Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“I'll just say you attacked me. They'd believe me about a filthy fucking Outlaw Son.”
“Not one of them, remember?” He turns and points at his back. No patch, see?” Then he points up at the building. “And there's a camera there that'll show you gunning me down. Are you still sure about that? Hell, they've already got you with your gun out, but as long as no one gives them reason to go looking through the footage, no one's ever gonna know.”
Dillard sighs. “You can definitely wipe that video from their systems?”
“Fucking positive. Hellfire talks a big game, but they’re a bunch of trusting idiots once you’re in. It's easy enough to access and delete.”
Hellfire cracks his knuckles. Insulting him is one thing, and bad enough, but disrespecting the club? They're gonna have words.
“I'm gonna need a couple of days to get the money. How do I contact you?”
Jackpot.
“That's the neat thing. You don't. I'll contact you in two days and we’ll figure out where to meet and make the transaction.” Grimm starts walking away.
“How do I know you'll do your part?” Dillard looks real frustrated about having the lower hand in the negotiations. “I need some kind of insurance.”
“Got my word.”
Dillard scoffs.
Grimm stops and looks over his shoulder. “Can you afford not to trust me?”
There's a tense silence, then he nods. “Fine. Call me in two days.”
“Excellent. Nice talking to ya.” Grimm waves without even looking back, then gets on his bike and rides off. It fucking worked. Hell, it's worth it just to see the angry look on Dillard's face as he watches Grimm leave. Once Dillard gets in his car and leaves, we wait a little longer, before Lash drives us back to the club.
When we get there, Grimm's waiting for us, grinning from ear to ear. “How was that, huh? Do I get the fucking Oscar?”
“I should fucking beat you down right here,” Hellfire snarls.
Grimm laughs. “I had to play my role. He wouldn't have believed me otherwise. Why, you wanna duke it out?” He steps away from his bike and loosens his wrists.
Hellfire looks damn tempted, but he shakes his head. “The job was done. You're an asshole, but we got what we needed. Go get drunk at the Burnout. Put it on my tab.”
The rest clear out, leaving just me, Stiff and Lash. Lash looks at the clubhouse as Hellfire disappears through the front door. “Fucking tense. Do we have everything we need?”
“Think so.” I push my bike up on its pegs before we head back towards our quarters. “In a couple of days this’ll be over and Dakota can start to move on. I was thinking we should have a talk with her.”
“About what?” Lash asks.
“About if she’s moving on with or without us.”
Stiff shoves his hands into his pockets. “Which do you want?”
With, obviously, but I don’t wanna trap her. “I want to leave the door open for it.”
Lash nods. “She’s been good for us, her and Logan.”
I look at Stiff, who up until we met Dakota, seemed like he was just existing from day to day. “You in?”
“Fuck yeah. But do we tell her about Grimm and Dillard?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. He can't touch her here.”
31
DAKOTA
I sit on Jackal’s couch, looking back and forth between the three of them. “What’s up?”
Jackal leans against his kitchen counter. “We were talking. Pretty soon it’ll be safe for you to move back out of the club.”
My heart squeezes uncomfortably. “Do I need to start looking for an apartment?”
“What? No.” He shakes his head. “I’m doing this wrong.”
Lash speaks up. “The thing is, we wanted you to know that you’re still welcome around here, even when all this is over.”
God, they’re so nice. “Thank you. Once I can arrange for Georgia’s funeral, I’ll sit down and have a talk with Logan about what happened. Not the details, obviously, but that she’s really gone. Pretty soon he’ll be old enough to understand more about where he came from, and when that happens, I want him to be able to learn about Ice.”
“Of course, yeah,” Stiff says with a quick nod. “But not just Logan. You are still welcome. With us.”
They seem to be expecting something. I know what I want. I want to keep following this thread and seeing where it leads us. I want to know if I’d be happy having them look at me the way Paige’s men were looking at her. If I could fit in with the other old ladies. It feels pathetic, but I lost touch with most of my friends when I had to start taking care of Logan. The only people I have now are mom acquaintances, and that’s not quite the same.
“I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to say.”
“One step at a time,” Jackal says with a smile.