Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83777 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I couldn’t let that happen.
She got up, and there was a finality in the way she slowly started getting dressed. She wouldn’t look at me, and it made my chest ache. This was it. Fuck me, I was losing her. I knew it was coming. I couldn’t keep stringing her along, but I was hoping I’d have more time.
She pulled on her hoodie and slipped on her shoes and started out of the room. I didn’t bother trying to convince her to stay. I knew there was no point, so I got up and followed her to the door.
She turned to face me, and for a second, I saw it.
That flicker of hope. Hope that I might try to stop her. Hope that I might fight for her. For us.
I didn’t.
She gave me one last smile.
Soft. Familiar. But empty.
"Take care of yourself, Jameson."
And then she was gone.
I closed the door, went back to the bedroom, and collapsed on the bed. The sheets were still warm where she’d been, but the room already felt cold. I knew deep in my bones I wouldn’t be seeing her again.
And I’d never stop regretting the fact I’d let her walk out that door.
1
CREED
“You’re still here?” I cocked my brow, and Skid was quick to pick up on my irritation. “My bad. I thought you left a few hours ago.”
“On my way out.” I looked over at Skid, and even though it was after two in the morning, he looked raring to go. “What about you? Got big plans or heading home?”
“Meeting up with a friend.”
“A friend, huh?” His smile grew wider, giving me the only answer I needed. “Well, I hope you two have a good one. I’m out of here.”
“Sure thing, boss. I’ll finish locking up and catch ya at the clubhouse tomorrow.”
I nodded as I headed out the door. It had been a long night. We were still trying to balance out shifts between here and the casino, so I’d agreed to pull a double, giving Seven and Memphis a chance to catch their breath before the long weekend. I was beat. I just wanted to get horizontal before the sun came up.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen tonight.
Not by a long shot.
I grabbed my keys from my pocket, and I was almost to my truck when I heard it.
A strange scuffle from the back of the lot.
Before I had a chance to turn, I heard a woman’s voice screeching, “No, stop. Get off me!”
It was the kind of scream that sliced through the darkness of night and grabbed you by the spine. I whipped around and spotted two guys and some chick I’d never seen before. It was too dark to get a good look at the guys’ faces, but I could see well enough to tell that they were up to no good.
One of them had his hands under a girl’s arm, trying to shove her in the back seat of some rundown Lexus while the other kept a look out. Asshole was dumb enough to think that there was no one around to stop them.
He was about to find out how wrong he was.
Rage washed over me as I charged towards them.
As I got closer, I could see that the girl was young, barely old enough to be in the damn club, and it looked like she’d been partying hard. Her heel was broken, her makeup smeared, and she looked to be struggling to stand without wobbling.
She was either drunk out of her gourd or high as a fucking kite, but that didn’t stop her from fighting them off. No. She was giving them all kinds of hell. Nails clawing, feet kicking, and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. “Stop! Help! Someone help me!”
These assholes were actually trying to kidnap her. No way in hell I was going to let that happen. When the guy holding her caught me coming towards them, he paused and sneered, “Move along, old man. She’s my girl.”
“Then, you won’t mind if she tells me that herself.”
The girl looked up at me, and even in the dark, I could see that her pupils were blown wide. Her lips were trembling as she shook her head weakly. “No.”
Wrong answer, fuckface.
I grabbed the first one by the back of his collar and yanked him off her. He barely had time to blink before my fist met his jaw with a blow that echoed off the brick wall. And just like that, he went down like dead weight. Fucking pussy.
He’d barely hit the ground when the second asshole lunged at me, pulling some weak swing like he thought he was going to actually land on me. Not a chance. I caught his wrist midair and twisted it behind him until he screamed like a little girl. I brought my elbow down into his nose, and I felt it break with the hit. Heard it, too.