Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“I’m in.” Addi takes another shot.
“Me, too.” Ciara adds.
They all look to me.
I take another shot.
“Fuck it. Let’s do this.”
19 – Janine
“SHHH,” ADDI WHISPER hisses as we circle to the back of the compound. “If you three don’t zip it, they’ll hear us.”
“Well, you’ve got me trampling through a god-damned jungle, and I’m pregnant.” Ciara hisses back. “How am I meant to be quiet?”
“You’re a warrior, Ciara,” Addi goes on. “Women back in the day used to give birth in this. Stop your whining.”
I giggle, and Addi shoots me a glare. “What?” I whisper. “It was funny.”
“Where is the gate,” Serenity huffs, running her hand along the back fence of the compound. “I swear, if one bug even touches me...”
“Here it is,” Addi says, flashing her phone in the direction of the gate.
It’s rarely used, mostly to bring in anything illegal they don’t want seen coming in through the front of the club. As old ladies, we have a key to everything in the club, it’s just how it works. We are under very strict instruction as to what we can and cannot open. Nobody ever said we couldn’t use this back gate.
“If we get busted,” Ciara grunts, pulling her keys out and trying to find one that works, “they’re going to kill us.”
“They’ll get over it.” Addi murmurs, holding the light so Ciara can unlock the gate.
Once it’s open, Addi pushes it, and it creaks. We all pause, and Serenity giggles, which earns her a slap on the arm from Addison. She’s taking this mission very seriously. It doesn’t help that we’re all drunk because man, we have had far too many shots.
Sneaking through the open gate, we all try our darnedest to get to the back shed, where the guys are having their weekly meeting – church as they like to call it. That’s the reason we came out tonight, so they could call an ‘emergency’ meeting. My mom is at home with the kids, happily taking them all until we got home. She loves being the fill in grandma for all of them.
She often asks us to just go out so she can take all the babies.
She loves every second of it.
Moving closer to the open window, we all sneak up, trying to be as quiet as possible. The window is only open a crack, but it’s enough for us to hear what’s going on inside. Voices trickle out, but it’s difficult to tell who is saying what because we’re all trying to hear. Addison turns around when Serenity coughs, and orders Ciara to take her back. Then, we’re left with just Addison and I listening.
We both lean in.
It’s much clearer now.
Jackson’s voice is the first I hear clearly enough to tell what’s going on.
“You’re askin’ me to keep somethin’ from my daughter, Cade. Somethin’ that you and I both know will upset her. This is a fuckin’ situation I never wanted to be in.”
I glance at Addi, whose face is now crinkled in a frown.
“I hear you, Pres, but if she found this out it would fuckin’ destroy her. I don’t need her thinkin’ any less of me, after everything we’ve been through.”
“Wesley is threatenin’ to use it against us, no doubt to get something. It is goin’ to be hard to keep this one under wraps.” Spike adds in.
“I’ll fuckin’ deal with Wesley.” Cade growls, his voice low.
“If we can fuckin’ find him.” Muff mutters, and I peer in just to see him lighting a cigarette, his booted foot up on the chair next to him.
“We’ll find him,” Jackson goes on, “but that ain’t the problem. The problem is if they found out what it is Wesley knows, it’ll blow up.”
“They won’t find out,” Cade grinds out, “because none of you fuckers are goin’ to say anything.”
“Big risk,” Spike, who is sitting on a chair at the end of the table, rocking it back and forth, throws in. “If Wesley gets to them before we get to him, he might just tell them what happened, and if he does, it’ll be a fuckin’ storm.”
“As I said,” Cade growls, “we will find him first.”
“She’s my daughter, Cade.” Jackson grunts. “If she finds out that I know about this, and didn’t tell her, I’m riskin’ my relationship with her. That took a fuckin’ long time to get back.”
“What do you want me to do, Jack?” Cade barks. “Go and tell her that I’m the reason hundreds of women were shipped overseas and sold into a sex trade, and I did nothing to stop it? Or maybe the fact I haven’t seen my sister since then, and am worried she got sold, too. How the fuck do you think that will go down?”
Addison reels back, her hand on her chest, gasping as shock washes over her face.
Shit.
Turning, I reach for her, but it’s too late. She has stumbled over a pile of old logs, and they come crashing down as she cries out in pain. Ciara rushes over, helping her up, but the shed door is already opening. Before we know it, we’re surrounded by bikers with their guns pointed at us.