Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Last year, we caught some shit when some Colombians came through with the constant influx of migrants. There’s no telling the good from the bad these days, and we’re left with dog shit on our doorstep to scoop up. The good ones work for us or move on, and the bad ones get sent away or put away, but we can’t let the government know that we’re not just a humble group of family members riding out on weekends on our bikes.
Suddenly I’m distracted from my task when I hear her musical laughter from a short distance away and turn my head. She’s talking to my cousin, and I want to snap his neck. A beefy hand grips my shoulder firmly, squeezing it. “He knows better already. He’s harmless. One more year, Son,” my father says in a low whisper near my ear.
“I know, I know. Does Beast know?”
He chuckles in that deep voice that mirrors mine. “You’d know if he did. She’s his little girl, so it’s not like he’ll be happy about it.” My father has always had my back even though Beast is one of his closest friends.
“Tell me about it. I swear I got the feeling he caught me staring.”
“Maybe he did. Was she alone?” he asks.
“No. For all he knows, I could have been staring at several of the girls or at nothing.” I walk away, needing another beer. As I walk to the beer cooler, I nearly collide with Irina, Boss’s daughter, and she smiles at me. Beautiful, like all the girls in the club because they take after their mothers, but my heart has always belonged to the most beautiful girl.
“Hey, Will,” she gasps, giving me a hug. “How are you?”
When she pulls back, I can see my woman staring at me from behind Irina. “I’m good.”
“Your dad said you’d be here today. I had no idea. God, you look incredible, and I hear you’re single. You must be beating them off with a stick in college.”
“More like beating them with his stick,” my cousin Connor says. I don’t miss the pure look of disgust on Mel’s face at Connor’s comment, and I want to punch him in the jaw.
“Speak for yourself,” I snarl at him. Snatching a beer from the damn cooler and popping off the bottle cap, I walk away from both of them before I lose my temper.
“Will, where are you…” Connor calls out, but I’m about two seconds from punching him in the mouth. “I didn’t mean…” he continues.
“Shut it, Con…” I walk away and head into the clubhouse where I find my little Melanie talking to Doc’s son. “Your dad’s looking for you, David,” I say. He doesn’t move fast enough for my liking, so I move closer. “Get the fuck out of here,” I grunt with a tilt of my head. As the future president of the Steele Riders, there isn’t a single one of them who doesn’t already take orders from me, which is good because right now I’m feeling wild.
“Hey, Melanie. How have you been? It’s been a long time,” I say, suddenly feeling a little less confident than I was with David.
She doesn’t look up at me like she did David, which pisses me off. Her eyes focus on the bar top. Her dainty fingernails tease the edge of the surface, nervously digging into the material. “Yeah, it has, although I don’t think you’ve missed me at all since you’ve been away.” When she finishes, her eyes meet mine and there’s a look of sadness in them.
I’m surprised by her remark because it’s the furthest thing from the truth. Missing her is all I did, besides beat my dick to death with visions of her on my mind. “Why would you say that?”
“Girls at school keeping you busy,” she huffs.
I take her busy hands and put them in mine. “Don’t fucking believe what Connor said. I’ve told you what we are.”
“You didn’t correct him.” Her eyes fill with unshed tears.
Damn. I slide her hands into one of mine and then use my other hand to cup her face. “You never gave me a chance to correct him before you stormed off.”
She pushes herself away from me and then says, “Look, it’s not my business what you do or who you do. Our fathers are friends, and soon I’ll be off to college and dating and we’ll only see each other on these rare occasions. You’ll be the president of the Riders, and I’ll be nothing to you but the occasional visitor. A distant memory.”
I snag her by the wrist and quickly yank her back to me, sending her chest into mine. The action causes me to lose my breath. Not because it was painful, but having her this close, us touching each other, is more intense than I expected. I quickly release her, giving us the space we both need. Melanie might pretend that she’s unfazed, but her body’s pulse races in my arms, her pupils dilate, and her chest rises and falls with devastated longing.