Page 193 of Steel

The terror in her voice has me letting out a sigh as I agree with her. There’s no sense in having her afraid when it’s not going to matter. Someone will be taking me out of here before much longer. I can give her this bit of peace.

“You’ll give me time?” she asks.

“Yeah.” I call her name again before she hangs up. “Thank you for everything.”

“You’re family, Bails.”

“I was jealous of you, you know? Because I was so sure he loved you.”

“Silly woman. The only person outside of his daughter and his mama that he loves is you. Even if he’s being a goddamn dick about showing it.”

I don’t let her say anything else because headlights swim through the parking lot of the hotel, so I end the call.

Quickly, I type out a message to Wraith.

BAILEE

It was either me or Lyric and all of you. I won’t let you all lose anyone else you care about. I’m the only expendable one. Take care of them for me, please.

My phone slams to the ground as a burly, ugly-looking fucker knocks it out of my hand, and I’m thankful I was able to hit send before it happened. He slams the heel of his boot down on it before grabbing me by my hair.

“Hands behind your back, bitch,” he snarls.

I bite the inside of my cheek to hold back the scream of pain from the hold he has on me. My scalp is on fire, and tears prick my eyes.

He slaps handcuffs on me, and before I can think about anything else, he slams a cloth over my face.

As darkness coats my vision, I can’t help but be happy that everyone I love is now safe.

Chapter forty-eight

My eyes flutter open,and I raise my head with a groan. Sharp throbs behind my eyes nearly make me whimper. I’m getting too goddamn old to be drinking as much as I did last night. Can barely fucking remember the shit that went down after I walked away from Bailee.

I freeze when I feel the bed move beside me. Slowly, my head swivels in that direction, my heart pounding harder than ever.

Fuck. Please tell me I didn’t fuck up that much.

Ella, one of the newer club girls, sighs as she sits up.

My eyes bounce between us, noting that we’re both fully dressed, and some of the panic leaves me. It doesn’t matter, though, considering I woke up beside a woman who isn’t mine.

Flashes of last night fly through my mind, helping me piece together what happened and how I ended up here. I was fucking wasted. Hearing Bailee admit that she did fight with Heather fucked with me because it’s just not her. She knows the hell that Heather tries to put me through with Lyric, so I don’t know why she would risk it. It didn’t take me long to realize that I fucked up by not giving her a chance to say her piece. When I went to findher, I didn’t see her anywhere. I’d drunkenly assumed she went back to the house. I tried calling her a few times, but she never answered, so I figured she was still mad at me.

After that, I was just sad. I keep fucking up with her, and she’s eventually going to have enough. As I stumbled my way through the clubhouse, I ran into Ella, who was trying to hide out from everyone. She told me she didn’t want to have to fuck anyone that night, so I promised she could hide out with me if she helped me to my room because I didn’t want to fuck anyone either. I remember her helping me to bed and removing my boots before she climbed in beside me, staying on top of the covers.

Before I get the chance to say anything, my bedroom door slams open and there’s a woman breathing fire in our direction.

“You stupid, goddamn idiot,” Emmy Lou yells, her eyes roaming between me and Ella with disgust. “You don’t know what the fuck you did.”

Wraith barges in, gently moving Emmy Lou out of the way. His eyes shoot daggers at me and Ella as he squeezes his phone in his fist.

“Get the fuck out,” he barks at Ella.

She grimaces and scrambles from the bed, murmuring a quick “sorry” to each of us before disappearing through the bedroom door.

I sigh, sitting up on the edge of the bed, and run my fingers through my hair. “The hell is goin’ on?”

“Where’s Bails, Steel?” Emmy Lou demands.

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