Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Jeff pulled on Mike’s shoulder, as if he smelled mayhem already. “He’s fine, I just told Axel to go fetch him. Jack is coming too. I called him before I knew what was going on.”
Mike blinked. “What? Why get him involved?”
“You clearly don’t have your boy under control,” Axel grumbled and let go of Arden so abruptly, Arden barely saved himself from falling into the dirt.
The bastard might have as well cut Arden’s heart open. Arden eyed Jeff with the ferocity of a cornered scorpion. “Oh yeah? And now you know what’s going on? You know shit! Did he tell you what he did?”
“We’re no longer together. I don’t want you guys involved, or Jack, or anyone else,” Mike said and offered Arden his hand.
Arden couldn’t slap it away fast enough, even though the sound of the motorcycle outside the gate made him shiver. Jack didn’t live on the premises, so it had to be him arriving, and despite their uncle Kurt being the club VP, it was Jack who served as Dad’s right hand man and seemed far more responsible.
He was also strict and ruthless, so if Arden wanted to get one more punch in, it had to be now, before the gate opened. He took on the stance Mike taught him, with fists in front of his face. “Fight me! You wanted to date a man, deal with the consequences and fight me!”
Mike took a step back. Jeff sniggered, but Arden would be no laughing stock and pounced forward, swiftly enough to land a punch on Mike’s chin.
Mike’s teeth clattered, but he shook his head, and instead of hitting back, massaged his jaw before pushing back his hair while his two brothers watched. “Did that make you feel better?”
Arden sniffed, struggling to catch his breath. His ears thudded with adrenaline, but he still heard the gate open and Jack yelling something their way. “No, but maybe this will! Fight me!” He demanded, continuing his onslaught, but all he got was Mike shifting to avoid most of the hits.
“That’s enough!” Jack yelled, dismounting. He must have come straight out of bed, since he wore a T-shirt and running pants—not his usual day attire. “The fuck’s going on?”
Arden was about to climb Mike like a tree and scratch his face off when Axel once more stepped in with his death-grip and held Arden’s arms back.
“Calm the fuck down,” he growled.
Arden took a deep breath, but fury was a constant simmer, on the verge of boiling over. “Okay, okay!” Another deep breath. “I’m done.”
“Don’t hurt him—”
The moment Mike stepped closer, Arden used Axel’s hold for leverage and kicked Mike square in the groin. There. Now he was done.
Mike’s eyes opened so wide they almost popped out of his eyelids, and he grabbed his crotch, folding in two with his teeth grinding to stop a yelp from coming out.
Jeff hissed in sympathy, but Jack approached with the subtlety of a tank, and slapped Arden on the face hard. “Whatcha think you’re doing, boy? Huh? You think you can run rampant ‘cause you have some breakup drama?”
“Don’t fucking touch him,” Mike warned, red-faced, and while he moved with legs comically pressed together, he still managed to shove Jack at the wall.
Jack blinked and shook his head. “So soft. Maybe you deserved that kick after all.”
Arden hung his head, but the burn in his cheek wasn’t half as bad as the ache of his heart. He’d let Mike plow him like a fucking field last night, and got betrayed in return.
Jack tilted Arden’s chin up with his thumb, as if to make the point that he would indeed touch Arden if he wanted to. “If you’re not Mike’s, you don’t get any special treatment. Understood, snowflake? Get your shit together, clean up the mess here, and tomorrow you’ll wash every single car in the garage. This is me letting you off with a slap on the wrist. Got it?”
Arden bit his lips and nodded, deflating in the face of such stern words.
For a moment, Mike’s face kept twisting, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he settled on, “I’ll pack my other things. He stays in the room.”
None of his brothers said a thing as he headed inside the building.
Axel let go of Arden’s arms, and Arden detested the touch he still felt so much, he didn’t even want to look at the Hellers. He got on with the task at hand and started gathering items that had fallen out of Mike’s duffel bag. He stilled when the vest that must have once belonged to someone Mike cared for far more than he did for Arden emerged from between T-shirts.
‘Property of Mad Mike’, it read.
Something he’d never be.
Chapter 19 – Mike
Mike had barely slept. The bed in his new room wasn’t comfortable, and he’d gotten so used to having his own bathroom that the necessity of using the shared facilities hadn’t been the greatest experience. Especially since Jeff and Axel didn’t care to keep them tidy. He didn’t feel like having breakfast and went straight for coffee, emerging with a cup into sunshine so bright his sluggish mind boiled only a few minutes into the lazy pacing along the courtyard.