Page 73 of Steel

Too bad for him, I plan on continuing to do so. As soon as I’m able to, I’m going to make the call to Reed and see if he can find me somewhere that’s safe to stay that’s not home. He’ll have the resources to make sure I have enough protection to keep frombeing killed until I can get the pictures I took of Swirly’s murder to the police. Or maybe I’ll have Reed give them to Emmy Lou so they can figure out the best person to get them to. They have that friend in the FBI who I’m sure would love to get their hands on those images.

Steel calls again, but I send him to voicemail, shoving the phone in my pocket and grabbing the tray of drinks to carry over to a table full of a bachelor party in action. The groom-to-be looks so uncomfortable that I almost feel sorry for him, but he’s a grown ass man who had the ability to say no if he wanted to. I just hope his fiancée knows where he’s at and that his buddies are in the process of buying him a damn lap dance.

I drop the drinks off with a tight smile before heading back to the bar to grab another order.

For the next few hours, I field roaming hands, offers to hook up, and familiar faces.

“Here you go, sugar,” I say, setting a customer’s drink down in front of him.

I’m usually put off by the leering looks I get from the men who come in here, but the attention I’m receiving from this one feels nice after the bullshit Steel has once again put me through. It’s not like it’s a hardship to let him give it to me. The man is damn good looking. I mean, he doesn’t hold a candle to Steel—he’s way too pretty—but he’s enough that I’d spend a few hours between the sheets with him and not regret it. That’s what makes it so easy to flirt back with him.

Which is what Steel finds when he rolls into the building, a violent electrical storm of lividity that sucks the oxygen from the air around him.

When he stops beside us, he stares down at where the pretty boy is touching my arm. In his mind, he’s already ripped it off me. Hell, he’s probably already ripped it off the poor guy too.

Fucking hypocrite.

The guy jerks his hand away and scrambles from his seat, putting as much space between us and him as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d pissed himself along the way.

I sigh. He may have had a pretty face, but he’d have been useless in other areas, it seems. All it took was one look from a pissed-off biker and he was running scared.

I peer up at Steel.

Okay, granted, that pissed-off biker looks to be on the verge of murder right now, but that’s beside the point.

“Not really sure why you’re looking at me like that,” I mutter, grabbing the pretty boy’s glass and taking it to the sink to be cleaned and sanitized.

Before I realize what’s happening, Steel places his palms on the center of the bar and freaking leaps over it, landing on the side that I’m on, and then marches over to where I’m at. I’m still stunned speechless that I don’t even put up a protest when he anchors his fingers around my wrist and starts to pull me behind him.

Reva is waiting at the end of the bar with a raised brow. “She’s working.”

“Not right now. She’s on break.”

She obviously hears the dark tone in his voice too because instead of sassing back like she normally would, she just nods and scoots over to let us pass by.

My brain slowly begins to function again, but I know we’ve already drawn enough attention to ourselves, so I follow behind him reluctantly when all I want to do is pull away from his touch.

The skin beneath his fingers is on fire, branding me an adulteress, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

He lets me go when he realizes I’m not going to run from him and continues to lead us to my apartment. As soon as we’re inside and I have the door shut behind me, he twirls my way.

“Why the fuck have you been declinin’ my calls and leavin’ me on fuckin’ read? Did it not occur to you that I’d be fuckin’ worried about you when you did that? What the hell is going on, Hummingbird?”

I flinch at the pet name, and I know he doesn’t miss it because he tries to wrap me in his arms. I jerk away with a scowl, scooting around him and putting distance between us.

Surprise flashes across his face and then anger. “The fuck, Bailee? You better open your goddamn mouth right now and tell me what the fuck is goin’ on before I lose my motherfuckin’ mind.”

His image goes hazy as tears fill my eyes. “You want to know what’s going on? How about the fact that I called you yesterday because I was so freaking worried about your state of mind, but you didn’t answer.”

Steel’s brows furrow. “The fuck? I didn’t have no missed calls, baby girl.”

I snort. “No fucking shit. You know why? Because yourOld Lady,” I spit the words out, “answered the phone. Heather was more than happy to tell me how she was the one with you at the funeral and how I was insignificant.” I dash away the tears that drip down my face. “You’re a freaking asshole for making me the other woman, Steel.”

His hands clench, and he takes a step in my direction, but the moment I back up, he stops. “Heather is full of goddamn shit,” he spits out, his face flushed in his anger, his pretty green eyes spitting fire. “Just tryin’ to start fuckin’ drama.”

“Have you been with her since I’ve been back in your life?” I ask.

The way his face completely blanks and his body stills tells me everything I need to know and a sob tears from my chest. I wrap my arms around myself.

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