Repo (The Henchmen MC Book 4) by Jessica Gadziala Read Free Book Online Page A

groaning as I bent to tie my boots.
    "Ace, come on," Duke said, reaching out as I straightened and putting a hand at the side of my neck. "You're burning up..."
    "I'm fine. Go back to sleep. Sorry I woke you."
    With that, I made my way up to the stairs, cringing when each step made me feel like I used to at twelve, lying in bed with growing pains bad enough to prevent me from walking.
    It was okay. I just had to make it a couple of hours and then I could take a handful of medicine and crash. Plenty of people had to do worse jobs feeling a whole lot shittier than I did right then.
    I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and made my way outside to find Renny. "Violet, you look like hell," he said as I approached at my grandma pace.
    "Gee thanks," I grumbled, taking the Maglite and waving him away.
    "You sure you..."
    "I'm fine!" I snapped, my voice echoing across the empty night.
    I wasn't exactly fun when I was sick. It wasn't that I liked to wallow in it, but I damn sure never forced myself to go into work when I felt like I was going to pass out at any moment. I always would just hole up in bed with orange juice and a heating pad and wait it out.
    "Alright," Renny said, holding up his hands and nodding. "I get it. You're as capable as all of us. But don't forget, Maze, you don't have to make yourself sick to prove a point either." With that, he walked away and left me to drown in my misery as I walked the grounds.
    I was pretty sure I finished my first round. See, I say pretty sure because at one point, I sat down to give my screaming leg muscles five minutes of rest... and then I must have either fallen asleep or passed out.
    Because the next thing I knew, I felt a cool hand touching the side of my face and a annoyingly smooth voice calling my name over and over. My eyelids felt weighted and I had to struggle to force them open. It was still dark out. I noticed that first. All around, it was still pitch black out. There was a hand underneath my head and another rested at the side of my face. And those hands belonged to Repo. He was kneeling down beside me on the ground, his brows drawn together and his mouth in a firm line. "Hey honey," he said when he noticed I was awake. "Scared the shit out of me," he admitted.
    "Shit," I gasped, trying to push myself up, realizing what had happened. I had fallen asleep while on duty. Fuck. There was no way...
    "Easy," Repo demanded in a soft voice, his hand landing in the center of my chest and pushing me back down on the ground. "It's alright."
    "How long..." I started to ask, my heart slamming in my chest so hard that I felt nauseated.
    "Not long. Duke told me you were sick. Then Renny came in and said you looked dead on your feet. Figured I should check on you. Good thing I did. You were out fucking cold. What were you thinking?"
    "I had a job to do," I objected, moving to push myself to a sitting position, my arms shaking under the pressure.
    "If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of the compound. Part of being a good member is knowing when you should lean on one of your brothers, Maze."
    I noticed movement from behind Repo and reached for the Maglite beside my body, lifting it by the light end to strike with the heavy side if need be. But then Duke came into view, holding up his hands palms-out. I felt my eyes lowering at him in accusation and he shrugged a shoulder. "Sorry, Ace. There's no way you should be out here when you couldn't even get out of your bunk. It's not a chick thing. If it was any of the guys, I'd have gone to Repo too." Somehow I doubted that and I felt my eyes rolling at him. "So fucking stubborn," Duke said, shaking his head, but smiling like he approved as he reached down, snagged the Maglite, and moved off to do his rounds.
    "Come on, honey," Repo said, slipping an arm across my back and moving to bring us both to our feet. To my absolute horror, I had to give him almost all of my weight, my own body completely giving up on me.
    Now, I