Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“Wait,” I whisper in his ear. “Don’t hurt her.”
His eyes are hard. “I can’t promise that.”
“Nolan, wait.”
“She’s meeting with that ORB fuck in the middle of the night and I need to know why.” He pulls away and stalks forward.
I hurry after him, heart racing, mind spinning in circles. If he gets out there and starts shouting and asking questions, this might get ugly. I don’t know how Kady’s going to react, much less what Jaxson’s going to do, and if I don’t do something then this is going to spiral out of control and someone will get hurt. I hurry after him but there’s no way I’ll be able to stop him—
“Kady!” I call out.
Nolan growls with rage and hurries forward. Kady and Jaxson look over. Kady’s face turns pale and her eyes are wide with shock, and Jaxson’s face breaks into an anger-filled snarl.
“You set me up, bitch,” he snaps and grabs Kady’s arm. “You fucking set me up.”
“I didn’t, I swear, I didn’t know they’d follow me. Cora! Nolan!”
But Nolan’s hurrying forward, gun out. “Let her go, Jaxson.”
Jaxson shoves Kady away hard enough that she stumbles and hits the ground. He kicks his bike to life and it roars loud enough to make my eardrums tremble. Nolan shouts something over the noise but Jaxson puts the bike into gear and sprays gravel as he tears forward, speeding off into the night. Nolan runs after him, gun aimed like he wants to shoot the biker in the back, but I grab his arms and pull them down.
“Don’t,” I say, staring at him desperately. “Please, don’t.”
“I should kill you both for this,” he snarls. “Why the fuck are you protecting him?”
“I’m not protecting him. I’m protecting her.”
He slowly turns and stares at Kady.
She’s on her feet and looking at us like we’re demons straight from hell. She takes a step backward like she wants to run, but instead her shoulders slump, and she hugs herself tightly and starts to cry.
“Motherfucker,” Nolan says with a frustrated sigh.
I push past him and go to my sister. “Are you okay?” I ask as I pull her into a tight hug. “Kady, what the hell were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry,” she sobs against my chest. “He said he wanted to talk. He said we could work things out together and avoid all this fighting and I’m so stupid that I believed him. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, sweetie,” I say, shaking my head. “What did he want when you got out here?”
“He wanted me back.” She sniffles and looks up as Nolan looms behind me. “I’m sorry, Nolan. I didn’t tell him anything, I swear.”
“He knows you’re staying with me now and he knows about this road.” Nolan’s jaw works. “That’s a problem.”
I give Nolan a sharp look. “It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence knowing anyone could’ve snuck up on your place from out here. Maybe you should think about that before you tear into Kady.”
“I have cameras in the woods, princess. Maybe you should both think about that.” He shakes his head and comes closer. “What did he want, Kady?”
“To get back together, I swear. He was apologizing and he kept saying he loves me and he wants to make things right. He said he can convince the rest of his club to back off. He said he can end the war.”
“Bullshit,” Nolan says.
I wave him back. “Stop it, okay? Can you just ease off for a second?”
Nolan shakes his head but walks off, cursing to himself. I hug Kady tighter and wipe the tears from her face.
“I’m sorry, Cora.” She chews her lip. “I feel like an idiot.”
“You know coming out here was a bad idea, right?” I say quietly.
“I know. Why do you think I snuck out?”
“Jaxson can’t do anything about the war, sweetie. He’s not important enough. He’s just saying whatever he thinks you want to hear.”
“I know.” She sighs and leans against my shoulder. “Nolan’s gonna kick us out, isn’t he?”
“I’ll deal with Nolan.”
“Think he’s gonna shoot me?”
“Not unless he wants to get shot himself.”
She laughs quietly. “You really would, wouldn’t you? I don’t think it’d feel great to kill someone, you know. Might be the sort of thing you can never get rid of.”
I snort and squeeze her hand before letting her go. “Maybe, or maybe I’d feel fine because that asshole deserves it. Anyway, let me talk to him. You head back to the house, okay?”
“All right, I can do that.” She looks over at Nolan. “I’m sorry, Nolan.”
He only stares at her as she walks away, finds the path, and disappears into the woods heading toward the house.
I face with him hands on my hips. I can’t show fear, not right now, even though Nolan is like an angry bull ready to charge the first flash of red. “You have to go easy on her, she’s been through a lot lately.”