Laced Steel: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Steel Crew Book 3)

by Mj Fields

“I’ll try,” Gabrielle says sweetly.

  Justice is leaning against the counter, arms crossed over his chest, as Mom plates a slice of pizza.

  She turns to hand it to him.

  He holds up his hand. “I’m good, Mom, but thanks.”

  She steps forward and feels his head with the back of her hand. “You don’t feel feverish, and this is your favorite. Is your stomach off?”

  He lifts a shoulder. “Nah.”

  “You and Dad worked out for three hours; you have to fuel up.” Mom holds out the plate.

  He glances at me then back at Mom and takes the plate. “It is, but tomorrow, I eat clean.”

  “And Sunday?” Mom looks at Gabrielle. “Dinner at Momma Joe’s. Always great food, not always good on the body.”

  Gabrielle smiles politely as she picks at her pizza.

  Mom looks back at Justice as I grab a slice of pizza and a napkin. “Did you tell Truth about tomorrow night yet?”

  He shoves half the folded slice of pizza in his mouth and shakes his head.

  “What about tomorrow night?” I ask.

  Justice raises his eyebrow at Mom, and she makes an oops face.

  I repeat, “What about tomorrow night?”

  Justice chews his pizza then swallows it down. “It’s a surprise.”

  “I hate surprises,” I tell him.

  “We’re well aware.” Mom laughs as she walks to the sink, hip-checks Justice, and then wets a washcloth as she looks up at Justice. “Sorry.”

  He pops a kiss to the top of her head. “No big deal. Gonna be fun to see Truth stomp around and wonder what the hell’s going on until then.”

  “Be nice,” Mom says as she turns around and begins wiping up the crumbs.

  “Trust me”—he glares at me—“I am.”

  My phone rings, and I secretly hope it’s Tobias telling me he made it home and lying to me as he tells me my dad didn’t make shit uncomfortable. When Dad’s number pops up, though, I am reluctant to answer, worried he might ask me to meet him somewhere with a shovel to hide a body.

  I bite the bullet and answer anyway. “Hey, Dad.”

  “Am I on speaker?” he asks.

  “You’re never on speaker,” I sigh, exasperated, and Mom laughs.

  “Put me on,” he says. His mood is upbeat, so he’s either already hidden the body or things went smoother than I imagined. “Truth. Speaker. Now.”

  “Fine,” I say, pulling the phone away from my ear and hitting the speaker button. “Please don’t be embarrassing.”

  “Embarrassing is coming face-to-face with two boys who got something for my girl; one whose face is pinched up like he might shit his pants. Well, in his case, tights.”

  “Oh my God, Dad, really?” I ask as Justice laughs.

  “And the one I just dropped off, who either pissed his pants or”—he stops—“hoping he spilt a drink. Regardless, neither are your type, so—”

  “The point of the call, Dad?” I groan.

  “Gabs around?”

  “Her name is Gabrielle,” I correct him.

  “She’s Gabs now. Couldn’t get a word in edgewise with her around. Girl never stops talking.” He laughs at himself.

  I slap my hand over my face, and Mom and Gabrielle giggle.

  “That you, Gabs?”

  “Yeah, I’m here, Mr. Steel.”

  “Name’s Cyrus, Gabs.”

  “Gotcha,” she says, shaking her head.

  “This thing licensed and insured?”

  Her smile falls. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

  “That’s cool. Pretty sure I could outrun M.P.D. with her. Anyway, Gabs, you mind if I take my wife for a spin?”

  “Dad!” I gasp.

  “Thing’s cool as shit.” Dad laughs.

  “Of course.” Gabrielle laughs, really laughs.

  “Sweet. Nice chat, Gabs. Birdie, get your ass out here in two. We need one of these, and I’m gonna convince you of that.”

  “Okay.”

  “Make sure you have a coat or grab a blanket; cold out here. Grab me a shirt, too. Nips are like nails.”

  “Dad, gross. I’m taking you off speaker.”

  “Love you, little bird.”

  “Yeah, I know. Love you, too.”

