Page 175 of Steel

“Listen, mister big bad biker dude. If a single piece of hair is harmed on her head, I’m going to come for you. I’ve got skills you’d be surprised about, and I can promise that I’ll make it hurt. And if I can’t make it hurt, I have five very psychotic men who can.”

My eyes widen at the seriousness of her words. Her tone ensures me there is absolute truth in them, and I wonder if there is something about my best friend I don’t know.

And five men?

What the hell have I been missing?

“Do what I can,” Steel promises in that way of his.

“Good. Now, where’s this precious girl? I want to say hi.”

“Sorry, babe. She’s sleeping,” I tell her.

“Darn. Okay. Next time then.”

“Absolutely. Just like you’re going to tell me all about these five men.”

We chat for a bit longer before we end our call.

Steel pulls me back between his legs and rests his chin on my head. “She sounds great.”

“She is. Lena has been my best friend for a really long time.”

“Like that she’s got balls to go toe-to-toe with me.”

I tilt my head back so I can peer up at him. “Was it just me or did her tone actually have a threat behind it?”

“Not wrong. That new?”

I think back over our friendship, trying to remember any other time that dark tone came out.

Biting my lip, I slowly shake my head. “Actually, when all that ugly stuff came out about my dad and his friends, she sounded like that. And when she caught sight of some of the bruises I was hiding that my dad left on me.”

Steel’s body tightens behind me. “Come again?”

There’s no use in trying to act like I didn’t say anything. He’ll refuse to let it drop. “I’ll go over it only once, so listen closely. It’s not something I like talking about. Dad was abusive while I was growing up. Fortunately for my brothers, I was the only one he liked having a go at. He was great at leaving the bruises and other wounds in places no one could see, unless I was naked. Neither Reed nor Jedreck ever knew. He would threaten to end them if I ever spoke one word about it. There were so many times I almost let him steal my light, but I couldn’t give him the satisfaction. I may have been abused, but there was no way I was going to let that be how I was defined for the rest of my life.”

Steel reaches over to grab hold of my legs and pulls them across his, as if he knows this conversation isn’t easy for me.

“Bet that motherfucker didn’t like that,” Steel says, his thumb caressing my ankle.

A small smile flirts around my mouth. “You’d be right. He hated that he couldn’t break me. That’s the one thing he failed to realize, how deep my love for others went. He could never understand the depths I’d go to or the hell I’d walk through if it meant protecting someone I loved. How could he? He’d have to have a heart to do that, and I’d realized long ago that he didn’t have one.”

He grunts. “Sounds ‘bout right. Men like him fuckin’ hate when they can’t break the unbreakable.”

I stare at him with an undecipherable look and shake my head. “Don’t mistake me, Steel. I’m not unbreakable. I think most everyone has something that can break them. He just wasn’t it for me. Anyway, it stopped for the most part after I moved out.”

“For the most part?”

I shrug. “Anytime he could get his hands on me, he did. My dad hated—hates—me, and I’ve never been able to figure out why.”

“Your mom?”

“Pretty sure she knew.”

He grabs my chin and turns my head. “Won’t ever touch you again.”

I smile. “I know, bossman. He’s in prison serving consecutive life sentences for multiple murders. It’s one of the few times old money in a small town didn’t win.”

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