Wrath (Heartlands Motorcycle Club #7) - Dani Wyatt Page 0,5

home before our chariot turns back into a pumpkin.” Jillian smiles, and my father nods.

He likes her, and she gets away with talking to him in a way I never could.

“I should be going as well.” William is staring at me like I’m standing here naked and it makes me shiver. “Can I have a word with you, Kristina?”

He nods back toward the hall and I restrain my eye roll as my father looks at his watch, then to me, tipping his head as if to say, ‘Go on’.

“Sure, fine, whatever.” I follow as he walks down the hall, through my father’s office and outside to where his car is parked.

But as soon as we’re outside, his manner hardens and the tension he’s causing only makes my head start to hurt.

“Where are you going tonight?” He asks, his dark eyes narrow as he sucks in his bottom lip, biting down and I see his hands clench into fists then release.

“Uh, a new place.” I look to the sky like I’m thinking. “I think it’s called Noneya.”

“Noneya? What kind of place is that?”

“I said...” I pause, then finish in my sweetest voice. “None. Ya. Business.”

He doesn’t smile, and goosebumps raise on my arms. In fact, he has no expression at all and it’s like he’s staring right though me.

When he replies, his voice is flat, dead sounding. “Your father is leaving me in charge. You do realize that, don’t you?”

“In charge of the church. Not in charge of his twenty-one-year-old, fully capable daughter, with a brain and everything she needs to make her way in this world.”

“Don’t be petulant.” He reaches over and cups my cheek but I turn away and his hand drops. “In time, you will need to come to terms with the plans your father and I have.”

I mock back. “In time, you and my father will need to come to terms with the plans I have.”

He raises his chin, looking down at me. The blue polo he’s wearing pulls at his shoulders and the sleeves are too short. His chest is oddly concave, and he always walks with is hips jutting forward. Weird. Bile comes up in my mouth as I look down and see the outline of his half-hard penis under the fabric of his khakis.

Eeeew.

“God has a plan that trumps all of ours. That will be the plan we will follow.”

With that, he eyes me up and down, turns and gets into his car as I spin and make my way back inside, trying to calm the sick that’s coming up in my throat.

3 | Wrath

I can barely fucking concentrate.

It’s as though every day, every time I see her, my need to have her increases in some exponential way I can’t explain.

She’s the white to my black and in every story I concoct, she’s mine. But in reality, I know she’s way above my fucking pay grade.

There’s a loud bang, then another, and another, and I come back to earth looking over to see Gage’s fist come down on the table again as he gives me an evil stare.

“You with us?” He snipes and I look around to see Ryder, Jaxon, Bulldog—and Dice, who drives the tow truck for the Heartland’s garage—all staring at me.

“Yeah, I’m with you.” I bite back, but they have every right to be pissy with me.

“Good. Because we need to keep this tight. This deal needs to go down fast and easy. These tweakers run hot and last time we nearly went to shit town when their paranoid asses thought we were setting them up with ATF. So pay fucking attention.” Gage waits for my nod, then goes on to finish up the itinerary and instructions for the run we’re going on.

It’s a minor arms deal, so just a handful of us are going, but every deal has the potential to go south so I try to focus while the crew talks out the details.

I listen as we get things in order and as we’re finishing up, the bells over the front door of the garage jingle and Chain and Meadow walk into the backroom.

“What’s up?” Jaxon stands and gives Chain a hand-shake and a half hug, then leans in to give Meadow a kiss on the cheek.

Everyone else follows suit, and I stand and head over to do the same.

“You guys be careful today.” Meadow takes a seat and slips a laptop out of her computer bag as Gage moves over to sit next to her. Chain is our