Brawn: Lethal Darkness MC Read Online Free Page A

door.
     
    “Daddy, it’s me,” I called through the thick wood.
     
    “Come on in, Par Bear,” he said back, using the nickname he’d had for me since I was just a little girl.
     
    I twisted the knob and walked in. His office was fairly sparse, with only a rickety desk and a small lockbox safe tucked in one corner. He was seated behind it, calmly flipping through the folder he held in front of him. With his reading glasses on and a long-sleeved henley shirt covering up most of his tattoos, he looked like the world’s most normal dad. He could have been an accountant or a lawyer or some other ordinary, suburban job like that, the kind of dad who told corny jokes and brought home flowers for his wife in the evenings. He wasn’t any of those things, of course. But sometimes I liked to pretend.
     
    “Hey, sweetie,” he said, looking up and smiling at me as I entered. “How was your day?”
     
    “Fine,” I said. “I just studied at the park for a bit, then I went to Katy’s.”
     
    “Ah, the infamous Katy McClendon. How’s she?”
     
    “She’s good.” I was dying to get past the small talk and discuss what I really wanted to talk about, but I was too nervous to jump straight into it. Besides, maybe it would help to warm him up a little bit first, just so he was in a better mood when I finally got down to it. “Same as always,” I added.
     
    “Which means crazy,” he said with a chuckle. “That girl is a wild child.”
     
    I forced myself to smile. “Most definitely.” I opened my mouth to bring the conversation around to the real subject at hand, but suddenly, fear squeezed my stomach hard and I froze. I felt feverish and claustrophobic, like the walls were closing in around me and I was hurtling forward in time faster than I could possibly handle.
     
    Daddy noticed my discomfort and gave me a quizzical sideways look. “Something wrong, dear?” he asked.
     
    “I, um…” I stuttered, unable to find the words.
     
    He lowered his glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked at me with concern. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”
     
    “Yeah, of course,” I blabbered. “I know that. I just, I wanted to ask, if, um…” Where was the speech that I’d practiced with Katy? Where were all those perfectly neutral words I’d rehearsed, the ones that made my request seem totally reasonable and normal? I’d forgotten completely how to speak and all my resolve was leaking out of me like sweat. I couldn’t even think straight.
     
    Focus, said the voice in my head. One word at a time.
     
    I took a deep breath. I had this under control. I could do it. All I had to do was ask. “I was wondering if—”
     
    But just then, the cell phone lying on top of a stack of papers on his desk came alive, bursting with a ring tone and flashing colors. He picked it up and frowned when he saw the name of the person who was calling. “I’m sorry, doll, just give me one second. I have to answer this. Hello?” he said as he picked up the call.
     
    I stood in front of his desk squirming as he listened intently, eyebrows furrowed. The tinny voice at the end was talking rapidly, although I could hardly understand anything it was saying. I heard the word “warehouse” repeated multiple times, whatever that meant.
     
    Apparently, though, the caller was delivering some very bad news indeed. As the seconds went by, ticked off loudly by the hands of the clock on the wall, my dad’s face went from calm to stormy. His gray eyes took on a swirling anger and the lines in his forehead and around his mouth deepened. By the time the voice quieted down, he looked ready to kill somebody.
     
    “Call a meeting,” he commanded in an acidic tone. “I want everyone involved at the clubhouse tonight.”
     
    The voice squawked again, but he cut it off quickly. “I don’t give a damn,” he said. “If they had plans, cancel them. Somebody fucked up. We’re gonna sort this out immediately.” He hung up the