Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Wizard set his cup down. “How is me wanting to keep Blue off club property me taking my anger out on you? You’re the one who doesn’t want him to be a Last Rider. We don’t need your money. Believe it or not, we have a business that generates enough money that we don’t need yours. The Last Riders only offer protection to club members and their families. Each and every member somehow brings something to the table to benefit the club as a whole. Blue, once he becomes a doctor, would eventually benefit the club. You refused. We don’t need to be told twice. Doom, get—”
“You said family members?” Anxious, Arden didn’t let him finish.
“Yeah, so?” Wizard reached for the coffee pot for a refill.
Arden swallowed hard. Was she seriously going to say what she was thinking? Glancing toward Doom and the other men at the table, she didn’t find one ounce of sympathy.
“Yesterday, I saw several women in here.” Arden felt as if her throat was coated in clay. “Were any of them members?”
Wizard nodded. “A couple.”
“Would you protect Luc if I were to become a member?”
CHAPTER 6
THE PLAYER
Arden kept her gaze on Wizard, seeing Doom turn more fully toward her from out of the corner of her eye. Despite feeling a heated flush rush to her already red cheeks, she managed to maintain her composure.
Wizard cocked his head to the side. “Are you seriously asking?”
“Would you help me with Luc?” Nervous about what she was about to ask, she grabbed the edge of the bar to keep herself from falling. “With the fighting stuff, making him stay in school, and the bullying?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“What you bring to the table.”
“I’m free weekend days until six p.m. I can work at the bar for you, clean tables. I can watch the door like Luc was doing.”
Wizard stared at her as if she had lost her mind. “Are you serious?”
Arden nodded eagerly. “I work as a hostess at Spaghetti Mama. I’ve never missed a shift. Call and ask them.”
“We’ll take your word for it.”
Arden turned her head to give Doom a dirty look at his strangled response. “I’m a very good worker, I’ll have you know.”
“When do you work there?” Wizard questioned.
“Every evening from five to twelve, during the week and the weekends.”
“I thought you worked at a doctor’s office?”
“I do, from eight in the morning until four-thirty.” Arden didn’t offer for them to contact the office for a reference. The surgeons frowned on their employees moonlighting.
She could see Wizard’s and Doom’s amusement fading.
“Listen, joking aside—” Wizard dumped the remains of the coffee into the sink before reaching for a bottle of bourbon to pour himself a shot, “the women members do more than serve drinks and clean the bar. They—”
“I know. I read you run a survival business. I’m very good on a computer.”
Doom dashed that hope, propping his cheek on his hand on the bar. “We got that covered.”
Arden chewed on her lip. What else was she good at that could benefit The Last Riders? Her mind furiously turned over ideas to convince them to let her join.
“I can cook and bartend.” She couldn’t, but they didn’t need to know that. “I can take inventory, run errands. I can paint,” she said, glancing around at the peeling paint on one wall. “Clean the bathrooms and bedrooms.”
“Chill.” Wizard screwed the top back on his bourbon. “We don’t need a maid.”
“Speak for yourself. All that stuff sounds pretty good to me,” Jesus spoke up from the table.
“Jesus!” Doom barked out, taking a seat at the bar. “This is ridiculous. We change our own beds, don’t need our meals cooked, or the bathrooms cleaned. To put it bluntly—”
“Please do.” Arden gave him a thankful smile, laying her hand on the arm he had resting on the counter. “I’m late for work, so any suggestions about work I could do around the club would be helpful.”
Doom jerked his eyes away from hers and slid his arm from underneath her hand. Shaking his head as if to clear it, he looked toward Wizard, as if giving him the chance to talk.
Wizard gave Doom a smirk she couldn’t understand the meaning of.
Doom tightened his lips in a hard line. “I will.” He gave Wizard a scowl before turning back to her. “We have plenty of women to do the chores around the club. The men do them, too, or we take turns. The system works fine for us—”
“Says you,” Puck interjected. “None of us says that, which is why we all jump at the chance to go to Treepoint when Viper needs us.”
“Viper coddles you fuckers.” Wizard glared at Puck until he lowered his head.
Arden gave Puck a sympathetic smile. “There’s nothing wrong with getting chores done for you so you can concentrate on things more important.”