Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
This was the only reason I’d agreed to go on the road again so soon, when I felt she still needed me there with her.
Because I wanted to slay her demon for her.
So she never had to worry about him again.
Especially after, one night, when she woke up from a bad nightmare, and she’d let me into the bed with her, she curled into me, and she spilled a lot of her story, told me what had been done to her.
Fuck, I wanted him to suffer.
Then I wanted him gone.
And now… the chances of that felt a lot fucking slimmer.
“I know,” Raff said, placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing.
“I don’t think you do,” I said, my teeth aching from clenching my jaw so tight.
“You love her,” Colter said, making me jolt and turn around, ready to object.
But, fuck, he was right.
I loved her.
Of course I did.
Everyone in the clubhouse did.
“We all do,” I agreed, nodding.
“True,” Colter said, but shook his head. “But not the way you do.”
And, fuck if those words didn’t feel like a kick to the gut. Because he was right. It was just a reality I’d been burying because, well, because Vienna didn’t need that shit from me right now. She was still healing, still learning how to trust any man to just be around her, let alone get close to her.
But there was no denying it.
I mean, fuck, the way desire pinged off of every nerve ending when she was nearby was almost upsetting. It was… alarming how much I wanted her. How I couldn’t stop thinking about her. How every time I tried to think of my future, she was right there in it with me.
“It’s not wrong,” Colter said, seeming to read me a little too well for someone who barely knew me.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Why? Do you think she’s not deserving of love because of what’s been done to her?” he asked, a hard edge to his voice.
“No. Of course not. That’s not it. It’s… she doesn’t need me panting after her like a dog. She’s been through enough from men.”
“I’m not saying you need to try to hump the woman’s leg,” he said, snorting. “I’m saying that there’s nothing wrong with being there for her, with waiting for her.”
“That’s a lot of pressure to put on her,” I insisted.
“It’s only pressure if you pressure her,” he said, shrugging. “Being there for her, letting her guide things forward, you could do that.”
He was right, I guess.
I mean, we’d been at a bar the night before, and pretty women were a surplus and eligible men were hard to come by, so we’d been prime real estate. But just the thought of putting a hand on one of them made me feel sick to my stomach, like I’d be betraying Vienna.
I was the only one who went back to their room alone. Well, that wasn’t even right. I hung out in the all-night coffee place because Raff brought a woman back to the room we were sharing.
Even just the smell of another woman’s perfume in the room when I got back to it turned my stomach sour.
So, yeah, there was no one else.
And if there wasn’t anyone else, why the fuck did it matter if I waited for Vienna to be ready?
“Yeah,” I agreed, sucking in a deep breath, then instantly regretting it as I probably breathed in millions of fucking mold spores.
“We’ll get these guys for her,” Raff said. “We’re just going to have to get Rook on this, now that we know they’re not here. He’ll find them. He’s good at that shit.”
That was true.
As much as I hated that I couldn’t be done with this, I had to believe that I would find him one day. Then I could enjoy inflicting revenge in Vienna’s name.
“Let’s just take a look around,” Colter said, grimacing at the house. “Make sure they didn’t leave any clues about where they might be heading.”
With that, we spread out.
I didn’t realize I found myself in the leader’s room until I was digging through his closet.
And there in the back, wedged like forgotten trash, I found something that didn’t belong to him.
A woman’s purse.
One of the kind that women wore in the summer, slouchy and crocheted or knitted or some shit like that.
My mind flashed back to the white dress I’d found Vienna in. Definitely a spring or summery dress.
I reached a bit desperately for the bag, yanking back the zipper, and reaching inside to find a wallet.
Inside, sure enough, I found her license, bank card, store loyalty cards.
A growl moved through me as I put the wallet back in. But it wasn’t until I was zipping it back up that I noticed something I’d missed before.
A spot of dark red on the material.
Blood.
I must have growled again, because Colter moved into the room. His gaze slid to the back, then back to me. “Is that hers?”