Page 81 of Steel

Sonny dials Jameson while Dimitri’s words revolve in my mind. He sent me to the Twisted Kings for a reason, but it’s not the reason he told me in the first place.

I thought I had this figured out. I thought this was almost over.

I was wrong.

I assumed my role in this mess was done. Now, I’m worried it’s only the beginning.

22

Steel

Soul stops at myside the moment I shut the door to my truck, eyeing Austin sitting in the passenger seat.

“Where’s your girl today, Steel?” He knocks me on the shoulder as I walk around the front.

“Not my girl.”

“So you don’t care if I have a run at her then?” Soul grins when I freeze in place. “Cute little thing. Fiery, too, from what I’ve heard. I’m sure she’d—”

I grab the front of his shirt and pull him closer. “I’ll strip you of your fucking cut if you finish that sentence.”

“Mm-hmm.” Soul smiles, fixing his shirt when I release him. “That’s what I thought.Notyour girl.Notyour kid either, apparently.”

He looks over at Austin sitting in my truck, grinning.

“Don’t you have an engine to fix?” I push my hair off my forehead, circling the car to open Austin’s door. “Go do that.”

Soul stalks off, still grinning and seeing through all my shit. It’s why he’s pissing me off—to see what it will take to make me admit what Tempe is to me.

And now here I am, babysitting her brother instead of letting someone more qualified do it. All because Grandma had an appointment today, and Tempe was called into work.

She offered to call one of her friends from school, but the thought of anyone watching him but me pissed me off.

I’m fucking losing it.

Now I’m here at Kings Auto with a four-year-old.

I promised Havoc I’d help while Legacy meets with the contractor about the repairs at Sapphire Rise, and luckily, Austin doesn’t seem to mind tagging along.

“This is the coolest.” Austin hops out of his booster seat, his eyes widening as he looks around the auto body shop. “Is this where you make the bikes superfast?”

“Sometimes.” I plant my hand on the top of his head and lead him into the garage. “Most of the time, we’re just tuning them up.”

“Hey, Steel. Brought us an extra set of hands?” Havoc looks up from the engine he’s working on to wave at Austin.

“Jameson’s gonna teach me how to oil his motorcycle,” Austin answers proudly.

“Change the oil.” I pat him on the top of the head.

“Got it.” Havoc laughs, turning back to the engine he’s rebuilding while I lead Austin to one of the far bays in the garage.

I brought my bike in earlier for maintenance and was halfway done when I got the call about Tempe not having a babysitter. Soul had a lot to say about how fast I jumped in the truck when I hung up, but I ignored him.

“You ever worked on a bike before, big man?” I ask Austin, leading him over to mine.

“No.” He squats down, looking it over. “What’s this?”

“The muffler.”

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