Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Fine. Be quiet. I’ll talk.” He released my hair and ran his hand down my arm, making me cringe. “I’m not one of the Vagos. But oddly enough, we are after the same thing. Just for different reasons.” He leaned close to my ear. “They want to kill you. But I don’t kill pretty girls. Never has been something I can stomach. You belonging to Levi, however, is leverage I need right now. I need to know just how important you are to him.”
He waited for me to confirm it.
I shook my head. “I’m not important.”
Another low chuckle. “Why don’t I believe that?”
Panicking, I tried to think of some way to convince him Levi didn’t care about me.
“He won’t come for me.” I was lying. He would try.
“I think you’re wrong,” he whispered against my ear. “You and I are going to walk out of here and leave together. I am the better option, I promise you. No one will hurt you. I’ll give you back to Levi as soon as I get something I need from them. You’re just a bargaining chip.”
I was shaking as a cold sweat covered my body. There was a possibility I might also vomit. “What do you need to bargain for?” I asked. The trembling in my voice made it clear I was terrified.
“Nothing to concern yourself with,” he replied as his hand gripped my waist. “Now, you can leave with me willingly, and I will keep you safe from the bastards out there, waiting to take you. Or I can leave you here, and you’ll be at their mercy.”
My mind was racing. I had to think clearly. If I stayed and called Levi, he would come here and possibly get hurt or killed. That wasn’t something I was willing to risk. If I left with this man, I could possibly get my phone out and contact Levi. AJ wasn’t threatening to kill me or Levi.
“You won’t hurt Levi?” I asked him.
He laughed then, low and deep, too close to my ear. “I’m flattered,” he replied. “No, I can assure you, no one will get hurt.”
This was the safest option. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”
“Smart girl. We are going out another way. Stay beside me.”
I nodded.
AJ stepped around to open the door and then took my arm and led me down a hallway that I hadn’t been down before. When we passed a nurse, he released my arm and placed his hand on my back. The nurse was busy texting on her phone and didn’t look up at us. I wasn’t sure if I had wanted her to or not. The idea of anyone stopping us and my leaving being noticed by the Vagos was frightening. But then again, so was leaving with this guy I didn’t know. Would he take me to Haisley? I hoped so.
We took a sudden right, and AJ pushed open a door. It was the stairs. He picked up his pace and hurried me down the flights until we came to the bottom. Pulling a gun from under his vest, he opened the door and scanned the area. Reaching for my arm again, he pulled me behind him and into a parking garage.
“Move fast,” he whispered.
I had to run to keep up with him until he stopped at a black car with tinted windows and unlocked it, then shoved me inside the backseat. My eyes went to the driver’s seat as AJ climbed into the passenger side. A woman was behind the wheel.
She looked back at me, taking off her sunglasses and slowly scanning me with a look of distaste. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered.
“What?” AJ asked.
“You said she was Levi’s? That can’t be right. I know him well, and that is not something he’d waste his time on.”
He turned to look back at me. “I’ve seen his hands all over her in the parking lot more than once. Not to mention, if he’s not bringing her here or dropping her off, that Houston kid is. She’s something to him.”
I said nothing. I wasn’t answering him about Levi.
He sighed. “She won’t confirm anything. One mention of Levi, and she goes silent.”
My eyes shifted from him to her, but I still said nothing.
She raised her eyebrows. “He has better taste than that.”
AJ chuckled. “Easy, love. No need to get nasty. She’s not hard on the eyes.”
The woman smirked. “Levi doesn’t do relationships. She’d have to be more impressive than that to get him to lay some claim on her.”
AJ shook his head. “Seriously, Gina? I find a weakness that we can use to get you some fucking freedom, and you’re gonna get jealous and bitchy?”
“It’s not jealousy. It’s the truth.” She turned back around and put the car in reverse. “You left her phone, right?”
“Fuck,” he muttered.
She slammed on the brakes. “Get the fucking phone!” she barked at him. “They put trackers on the phones to keep up with their women. If you’re right and he gives a shit about her, then that phone is a tracking device, and the moment we take her off the property, he will get an alert. I told you that!”