Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25932 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25932 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Appearances had always been important to my mom, so I wasn’t surprised she was more worried about me blabbing than my reaction to the fact that my dad might lose his position on the bench. “You don’t have to worry, Mom. I won’t say a word to any of my friends. I don’t want to make this any worse than it already is.”
“Good.” She gave me a jerky nod before lifting her glass to her lips again.
“I’m going to check on Dad,” I mumbled.
There wasn’t any sound coming from his office as I neared. I knocked on the door and peeked inside, my heart dropping when I saw him slumped over his desk as he ran his fingers through his hair. His head lifted, and his eyes lit up with joy when he spotted me in the doorway. “Kiara, you’re home!”
“I am,” I whispered, walking toward him as he got up and rounded his desk to hug me.
“I’m so happy to see you.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “How was your drive? I hope you didn’t speed to get here early.”
He sounded like his usual protective self, making my lips curve into a small smile. “Of course not, Daddy.”
“Let me get a look at my girl.” Gripping my shoulders, he took a step back and stared down at me. “I swear, you get prettier each time you come home for a visit. Even with the stress of finals.”
“They weren’t too bad,” I assured him.
“I don’t want you to worry, Kiara.” He patted my shoulder before rounding his desk again and dropping onto his chair. “I knew when I became a judge that it could earn me some enemies.”
I wasn’t surprised that he was trying to downplay the situation. Odds were good that he hadn’t said anything over Thanksgiving because he didn’t want to cause me any distress. “Yeah, but Mom said some motorcycle club was behind all this?”
“Your mother shouldn’t have bothered you with the pesky details.” He shook his head with a deep sigh. “You only have a month before you go back to school. Enjoy your vacation and leave the Silver Saints to me.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t happy as I brushed my lips against his cheek, but I knew from the determined gleam in his eyes that the subject was closed as far as he was concerned.
I didn’t understand how any of this had happened, but there was one thing I knew…the Silver Saints weren’t going to get away with what they’d done to my dad. For that to happen, I needed more information.
I tried to ignore the fact that my mom was still drinking wine when I walked past her on the way out to my car. Seeing her like that made me sad, so I slid into the driver’s seat instead of grabbing my cell phone and heading back inside. I figured it would be difficult to find information about a motorcycle club, so I was surprised to find several news stories about the Silver Saints when I did a quick internet search. Even more shocking was that they were all positive.
Clicking through the first couple of links, I found reports on the classic car restorations that one of their guys had done and the tattoo shop they owned. None of that mattered to me—except they demonstrated that someone in the Silver Saints was good at making the club look as though they were squeaky clean—so I kept scrolling until I hit a story that mentioned the location of their clubhouse.
When I plugged the address into my maps app, I realized it wasn’t that far away and decided to do a quick drive past. I didn’t plan on doing anything other than getting a glimpse of their property as I pulled out of my parents’ garage, but my anger against the bikers grew as I drove. By the time my phone announced that I’d reached my destination, my temper was boiling over.
Instead of doing the smart thing by not drawing attention to myself—and possibly making my dad’s situation worse—I yanked the wheel to turn into their drive. The gate was closed, but a guy in a little booth jerked his head up when my tires squealed on the turn.
I threw my car into park while I waited for him to stride over to me. He was huge—tall and muscular with dark hair almost buzzed and a short-trimmed beard and mustache. My breath caught in my throat when he got close enough for me to take in his features, but not because I was intimidated—like I definitely should have been. Considering the situation, my purely feminine reaction to his piercing blue eyes was completely out of place. But that didn’t stop my nipples from pebbling as his gaze raked over my face.
2
Knight
My mouth went dry and my dick turned to stone when I saw who was behind the wheel of the Mini Cooper.