Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 115186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
“Yeah, Maddie, there’s fuckin’ Mafia in Pittsburgh. Here’s the proof.” Searching where he pointed to his face, she realized it was darker than normal in some spots, like around his eyes. How had she missed that they were bruises and not a play of light and shadows. Was his nose also swollen and slightly more crooked?
She shook herself mentally to fight back the flood of sympathy. She needed to get back to the subject at hand… “How’s he connected?”
“Beats the fuck outta me…” He blew out a breath, then winced. “Actually, they did beat the fuck outta me and he seems to be a Russo in disguise.”
“A Russo?”
“Yeah, the Sicilians runnin’ the Burgh.”
“Roger is Sicilian?” None of this was adding up.
He sighed with impatience. “Woman, that part ain’t important. The important shit is his ties to that organization. They got a lotta power and a lotta soldiers doin’ their dirty work. Way more than our MC alliance.”
“So, why is his last name…” She bounced the heel of her palm off her forehead. “Holy shit. Of course! Smith is a fake name, isn’t it?”
“Gotta be.”
“But why would he need to use a fake name?”
Romeo jerked up one shoulder. “Most likely so the place where you worked wouldn’t be tied to that crime family. Could be they use that place for money launderin’. Who fuckin’ knows. Fact is, he’s got connections. Ones you don’t wanna fuck with.”
“Were his connections for the professional sports team a lie?” If she suffered working for that dickhead for a whole year and a half when it was never going to get her anywhere…
“Can’t say. But if so, it could also be why he’s usin’ Smith as a last name. Sure those teams don’t wanna be tied to anyone in the goddamn Mafia.”
She couldn’t imagine they would. Hell, she wouldn’t have worked for him if she knew that.
If all of this was true, Roger hid it well.
Or… was Romeo lying to her?
Did he really crash his sled and made up this story simply to get back in her good graces?
Would he stoop to that?
She studied the man before her. Most motorcycle crashes resulted in road rash. Romeo wouldn’t escape getting some if the crash was bad enough to cause broken bones and other bruises.
“Take your shirt off.”
His head jerked back. Most likely from not expecting that demand. “Normally, I’d be good with that. Not today.”
Interesting. “I’ve seen you naked before.” Many times.
“Nothin’ to do with bein’ naked. Everythin’ to do with havin’ broken ribs.”
“What did they use on you?”
“Tire iron. Boots. Fists.”
She rose to her feet and stepped toe-to-toe with him. “When it’s bones versus a tire iron, bones usually break before steel does. I want to see.”
“Why? So you can’ poke me in the fuckin ribs? Make me suffer for fuckin’ up your life?”
“Tempting,” she murmured, sliding her hands under his cut, and slipping it off.
He didn’t stop her, but warned her with a, “Careful,” instead.
She raised his colors in her hand. “With this? Or with you?”
Something flashed behind his dark eyes. “Both.”
She knew how important a cut was to club members and that she needed to treat it with respect. It represented their way of life. It represented their brotherhood, their found family, their loyalty to each other. It represented their everything.
Turning his head, he watched her place it over the single chair in the small room and return to stand before him. He stood quietly, with only a few winces, as she slowly and carefully tugged his shirt from his jeans and up his torso, cautiously working it around the cast on his arm and his crutch. Once his broad torso was bare, she tossed the T-shirt onto the bed and circled him, using both her eyes and a light touch to check every inch she could see.
His magnificent body was definitely damaged. It didn’t look anything like the last time she saw him naked.
Just the memory of the last time they had sex, made her breathing shallow and her pussy clench.
God, why did this man make her weak? Why did she keep having to remind herself what he did and what that action did to her.
She couldn’t let him off the hook easily. If at all.
She skipped over his ribs and any visible bruises, though some were harder to spot than others due to his dark skin and numerous tattoos. No road rash was found, and the visible injuries were consistent with being beaten and not crashing his sled.
He’d been truthful with her. He wasn’t only making a play to get her to forgive him. But that also meant what he was saying about Roger could be true.
Was her former boss really tied to the Mafia? Was that from where his arrogance stemmed? Was he more of an awful person than Maddie ever realized?