AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As he stumbled forward, another dark shadowed figure joined him— the newcomer’s words were delivered loud and clear, and filled with the need to fight. “What the fuck, brother? You pissing on my clubhouse?”
When she heard the tell-tale crunch of bone and thewhompof a very low blow, Valentina turned away from the drunken brawl only to find herself frozen by the foreboding darkness facing her. Just as she was about to lose her nerve, the moon suddenly broke through the thick cloud covering and cast its glow on the path before her. The light was just enough to bolster Valentina’s nerve. She hurried down the narrowing trail.
“Don’t be afraid, there is nothing to be afraid of,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around herself for courage and swallowed past the lump in her throat.
Valentina had gone about half way and was at the point where the path veered away from the building to accommodate the space needed for a large industrial sized unit of the HVAC. She didn’t like the thought of venturing deeper into the trees, even just a little bit, but there was no help for it. Besides, if she craned her neck over the apparatus, Valentina could see ahead to where the trail veered in again. As if on cue, the moon began to recede behind the clouds and Valentina felt a cold shiver of apprehension course through her body at the increasing darkness.
But thank god there was still light.
There was still that sliver of moon-glow, and it gave her the courage to move forward.
She was almost there now— a few more steps and the lights that loomed high over the parking lot would be visible through the tree line.
Home stretch.
In just a few more minutes, Valentina would be enjoying the plush leather seats of the sports car while the AC fanned her face with icy air.
Then Gia could take all the damn time she wanted.
In just a few minutes more.
Valentina picked up her pace and could see where the trail broke from under the canopied trees and hugged the side of the building again.
You got this.
And that’s when she lost the light.
The dense cloud cover shifted again, swallowing up that last bit of moonbeam. It plunged Valentina into the deep darkness— and just like that, she wasthereagain.
Valentina felt herself falling and falling and falling into that black hole while the earth trembled, heaved, and spun out from under her feet. She felt the tremendous heat of the blazing fire and watched in helpless horror as the world came crashing down around her in killing piles of concrete.
Trapped and paralyzed with a crushing weight, Valentina stretched her neck to an almost breaking point as she pressed her face to the one tiny source of air that streamed through the thick, choking dust.
She filled her lungs with that one last life-giving breath.
And then Valentina began to scream.
Hal was still stewing over the fact that Prosper had caught him watching the mob boss’s daughter.
Fuck you, Prosper Worthington, and your bullshit meddling ways.
Hal pulled a bud of good Sinsemilla out of a baggie, crushed it between his fingers and rolled a big, fat joint. Hal knew from experience that the premium weed would mellow him just enough to take the edge off his temper and quell the driving need for blood-let. With effort, he had held his shit together after that little lecture he had had to endure from his pain in the ass president.
Downright embarrassing and none of the man’s goddamn business that’s what that was.
Boss over-steps himself every damn chance he gets.
Ward fucking Cleaver in a black leather vest.
Hal took a deep hit of the pot while his eyes automatically scanned the clubhouse for yet another quick safety check. Lots of shit-eating grins shining through an ocean of booze and black leather. Lots of brothers just glad to be together and happy to have the chance to party it up Saints style. Good to see.
But Hal knew shit could go south fast, even in a club as tight as this one, and he didn’t intend on staying too much longer. Hal didn’t like crowds. It was too hard to keep track of shit and threw his need for hyper-vigilance into a tailspin. Even the smallest crowd tended to make Hal uncomfortable, and right now the clubhouse was blowing out at the seams. When a quick movement on the other side of the room caught Hal’s attention, he blinked a couple of times to clear his eye sight. Then he snubbed out the rest of the joint—fast.
Damn good weed,Hal thought as he shook off the weird vision of Valentina Abruzzi being lifted over some big fucker’s shoulder and set down again in the middle of the jam-packed floor.
Hallucinations were the only explanation for that particularly messed up illusion. A woman like her would never be in caught dead in a place like this. Besides Gianni would tear the MC a new one if he thought his daughter was partying with the club. Hal didn’t blame Abruzzi on that score either.
Bad place for a good woman.