  “You better.” He ends the call.

  As soon as Mom’s out the door, Justice uncrosses his arms and walks over to the island, plants his hands on it, and leans in.

  “Justice, don’t.”

  Ignoring me, he glares at Gabrielle. “I don’t know what your game here is, but I’m not buying this overnight kiss and make up shit.”

  She clears her throat and sits up straight. “Wouldn’t expect you to.”

  “She’s much nicer than I am. Kind of fucking naïve when it comes to—”

  “Knock it off, Justice,” I snap.

  Gabrielle crosses her arms in front of her chest. “I get that she’s a better person than me.”

  “We don’t know that,” I say, trying my best to defuse the situation.

  “Fuck we don’t.” Justice laughs maniacally. “She’s been nothing but a cu—”

  “Stop it!” I yell at him.

  He stands up, rolls his neck, and crosses his arms.

  More calmly, I say, “We’re moving forward.”

  “You see the good in everyone, T. I see what’s real.” He nods toward Gabrielle, who sits like a statue, face unchanging, eyes heavy.

  “I’m a good judge of character, Justice. And I’m telling you, she’s not a bad person.”

  “Truth, you don’t have to defend me. I don’t deserve it.”

  “Fucking right you don’t.” He slams his fist on the island. “You come to my house and take pictures of us through a window, and then try to gaslight my sister less than a week ago, and here you sit, eating my fucking food, smiling in my mother’s face, acting like you aren’t some little posh twat who—”

  “Justice! Stop!”

  “No, by all means, let him continue.” Gabrielle shrugs.

  “I’m done with you.” He points at her then looks at me and shakes his head. “T, I get you think the best of people, I get you think she’s being true to you, I get you believe people can change, and I’m not fighting any of that shit. I love you, will defend you with my last breath, but she”—he sneers as he points at her, still looking at me—“fucks you over one more time, and she’s gonna come face-to-face with her crimes, and justice will be served.”

  “Cute little play on words,” Gabrielle retorts.

  “You’ll wish you were playing on something, Queenie.”

  “You don’t know jack about me,” she says, sounding calmer than I expected.

  I push off the stool and grab her hand. “Come on, Gabrielle; let’s—”

  “Yeah, well, you don’t know jack unless it’s some dude’s bean stalk you climbed, thinking it was the popularity pole.” Justice laughs at her.

  She blinks a few times then looks at me. “I can promise you, if I wasn’t being sincere enough before, I will be just to spite him.” She looks at Justice. “And I can promise you …” She stops and shakes her head.

  “Promise me what?” he snaps.

  She shakes her head again. “You and I will never be friends. Even when I smile in your face, I will always remember the way you treat me. And you think you’re any better than me?”

  “I’m defending my family!”

  “And I mine.” She slides off her stool, and I tug her toward the stairway as she yells over her shoulder, “To show good faith to Truth, I’m going to tell you you’re a fucking idiot.”

  “T, you better sleep with one eye open tonight with this crazy bitch in your room.”

  “Oh my God, please, both of you stop!”

  “He’s an idiot because working out for three hours before a fight is stupid.”

  “You calling me stupid?” Justice growls.

  “Twist it however you want,” she snaps. “You, or your choices, doesn’t matter to me either way.�
�

  Stomach in knots, I walk into my room. “I’ll get fresh linens for—”

  “No, this is more than fine. I’ve put you out enough,” she says, walking toward the twin daybed in the far corner of my room and pulling the covers back.

  “How about a tee-shirt or something to sleep in?” I ask as she tosses her sweatshirt off.

  “I sleep nude.”

  Awkward.

  She looks back at me. “Will that be an issue?”

  I shrug.

  “I’ll leave my panties on.” She shimmies out of her sweats, and my door flies open.

  Justice points at me. “I’m not done with this conversation yet.”

  “Justice!” I gasp.

  “He’s fine. He has the right to say whatever he wishes, and I have the right to tune him out.”

  I glance back at her, and she’s legit standing naked, except for skimpy black underwear.

  She yawns and makes a show of stretching, hiding nothing from my brother.

