Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Hearing me walk in, Garrett had simply looked at me, grinned, and then come.
Repulsed, I had run out of there, determined more than ever to leave club life behind me.
A week later, I had walked in on his son fucking someone who wasn’t me.
Less than a year after that, Garrett Calley was dead.
I stood up and started to clear the table. I hated this fucking place.
As I packed the dishwasher, I heard the rumble of approaching motorcycles and I straightened. Instantly, my stomach knotted into a big ball. Any minute Cade would walk through the door and I would come face to face with my past.
I wasn’t ready. I reached for my glass and drained it, accidentally banging it down on the bench. When the front door opened, I jumped and knocked it over.
“Oh, shit!” I said, quickly picking it up. It was broken.
“It’s okay,” Mom said, taking the broken glass from me and nodding toward the front door. She had a small smile on her face. “I think someone is here to see you.”
I swung around and there he was.
After twelve years.
Cade.
My stomach knotted.
He was taller than I remembered. Like, mountain man tall. And his hair was shorter than when he was a teenager, but still as dark. Tattoos covered both of his arms, which looked strong and muscular and his broad chest strained against the fabric of his plain black T-shirt. Everything about him screamed big. His lip ring was gone and he no longer had the face of a boy. It was all man. He was all man. I could almost smell the testosterone radiating off him.
Blue eyes zeroed in on me as he closed the distance between us, and for the first time in twelve years, put his arms around me.
“Indy.” His voice was deep and manly, and his breath was warm and sweet on my throat. I was immediately engulfed in the intoxicating scent of him and accepted his warmth as he held me against him. He was big and strong, and I could feel his power in his embrace, which was all too familiar.
Wanting to put some distance between us, I stepped back. “Hi, Cade.”
I forced a smile, unsure of what to do. I had given up on this day ever happening because I’d never intended to return to Destiny. But it had been an unrealistic intention, because my father’s partying and hard lifestyle was always going to take him out sooner rather than later. I was always going to have to come back here to bury him.
“I’m so sorry about Jackie,” he said gently. “We all loved your old man.”
I nodded at him, fully aware of how awkward this was. He gave me a gentle squeeze on my arm before leaving me to greet his mom and grandmother.
Behind him, Isaac and Caleb barreled into the room. They said hi to me, then stopped to greet their mom and grandmother with a kiss, before sitting down at the dinner table and digging into large helpings of lasagna.
“Everything okay?” Ronnie asked, referring to Caveman and why he was run off the road.
“All good,” Caleb reassured his mom with a wink, like it was no big deal. “Cade and a couple of the guys are going to meet with the Knights tomorrow.”
The Knights—or The Knights of Hell MC—had been a rival club since anyone could remember.
I turned away and picked up my overnight bag. I didn’t need to get involved.
“I’m going to my room,” I said to my mom. “I need to freshen up.”
Mom smiled. “It’s good having you home, honey.”
I placed my hand on her arm but said nothing, simply offering her a warm smile and enjoying being close to her. Glancing across at Cade and seeing his back to me, I smiled at my mom again and then turned and disappeared down the hall.
Walking into my old bedroom was another step back in time. The smell. The same floral comforter on the bed. The same faded curtains hanging in front of the window. My old desk in the corner of the room. I sucked in a deep breath. It was strange how familiar everything was, yet how disconnected I felt from it all.
I sighed and dropped the McGovern’s bag on my bed.
Even if my bag hadn’t been lost, I wouldn’t have bothered unpacking it because I didn’t plan on hanging around this place. I would say goodbye to my daddy and be here for my mom. But then I would be gone. I had a life back in Seattle. One that didn’t involve a motorcycle club.
Get in and get out. No distractions.
There was a knock at my bedroom door and I swung around.
Cade.
“Let me guess, you’re wondering how the fuck you’ve ended up back here?” he said, casually leaning against the doorframe, those two dimples perfectly in place on either side of his mouth.