Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 203(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
“With my life,” was all I said. Then I urged Carrie to climb on Knuckles’s bike. Tiny would come back for mine and Knuckles wouldn’t want to leave his here in the meantime.
The ride back was short and uneventful. Thank goodness too because I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. My protective instincts had kicked in big time. I wanted to hole up in a dark room with her for several days until I was sure nothing was coming for her again. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hide us away. Not yet anyway. There was the matter of her father and uncle to deal with. And I sincerely hoped I got to kill at least one of the bastards myself.
Chapter Ten
Carrie
My father glared at me from the chair the guys had tied him to. The man next to him looked bored. There was no denying the resemblance. They looked exactly alike. They could be twins. Flagg was gagged and screaming angrily behind the cloth they’d stuffed in his mouth.
“God, what a whiner,” Torpedo muttered. That surprised me. He had been more of an observer the few times I’d been around him. Of course, only one day here didn’t really make me the leading authority. But the lessons my father had taught me stuck more than he probably realized. I might lack physical strength, but I wasn’t stupid. My intelligence was a very strong weapon. I’d learned to read people. Just like Flagg had taught me. So, I knew Torpedo was angry as fuck without looking at him. His voice was just that little bit tight, and his tone had bite where I’d never heard him anything other than calm and even.
“You’re not in a position to be a dick, Flagg.” Knuckles went to the restrained man and backhanded him before taking out the gag. “Before you die, we have some questions. And by we, I mean Carrie. Whatever she wants to know, you’re gonna tell her. You don’t, then you piss every last motherfucker in here way the fuck off.”
“Do you have the least comprehension of who I am?”
“I know exactly who you are. Zeb Randall. Partner of Seth ‘The Hammer’ Miles.” Knuckles leaned against one of the steel posts embedded in the concrete basement floor. “What I don’t get is how you don’t know who we are.”
“You’re a bunch of thugs! I own this city!”
“No. The Hammer owns this city. He’s had you running things here, but even if you were going to leave here alive, that’s changing as of about twenty minutes ago.”
“Nothing’s changing, Knuckles. I’ve already called Mr. Miles. He’s on the way and he’s not pleased.”
“Oh, I know he’s not pleased.” Knuckles cleaned one nail with the top of his knife. “Not pleased with a lot of things.”
“Knuckles? What the fuck’s going on?” A man who looked to be in his sixties descended the stairs to the basement. He was impeccably dressed, his silver beard short and neat. His demand was delivered without heat. In fact, there was an ice-cold look in those glacial blue eyes that gave me the fucking creeps.
“I’ll tell you what’s goin’ on, Seth. This dumb biker has kidnapped Carrie and is holding her against her will.”
“Which dumb biker?” Seth “The Hammer” Miles turned his gaze on me. This was the man who was my grandfather?
“That’d be me.” Hawk stepped solidly in front of me. He was always doing that when I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.
“And you, Carrie? Are you here when you don’t want to be?” He sounded so reasonable when it was obvious I’d better answer correctly or there was going to be trouble. What I couldn’t figure out was how he was so confident when he had no muscle with him. Even if Miles was armed, this wasn’t a fight he could win. There were too many younger, stronger men, and he was in their lair.
“I’m exactly where I want to be. With Hawk.”
“He’s good to you?”
“I wouldn’t be here with him, wearing his property patch, if he wasn’t. And if he ever stops being good to me, I’ll leave his ass. Until then, though, I’m not going anywhere.”
Miles stared at me for a long time. He wasn’t as big as the men here, but he was tall and broad-shouldered. His appearance was striking enough that it was its own intimidation factor. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he looked down at me. “You’ll forgive me, my dear. I wasn’t aware of your existence until a few years ago.”
That got reactions out of Flagg and Zeb. Flagg was angry, but shiftier than I’d ever seen him. The more I watched him, the angrier I got. Just not for the reasons I probably should be angry.
“You’re lying!” I shouted, moving to stand in front of Flagg. Both Hawk and Miles moved to stay between me and the old bastard, but I managed to still be able to look him straight in the eyes. “You’re fucking lying, you son of a bitch.”