  I snap my head back to Justice, who is livid.

  “Give her some fucking clothes, T. Hers have apparently fallen off.”

  “This is how I sleep,” she says smugly.

  Justice scrubs his hand over his face then looks right back at naked Gabrielle. “Explain something to me.”

  “It’s late, and I’m not sure I have it in me to do so,” she says, turning and crawling into the bed. Her undies happen to be a thong.

  Justice’s shirt flies past my head. “Put some fucking clothes on in my home. Quit flaunting your shit like I’ve never seen tits and ass. Newsflash: I’ve seen bigger and better.”

  She sits up, allowing the blanket to drop, exposing her perfect boobs again, as she pulls the shirt over her head. “Does this work for you?”

  “Fuck yes, it does,” he snaps.

  “Hmm …” she says, lying down.

  He says not a thing as he stands there, looking over at her. I’m glad for his sake that her back is to him and she can’t see the way he’s looking at her, but if I had a handheld mirror to shove in his face, I would.

  “Is he still here, Truth?” she asks.

  “Yeah,” I answer quietly.

  “Do you need to come sniff me, Justice?”

  “Why? Is your pussy—”

  I push my hands against his chest and push him out the door. “Okay, goodnight.”

  “Before you leave, Justice,” Gabby says from behind me, “your sister is in your corner one hundred percent. In fact, she’s only being nice to me to make things easier for you.”

  “What the fuck is she talking about, T?” he snaps.

  “Nothing.” And now I want to kick her ass.

  “Tobias asked her to accept my apology.”

  “You fucking him?” Justice asks her, and it shocks both me and him.

  Gabby laughs. “He’s the only popularity pole I haven’t had to climb, so no. He’s like a brother to me.”

  “Bullshit, you two never even talk.”

  “Open your eyes. He doesn’t talk to anyone.” Anger shakes her voice, and I hear her get up.

  I turn to see her walk toward us.

  “He didn’t want this fight—you did.”

  “Because of shit you did,” Justice snaps at her.

  I start to explain, “Actually, she didn’t—”

  “It was because of me. I own it. Don’t defend me, please. It wouldn’t mean a thing, anyway. Not to him or to me,” she says then looks at Justice. “He’s less than three months from being free of this shit. Do not ruin it for him.”

  She turns and looks around. “Where’s the bathroom?”

  “Right through there.”

  “Thank you, Truth, truly.”

  As soon as she shuts the door, Justice leans in. “You got some shit you’re not telling me?”

  I look down to avoid his scrutinizing eyes.

  “T, come on; this is us.”

  I look up and nod. “I know it is. Nothing’s changed.”

  “Why you trusting her?”

  “I don’t know, okay? I just think things are more than they appear.”

  “Never thought this was anything more than mean girls’ shit, T. But I’m telling you, trusting her is a bad idea. I feel it in my bones.”

  “Yeah, well, I trust her more than the horsemen.”

  “The what?”

  I half-laugh at myself, because honestly, I am so confused by everything, including my emotions lately. “Tobias, Harrison, Miles, and Kai. I nicknamed them the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Doom and gloom shit. Conquest, war, famine, and death.”

  “T, you need to step back after this shit tomorrow. You need to bring it back home.”

  “I know.”

  “I hope you do.” He palms the back of my head and kisses the top of it. “I hope you do.”

  “Sorry, I really am.”

  He smirks. “Aside from this shit tonight, I’m actually pretty fucking psyched about it.”

  Gabby walks out of the bathroom. “Then maybe you’re the one who needs to bring it home.”

  “ ’Bout ready to call Uncle Z and ask to borrow a ball gag,” he snaps as he turns and walks down the hall.

  I shut the door then walk to the edge of my bed and sit.

  Gabby rolls over and looks at me. “Three.”

  “What?”

  “Three horsemen.”

  A chill runs up my spine. “Is it that bad?”

  “Depends on how deep they drag you in.”

  “Gabrielle?”

  “Please don’t ask, for your sake and mine.”

  “It’s just high school, right?” I ask.

