Page 52 of Steel

“I’ll be as safe as I can.”

He grabs me by the back of my neck and pulls me to him. His other hand slides under my shirt to grab a handful of my ass as he settles his mouth over my lips, quickly shoving his tongue inside to dance with mine.

All too soon, he’s pulling away, smacking me on the ass, and walking out the door with a muttered, “Later, baby girl.”

Blowing out a deep breath, I scrub my hands over my face and then lock up behind him as I go over our time together, starting from the moment he stalked inside. My mind locks onto the way he reacted when I tried to undo his jeans, and my brows furrow as I try to figure out what about it doesn’t sit right with me.

Maybe I’m just reading too much into it. He could have just been in a hurry to fuck me. That’s the way it seemed, but that theory doesn’t sit right in my gut. No, there was something else behind it. I just don’t know what. Then I remember the first night he came to me and the fact that he was in the middle offucking a club girl. Is that what caused his reaction? Did he not want me to touch him because one of them already had?

Just the thought has my stomach rolling as bitterness fills the back of my throat.

Nope, I’m not doing this. I am not freaking driving myself crazy like I used to, wondering what he’s doing,whohe’s doing. I refuse to let myself go down that dark road. The darkness nearly pulled me under the last time we were in whatever fucked-up relationship we had, and that’s one place I can’t allow myself to go again.

I smack the light switch, snapping off the light in the living room. “Stupid sexy biker, coming in with his stupid sexy body, and shoving his stupid sexy dick in my stupid hussy of a vagina,” I mutter as I shuffle over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. “It’s no wonder I’m all freaking dick-stupid.”

Exhaustion weighs on me as I reach the bedroom, but I want to check in with Reed before I fall asleep to see if they’ve had luck in finding anything on the Night Skulls. Steel is keeping stuff close, and it’s frustrating because I’m the one they’re trying to freaking unalive, yet I don’t know about anything he’s found. At least with my brother, I have a chance of not being kept in the dark and can prepare myself. I know I came to Steel for protection, but I also need to have the information to protect myself when he’s not around.

The damp spot on the shirt grosses me out each time it brushes against my skin, so while I wait for Reed to pick up, I grab a clean t-shirt from my drawer. It’s another one of Steel’s that I kept from our last foray into a semi-relationship.

“You good, Bails?” Reed asks when he answers my call.

“Yeah. Just tired. Have you all found anything yet?”

He sighs, and the familiar sound of him pouring bourbon into a glass passes over the line. “Not much. Hell, less than not much actually. Colby’s working her ass off too. What about you all?”

As much as I want to tell him about Brooke and the note, I keep quiet since we’re not sure whether it’s connected to me and the Night Skulls or if it has to do with whatever the Dirty Mavericks have going on. Reed will have mine and Steel’s ass if he finds out from someone else or some other way later.

We talk about the few small things that Steel has told me about Killer and the Night Skulls, hoping that maybe something will give Emmy Lou, Willow, or Colby another direction to go in. He fills me in on how Mom, Jedreck, and Macey are. It’s still weird but also sort of wonderful talking about our baby sister.

“Stay safe. Love you, brat,” Reed says softly.

“You all too. These guys are no joke. Love you too, nugget.”

I end the call on his growl of displeasure at the nickname I’ve called him for as long as I can remember. Can’t really blame him. I remember him trying corn nuggets for the first time when we were out somewhere. It was this little off-the-wall place we were trying out because we got tired of the highbrow places Mom and Dad were always making us go to. The cook had sort of overcooked them, and they resembled something you’d find in a litter box. My brother, being the manly man he feels he has to prove himself to be, tried to overlook the visual and was going to go with taste, but when he brought it to his mouth and took a bite, the dry texture of the small little morsel and the burnt grease smell ended up being too much of a combination. His face turned this sickly shade of green, and he was rushing from the booth toward the bathroom as quickly as he could.

When he got back, his pallor was ashen, and his eyes were huge. He looked at me and whispered, “I’ve never tasted shit, Bails, but I imagine that’s what it tastes like. I never want to see another fucking corn nugget for the rest of my life.” Needless to say, he got out of there pretty fast. Ever since then, I’ve called him ‘nugget’ because it was freaking funny, and I told him that’swhat he gets for always doing stupid stuff just to prove he’s a man.

My eyes grow heavy, and my thoughts drift back to my sexy biker as I let his sinful smile chase me into my dreams.

At least until it fades into dead onyx eyes in a face vastly different from his, wearing a macabre smile that warns me of the killer stalking me from the shadows.

Chapter fifteen

My jaw clenches whenI pull into the driveway and see Heather’s car sitting beside my Bronco. The lights are off in the house, which means she’s probably made herself at home. After the time I just spent with Bailee, the last thing I want to fucking deal with is Heather’s shit.

Flicking off the engine, I stand there, straddling my bike as I stare at her car, my jaw grinding back and forth. My stomach roils and my skin crawls as I’m reminded of the way I woke up with her mouth on my dick the other morning. There was a time when I wouldn’t have minded that. Hell, I’d have fucked whoever’s face was gracious enough to gift me a morning blowjob.

Fucking Bailee.

It all comes down to her.

Didn’t fucking sit right with me after I fucked Rachel the last time either.

It’s bullshit because I ain’t even in a relationship with Bailee and she’s already got my goddamn balls marked with her fucking name. Matches the claw marks she left on my abdomenand back. Suppose it’s only fair since I left my own little imperfections behind to claim her as mine.

Because that’s what she is.

Mine.

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