Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“You’re going to break my heart, talking shit like that,” Hunter said.
“You only stick behind if you really have to. Tell me what’s on your mind or fuck off.”
“Are you ready for this?” Hunter asked.
Smokey lifted his head and looked toward Hunter. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Are you questioning me?”
“Smokey, I have been by your side since the very beginning. I know you can handle everything that’s thrown at you. I’ve seen you at your worst and at your best. The club always comes first, but I also know that the last time we went up against the Twisted, you nearly lost her. You have a woman and a son. This changes the game. I need to know you’ve got your head in the right place.”
He looked at Smokey, who merely gave him a single nod. That was all.
“I’ve got my head in the game. I’ll handle this.”
Hunter gave a single bow, then got to his feet and made his way toward the door.
“Don’t ever question me again,” Smokey said.
Hunter smirked. “The moment I stop questioning you is the day I give back my leather cut.”
Chapter Three
Harlow liked Raven. The woman didn’t take any shit from anyone. She was tough as old boots, hard as a fucking rock. A mystery. Rarely smiled, but a mother of twins. For a long time, Harlow had never seen her in a dress, and then as if stepping into some kind of dream twilight land, she was wearing dresses and skirts, and of course looking like a perfect mommy.
“Why do you keep staring at me?” Raven asked.
Harlow wasn’t a fool. Raven was close to Ava, or at least as close as she would ever get to anyone. Over the past couple of years that she’d been working at the bakery, she had noticed changes to Raven. Like her brother, Harlow had a knack for finding people, but also, seeing patterns, changes, and putting two and two together, and coming up with a perfect four.
She looked at Raven and knew something was going down. Raven wasn’t in a dress or a skirt. Her hair was tied back, and her jacket showed that she was carrying. She’d witnessed this with most of the Hell’s Bastards MC.
“I want to ask you a question,” Harlow said.
Maybe with Raven distracted on a protection detail, it would make her life easier in asking these questions about her rent. She was getting tired of starving and being cold.
Raven looked toward her. “Ask away.”
“Do you know the basic rental cost?” Harlow asked.
“Huh?”
“I was just wondering and thinking about the future and as much as I love baking, which I do, I have to think of retirement.”
“You’re not even twenty-one years old yet,” Raven said.
She waved her hand in the air. “Yeah, and look how fast these last few years have come and poof, vanished. What would you say is a good rental agreement on an apartment with one bedroom, a kitchen, no dining room, small toilet, shower, and a living space that can take a two-seater chair? Drafty, and at times might have a rat problem and a roach problem?”
There, that wasn’t so bad.
Raven frowned. “What? You’re thinking of buying a place with all those things?”
“Maybe.”
“It should be condemned. Getting a high price on rent would be near impossible. The landlord should be offering his apartments at a rival price, where people are begging to live there because it’s so cheap.”
“Oh.” Fuck! She knew it. The landlord was taking her for a fool, and she’d been paying that stupid price.
“Harlow, what is going on?” Raven asked.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. Just, you know, random questions that enter my brain. Like if you had to choose whether you’d rather have sex with a shark or a gorilla?” Harlow didn’t have a clue what she was saying.
Raven frowned. “What?”
“See, random crap that enters my brain. How are your two little angels?”
Ah, a safe subject. Raven got up from her seat and watching the door, she walked over to her. She started to show off the cute pictures of her little twin girls.
Harlow had seen them over Christmas, but she was more than happy to look at those precious angels. Raven was also cute in how she talked about them. Harlow heard the love in her voice. There was no disappointment or upset. Just love. That was all she felt for her kids.
It must be nice to have a mom like that.
Customers came into the shop and Harlow got straight to serving them, forcing a smile to her lips as she did so.
She happened to chance a glance out the shop window, and she spotted her mother across the street. Harlow kept the smile on her face, serving up as Raven stood, moving to the main window and looking out. She was pretty sure she could see her mother’s disapproval all the way from here. With the last customers leaving, they were about to enter that lull.