Page 50 of Steel

Tempe lifts her beer to take a sip, but it’s empty, so I nod at Reyes working behind the bar, and he gets her another one.

“Unfortunately.” She takes a sip, and a bead of condensation drips onto her chest. “They weren’t all violent, but she had a thing for bikers.”

“Being a biker doesn’t give a man an excuse to hit a woman.”

Tempe nods, and I’m starting to understand why it’s so hard to break through her defenses. She thinks all men are like her father and that all bikers are like the man who hurt her, when that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“I’m not saying all bikers are bad.” Tempe frowns. “But try telling my mom’s long list of exes that.”

“Give me a list of names, and I will.”Happily.

She shakes her head but keeps her lips sealed because she’s smart enough to know what I’d do with that information.

“Well now you know why you shouldn’t mess with me,” she teases.

“Learned that lesson the first night we met.” I rub my jaw in the spot she almost got me with a right hook. “You’ve got solid technique.”

“I thought I did.” She sighs. “But it didn’t do me any good at the bar last night.”

Her fingers find her throat, and my fists clench at the reminder of the man who choked her.

“Don’t beat yourself up about that.” I tip her chin up when she drops her gaze to the ground. “Knowing what to do and actually doing it when shit goes sideways aretwo different things. All you can do is give ’em hell if they come for you. But you won’t always win.”

“You probably do.”

“Not always.” I shake my head. “Your father was proof of that. Lost a lot of good men because of him.”

Tempe’s eyebrows pinch. “What did he do exactly? If you don’t mind me asking.”

I brush my hair back, taking a long pull of my beer. I’ve asked myself that same question many times over the past nine months, and every time I think I’ve got it figured out, something else comes to light.

Like his daughter ending up at my clubhouse.

She might not be involved with the men who sent her here, but I’m pretty sure they targeted her for a reason. Either to complete a task or to get under my skin. And it’s working.

I set my beer on the bar and swish it around. “Helix thought he was owed something because of an agreement he had with my father. He wasn’t.”

“We aren’t owed anything,” Tempe mumbles, surprising me.

“Not everyone feels that way.”

“Do you?” She tips her chin up. “What do you think you’re owed, Jameson?”

“Not a damn thing, wildfire.” I can’t help but chuckle. “Some people—like your father—look at this patch as an excuse to let out the worst version of themselves. But I got this patch from my father, and him from his. I was born to wear this cut. So do you want to know what I see when I look at it?”

She nods.

“Honor.” I plant my hand over my president patch. “I’ll die for my brothers without hesitation because loyalty is the most important thing to have in this life. The men who understand that know we aren’t owed a damn thing. We’re all here because there are worse places we’d be if we weren’t—if we didn’t have each other. We’re a family. No one comes before anyone else. We survivetogether. It’s an honor to wear this patch, but your father didn’t understand that.”

There’s no use sugarcoating the truth. I have nothing good to say about a man who would betray his own club. A man who willingly took the lives of his brothers in an attempt to overthrow me.

Besides, Tempe strikes me as a girl who can handle a little honesty.

She blinks up at me. “Do you blame me for having his blood in my veins?”

I take a deep breath, tipping my face up to the cloudless sky.

I’d like to hate her for being a product of Helix. I probably should when he’s the reason I’m incapable of trusting anyone but myself lately. But the more I’m around her, the clearer it is—Tempe is nothing like her dad.

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