Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“Look… I know you guys are protective of him. I know a lot of this is alarming for you. But Ace has… latched onto me. I soothe something inside of him. He needs me, even if none of you want to admit it or face that fact. If you force him away from here, he’ll hate you—the kind of hate that never goes away. And I’m not letting you take him.”
Someone sighed. “I get you two are attached,” Konrad began. “I do. I swear to fucking Christ, I get it more than anyone. I’ve got two partners of my own who latched onto me like leeches, and I can’t imagine my life without them. But we need him home. We have shit we’re working on—something huge. And now is the time to band together. Not be apart.”
“Tell me what’s going on,” Gunner demanded.
“It’s club business,” Shaw said, his voice hard and firm.
“Yeah, but clearly, he’s here to stay,” Jax grumbled. “Might as well tell him. He’s the only chance we have of getting Ace back home.”
Shaw sighed, sounding defeated. “There’s a sex trafficking ring back home that we’re trying to dismantle. We’ve finally got the bigger players, and we’re working on a plan to take them down. This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck matter. We need him home.”
“And we need to know he’s safe,” Cameron added, surprising me. “He gets on my nerves like no other, but Ace is our brother. These last two days have been goddamn hell on all of us. We had no idea if he was dead or alive. All we found was the SUV. No sign of him.”
“I get it,” Gunner said, his voice all low and rumbly in that way that made me feel all warm and safe. “I’ll talk to him. But if he still doesn’t want to leave…” He paused, letting that hang in the air for a moment. “No one will be forcing him.”
“He’s not a toy you get to just keep,” Arlo sneered.
“And he’s not a fucking doll you can just force to do whatever,” Gunner retorted, his voice hard and unforgiving. “He’s a fucking human being capable of making his own choices. If he’s grown enough to be involved in this shit you’ve got going on at home, then he’s grown enough to decide if he wants to be involved. Clear?”
No one said anything. I held my breath, but a moment later, Gunner emerged at the top of the stairs, his eyes immediately landing on me. I held out a hand for him, and without a word, he slid into bed beside me, wrapping me up in his arms.
“You won’t let them take me, right?” I asked quietly. “You promised.”
“No, sweet boy, they won’t take you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “But it sounds like you’re needed at home.” He cupped my cheek, peering down at me with those pretty blue eyes. They were a couple of shades lighter than mine. “What if I came with you?”
I frowned. “But you have a home here. I can’t take you from that.”
Gunner chuckled. “You’re so precious, baby.” My cheeks heated. “You’re not taking me from anything. I’ll still keep my cabin. We can come here whenever you want. This will still be our home. I promise.” I relaxed at his words. “But I want to be where you are because you’re my home, Ace.”
“Really?” I whispered, stroking my fingers over his chest, wishing he didn’t have a fucking shirt on so I could feel his skin beneath my fingertips.
“Really, baby boy. I promise.”
We sat in silence for a moment, listening to my brothers talk quietly downstairs. Cameron had found the coffee and was banging around the kitchen, more than likely trying to find mugs. I loved Cameron, but he was a douchebag. And he didn’t understand boundaries to save his life. Who the hell just barged into someone’s home and made all that racket and went snooping through their cabinets? Normal people asked.
“Why did you move all the way up here?” I asked.
“When I got discharged from the military, I was struggling to cope in regular society,” Gunner softly explained, his fingers stroking up and down my spine. I melted into him. “I’d seen a lot of shit. Horrible shit. And I just needed time away to heal. So, I bought this place. Learned to live off the land. And over time, I forced myself to grow accustomed to being back in civilization. Now, I just like the peacefulness of being up here.”
“I like it, too,” I quietly told him. After a small moment, I asked, “What happened while you were in the military?”
Gunner sighed. “What happens to almost every infantry soldier in the military, baby. We killed a lot of people who didn’t deserve it because the government gave the orders to.” His muscles tensed beneath me before he drew in a deep breath and slowly released it, forcing his muscles to relax as he did so.