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)
“The man or penis?”
“Huh?” Arden stared at Doom in confusion.
“Do you want Puck’s and Buck’s real names, or the names they call their cocks? I can tell you Puck’s and Buck’s real names, but I’ve never asked if they’ve given their cocks a name.”
She was so enraged, Doom’s taunts were like carelessly throwing more gasoline on the flames of her anger.
“By the way,” she mimicked his taunting tone, focusing on his foreboding demeanor, “Puck and Buck? Really? Doom? Really? No wonder Wizard is the one in charge. He’s probably the only one who can spell his nickname. Margarita must be a nuclear scientist.”
“Finished?” a cold voice said from the doorway.
Arden swallowed the large lump of fear that had formed in her throat as Wizard strolled into the room, allowing Puck and another man to pass him before using the heel of his boot to slam the door behind them.
“Why is she still here?” Wizard came to stand over her.
“She’s Blue’s sister,” Doom answered, resting a hip on the side of the desk.
“And why should I give a fuck who she is?”
“Seems our new prospect isn’t eighteen.”
Both Wizard and Doom stared at the man whom she had seen leaving with Luc. Up close, he seemed slightly younger than the other three men in the room.
“Explain, Jesus,” Wizard barked out loud enough to have her jumping in her seat.
“I was going to tell you—” running a hand through his tumbled hair, Jesus gave them an apologetic shrug, “but I knew you would make him stay away.”
“You knew he wasn’t eighteen and let him hang out, anyway?” The casual way Doom asked the question belied the severe way he was looking at Jesus.
“Before you rip me a new a-hole, will you let me explain first?”
A small gasp escaped her when Wizard’s foot came out and swiped Jesus’s legs out from under him, leaving him prone on the floor.
Arden jumped out of the chair. “That was completely uncalled for.”
Ignoring her, Wizard brushed past her to loom over Jesus. “I don’t need an explanation. All the kid probably had to do was give you a sob story, and you said, ‘Hey, don’t feel bad. Come hang out with us.’ It’s the same ole shit you’re always dragging back to the club for me to wipe up.”
“My brother isn’t—”
The word she was about to say lodged in her throat when Wizard angrily moved toward her. Arden hastily sat before he could knock her feet out from under her.
“Move,” he snapped. “That’s my chair.”
“Of course… Excuse me.” Neatly smoothing her jacket down, she read the violent atmosphere in the room. “Since we’re in agreement that my brother shouldn’t have anything else to do with the club, I’ll leave.”
“Doom,” Wizard said coldly.
Doom moved to stand in front of the door.
“Puck, get her a chair from the other room.”
Wizard hooked one leg over the other as Puck followed the order.
Standing still as Puck went to a side door, Arden watched as he went into another room, coming back with a chair that he placed directly in front of Wizard.
“Sit.”
Arden sat. “Listen…”
“Shut up.”
She closed her mouth, relieved when Wizard focused back on Jesus.
“I know I’m going to regret this—” giving an exasperated sigh, Wizard motioned for Jesus to get off the floor, “but give me one good reason, and it better be a good one, why you broke a club rule that automatically gets you thrown out?”
“Puck and I were hanging out at Pepper’s place right after we came back from Treepoint. Her new place is right across the street from that stuck-up prep school. Puck and I saw five kids start tossing Blue around like he was a fucking frisbee. Blue took off running, and the five fuckers took off after him.”
“Let me guess—you interfered?”
Jesus’s face twisted into a grimace of anger.
“Would have sat back and watched if the kid had to take on two punks…” Jesus shook his head. “But five? Hell nah. Puck and I chased after them. Fuckers shit their pants, took off running as if their asses were on fire. The kid told us the fuckers had been beating him up since he started going to school there because he didn’t belong.”
“Why didn’t he belong?” Wizard asked.
Jesus shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell us.”
“My father was a custodian at Starline. The pay isn’t much, but it does give full tuition to children of their employees if they make the grades. His grades are so high that he’s already been offered a full-ride scholarship when he graduates,” Arden answered, her heart breaking at what Luc had been going through.
“He’s that smart?” Wizard questioned.
“Yes.”
“You go there?”
“No, it’s an all-male college preparatory high school.”
Wizard’s focus on her made her feel as if she was under a microscope.
“Were you aware Blue was getting the crap beat out of him?”
“No. If I had, I would have spoken to the headmaster.” She bit her lip to keep it from trembling.