Page 150 of Steel

We laugh and pull apart after another quick kiss.

Despite the whine in her voice, Lyric stares at us with a huge smile and happy, sparkling eyes.

They get settled at the kitchen table to paint his nails, and I finish cleaning up the kitchen while listening to them laugh and tease each other. I check over at the progress occasionally,worried about whether Steel is going to wear it or not, but he surprises me when I find his shoulders loose and his face full of love and laughter. I don’t know why I was concerned because that man will do anything his daughter wants.

Even sport bright pink nail polish like it’s an everyday occurrence.

I finish cleaning up before they get done because they can’t seem to stop goofing off, so I take a seat at the table and enjoy watching them together.

After painting his pinky, she puts the cap on the polish with a flourish. “Now, blow on them, Daddy.”

Steel lifts his hands to his face and sends puffs of air over his pink nails before testing them to make sure they’re dry. Then he holds them up next to his face and bats the lashes of his puffy eyes at me and Lyric. “What do you think? Does it clash with the color of my eyes?”

Lyric falls back in her seat with a mouthful of giggles. “So pretty, Daddy.”

“I agree. Pink is definitely your color, bossman.”

He glances back at Lyric. “Thank you, Princess.”

She climbs from her chair, grabs her polish, and steps toward him. She pats his cheek gently. “Anytime you want to look pretty, you come find me, Daddy. I’ll fix you up quick.”

When she skips out of the room singing one of her favorite songs, he just watches her with a face full of love until she’s out of sight, then he turns to me.

“You two are handfuls.”

“Would you really have us any other way?” I ask with a wink.

“Fuck no.” He sighs. “Guess we need to get dressed. Gotta get her to my parents’ and then we got shit to do.”

Just the reminder of what we have to do today has my jovial mood dropping.

Right.

The film and facing the club.

Sounds like so much fun.

Steel reads my pensive mood because he grabs me by the hips when I go to move out of the kitchen and pulls me in between his thighs. “Shit’s good, baby girl. We’ll handle Killer now that the club knows why he’s been after us. Told you I got you. Meant it.”

“I know. I’m just ready for this all to be over with.”

“Soon.”

“Hopefully,” I murmur, not liking the dread that’s building in my gut.

“Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Dark clouds are rolling in, warning of the impending danger that’s soon to be heading our way. They’re ominous and full of malicious intent, seeking their next targets.

Mother Nature is giving us a preview of what’s to come, and it scares the hell out of me.

Chapter thirty-six

After dropping Lyric offwith my parents for the day, Bailee takes me back to the place I picked her up months ago.

“You hid it here?” I ask. “How the hell do we know it’s still here, or what kind of condition it’s in?”

She shrugs. “We don’t. I did what I could to make sure it would stay protected until I could retrieve it, but there was always going to be the risk of something happening to it. Hopefully, the moisture and stuff didn’t mess with it.”

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