  She smiles sadly. “For those lucky enough for it to be, that it is.”

  “Are you … safe?”

  She nods and smiles. “I’m good, Truth.”

  “Because we would help you.”

  “Oddly, I believe that.”

  “Do you need help?”

  She laughs. “Your brother seems to think so.”

  “Why do you take sleeping pills?”

  The softness in her eyes starts to fade.

  “I’m sorry. I know we aren’t there yet.”

  She shakes her head. “Maybe someday.”

  “Tired?”

  “Have you ever taken a sleeping pill?” she asks.

  I shake my head.

  “Fucking exhausted.”

  “Okay. Goodnight, Gabby.”

  “Answer a question for me?”

  “Sure,” I say, turning out the light.

  “Do you like Tobias?”

  Instead of asking, You mean, the boy I was grinding on earlier? I go with, “The guy who one minute is nice to me, and the next minute, he’s a tyrant?”

  She yawns. “He wasn’t like that up until a few months ago.”

  “So, was he mean all the time or …?” I laugh.

  “Happy, content, still a bit of a loner, but the best kind of guy out there.”

  “What happened?”

  She sighs. “Not really sure.”

  “Let me guess, he won’t talk about it.”

  “Exactly.” She yawns again. “But that’s when we all felt the shift.”

  “The shift?”

  “No more fights, no more cards at his place, no more hanging out even. He changed.”

  “Let me guess, it happened when we moved here.”

  She’s quiet, really quiet, and then she finally says, “Never really thought about it, but I guess it was.”

  My chest tightens as I wonder what that means, hoping it’s because he likes me and not that he despises me.

  “He likes you, Truth, and for some reason, he trusts you.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “Not a talker, remember? But I can tell he does. Otherwise, he wouldn’t try forcing us to be friends.”

  “Not to be rude, but I guess I don’t understand that, either. After this afternoon, I actually think he’s in love with you.”

  “No, definitely
not.” She laughs.

  “How do you know?”

  She sighs loudly. “Your brother, although an asshole, wasn’t wrong.”

  “About what?”

  She chuckles. “The popularity pole.”

  “Ouch,” I whisper.

  “It is what it is. I don’t regret my decisions, just some of my actions. But Tobias was the first I tried to sink my claws into, so to speak. He flat-out said, not my type.”

  “I can see that.”

  “Ouch,” she says now.

  “No, not like that. I’m guessing he likes blondes with tiny tits and narrow asses.”

  She laughs. “Downward Dee?”

  I laugh, too. “Yoga will never be the same.”

  “So, are you gonna go after him?” she asks.

  Turned down once already, no, thank you, I think.

  “No.”

  “How about Harrison?”

  “If I was ever really into him, how do you think that would go over?”

  She laughs louder now. “Wasn’t trying to eavesdrop at the game, but seriously freaking hilarious.”

  “Yeah, they’re cool.”

  “Better than cool, Truth Steel. You have a great family.”

  “I’m sure yours is, as well.”

  “Yeah,” she whispers.

  After a few minutes of silence, Gabby yawns my name, “Truth?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Your parents don’t know about me or the video, do they?”

  “No.”

  “You seem really close, so why?”

  “That would only tighten the leash.”

  “Understood. Goodnight.”

  “Night.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Idiom

  Get your act together.

  Truth

  What if it’s not an act?

  I’m not a quiet waker-upper, but knowing I have a guest in the room, who doesn’t know how obnoxious I can be with my normal stretch and squeal routine or, God forbid, Mom’s “Love Myself” by Hailee Steinfeld dance party, I quietly stretch my arms over my head and do the best I can while remaining quiet.

  When I look down, I realize that someone, probably Justice, removed the boot from my leg when I forgot from the overstimulation of the day and evening.

  Tiny T, I think.

  Don’t even think about it, Rocky, I scold myself as I feel my cheeks get hot. It was hard enough to fall asleep last night wishing I hadn’t read him wrong and basically tried to—no, actually did—mount him in my first, of many I assume, blotched attempts at seduction.