“Cross my heart, hope to die,” I say.
He pulls me in for a hard, fast kiss that leaves me gasping. “This is a warning, honey. You have our attention, and that comes with some shit, both good and bad. You’ve seen enough to know that first hand. When it comes down to it, you might have to choose between whatever we are, and keeping your life clean of us. Trying to keep a foot in both worlds doesn’t usually go real well."
I don't even know what to say. Because, yeah, he’s probably right. Two years ago I was dead set on burying any trace of my history, and only having Nat and Clark as my last links to their world, but even before I met Beast and the others, I’d already realized that wasn’t going to work. “You’re right. But I don’t need to decide today, right?”
Piston nods. “Right. Now turn around and let me watch that ass walk away.”
Jesus, now I'm going to be thinking dirty things all day. And the way his smirk widens, he knows it.
17
SANDRA
The door is open to Travis’s office when I walk in. He looks up from his desk. “Is this going to be a thing now?” He nods his head in the direction of Piston pulling out of the parking lot.
"You know I have family in the Eagles, remember? They're nice and they do good things." Mostly. Sometimes. So long as you don’t cross them.