Page 100 of Steel

Reva leans back in her chair with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. “Same shit. Threats and the black roses being delivered. Sometimes, I’m sure the threats are meant to be specific and have a reason behind them. Could it be connected to what’s going on with Bailee?”

I shrug, propping my shoulder against the jamb of the door. “Not sure. It’s something me and Lee talk about, but don’t feel like Killer to me. Wouldn’t be the first time my intuition was wrong, though. Anyone else get threats tonight?”

“One of the girls did. And there was something going on with Lee, but you know how she is. She didn’t tell anyone. I did the best I could to keep my eye on her tonight, but this place gets too busy and it’s easy to lose track of her.”

“Something else besides what happened to Miranda?” I ask, her words causing my gut to swirl with dread.

“Yeah. This was before she’d found Miranda. She tried hiding it, but I could tell from the way her eyes bounced around the building, cataloging all the faces, that she was feeling the threat again. She didn’t say anything, so I don’t know for sure whether she’s gotten any threats in private or not. Need me to check the footage from the security cameras?”

“I got it. Goin’ to be a little while out there cleanin’ up the crime scene. Go on home if you want.”

Reva shakes her head, coming to a stand and twisting her body back and forth until the crack of her spine echoes through thesmall office. “There’s too much shit for me to do to head home right now, but I’ll get out of your way so you can do what needs to be done. I’ll go down and help Carter close out the bar and clean up. Then I’m going to run through and see what we need to put an order in since I got to send one out tomorrow.” She squeezes my bicep with affection. “Make sure to keep an eye on my firefly.”

The only thing I give her in reply is a grunt as I move out of the way so she can head out the door. I watch her for as long as I can to make sure she gets to where she’s going safely. As soon as she’s out of my sight, I take a seat behind the desk and bring up the feeds from the security monitors.

It takes a good hour of me going through the feeds before I find what I’m looking for. When I get to that part, I press play and watch as Bailee’s phone goes off. She pulls it out of her pocket and stares at it with a tense jaw. Then she moves her fingers to bring the message into focus. At least, that’s what I’m assuming she’s doing, because as soon as she reads what’s on the screen, she loses all color and terror rushes over her face. Her hand trembles as she stands still and peers down at her screen blankly. It’s only a few seconds, then she’s tossing her phone away from her.

That’s when I know she got a threat.

She got a threat and didn’t even think for a second to mention it to me. Sure, I could be wrong, but knowing my woman like I do, the only thing she was covering up with that blankness was her fucking fear.

I’m going to blister her fucking ass when I get home.

How the fuck am I supposed to protect her when she hides something as important as this from me?

Chapter twenty-seven

Just when we thinkwe’re going to get a break from one problem or the other, something pops up to remind us we’re only making fools of ourselves.

It’s been two weeks since Miranda was found. Things have been hectic as fuck around the club as we try to deal with Crow’s shit and get it taken care of. It’s proven to be a bit harder than any of us had anticipated. Just when we think we’re getting close, they throw something else at us then we’re dealing with that before we can go on the offense again.

Dealing with this shit, and then the shit with Killer and his club on my own, is wearing me fucking thin. Something’s gotta break soon on one of these damn things.

I’m climbin’ on my bike to head to the clubhouse when my phone rings and Bailee’s name flashes across the screen.

“Everything good, baby girl?” I answer.

“Steel,” she whimpers.

That sound puts me on alert. The last time she called me like this was when she found Miranda’s body in the alleyway.

“What’s going on?”

“There was another girl killed tonight. I think . . . I think this one is because of me. I mean, I believe she’s a message to me,” she says.

“Why?”

“They drew a crude skull on her forehead,” she whispers.

My gut clenches at her words. Killer’s calling card.

“Are you still at the strip club?”

“Yeah.”

“On my way. Stay where Reva can see you. Be there soon, baby girl.”

As soon as we end the call, I flip the engine on and roar out of my driveway. I don’t even give a fuck who is at the strip club anymore. I’m tired of this shit. If someone sees us and puts together who she is, it’ll just mean we’ll have to come clean. It’s time anyway.

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