by Nina Levine
Nitro
“The Red” by Chevelle
After Church, I headed over to my sister’s house, not sure if I’d find her there or at the bank where she worked. She lived a block from me, having moved out of my place a few years ago.
I found her sleeping on her couch, a bottle of cheap wine still in her hands. Swiping it out of her grip, I crouched next to her. “Lynny, wake up.” Finding her in this state was becoming a common occurrence. Marilyn had never been a drinker, but lately she’d started, and I hated watching her sink further into a depressed state.
She stirred as I nudged her.
“You took the day off work?” I asked.
Nodding, she sat up slowly. “Yeah.” She grimaced in pain and placed her hand against her forehead. “God, why did you wake me?”
“You feel like hell?”
“Don’t give me grief, Nitro. I needed to take the edge off.”
I stood. “I get it, but fuck, you’re not even trying.”
Anger filled her features and she stood, too. “I have been trying.”
“No,” I snapped. “You were trying. Now, you’ve given up, and I’ll be fucked if I’m gonna let you fucking give up. Not after everything we’ve been through already.”
I watched as the anger seeped out of her, hating every second of that, because I didn’t want her to lose that feeling. You could run on anger, and I needed Lynny to fucking run. “I’m tired of trying. That man….” Her voice drifted off and tears streamed down her face. “He wrecked me, Nitro.” Staring at me through those tears, she uttered the words I’d feared for years, “I don’t want to try anymore. I’m done.”
Fuck.
I wrapped my hands around her biceps and held on tight. “That man is dead. He can’t hurt you anymore. And you are not fucking done.”
“You don’t get it. I don’t want to go on.”
I let her go and she dropped back down to the couch. Raking my fingers through my hair, I paced the small room, my mind turning over possibilities for dealing with this situation. Eventually, I pulled out my phone and called her doctor.
She sat motionless and watched as I made an appointment for her. After I ended the call, I yanked her up and said, “Get dressed, your appointment is in forty minutes.”
“He can’t help me.”
Red blurred my vision and my muscles tensed. Anger punched through me, and while I knew I wasn’t so much enraged by her, but by the asshole who did this, I couldn’t contain it while around her. One look at my sister and all I could think about was him. And I couldn’t stop myself from spewing words laced with the anger that consumed me. “Yes, he can, and he will. And you will let him. I’m not taking no for an answer, Marilyn. You got that?”
She shrunk away from me as I bellowed my order. When I’d finished, she slapped my face. “Fuck you! You’re supposed to be on my side. You’re not supposed to treat me like shit.”
I forced out a harsh breath and scrubbed my face. This was not going down how it should have. And yet, I kept going, fuelled by a desperate need to save my sister. Yanking her to her bedroom, I ripped open her closet. “Choose something to wear, put it on and meet me in the lounge room within five minutes.” I turned to leave the room without waiting for her reply. As I left, I barked, “This is me being on your side, Lynny. Fucking deal with it.”
* * *
“Thank you.”
Eyeing Renee, I nodded. “She fought us all the way, but in the end she agreed to go voluntarily.”
I’d just returned from the hospital where Marilyn had been admitted. Her doctor held the same concerns I did, so he’d pushed for her to agree to treatment.
“Should I pack a bag for her and take it to the hospital?”
“Yeah.” I checked my watch. “I’ll come back in about two hours to take you. I’ve just got some club stuff to do.”
“Okay.”
“And you’ll stay with me while she’s there.” At her frown, I added, “Don’t argue with me, Renee. I’ve got some serious shit going on with the club at the moment and I don’t need to be worrying about you out there on your own.”
Her frown morphed into a scowl. “I swear, you’d think you were my father with the way you carry on.”
A text from Hyde distracted me.
Hyde: Where are you? Got a problem with Sutherland.
Me: At Marilyn’s.
Hyde: Get ready to leave. We’ll swing by.
“I’ve gotta go,” I said to Renee. “A problem’s just come up, so I may be longer than two hours. I’ll text you to let you know.”
“I’ll be a good girl and move into your place while you’re gone.”
“Fucking amazing,” I muttered. “A female who listens to me.”
“Don’t go getting too excited. It won’t happen too often.”
I shoved my phone in my pocket. “I’m under no illusions.”
She grinned. “That’s what I love about you.”
“What?”
“You might be unpredictable out there in the world, but here with us, you’re predictable in all the right ways. You’re always here for me and Mum.”
I held her gaze. “Always, kiddo.”
She didn’t know the half of it.
Thank fuck.
* * *
I stared up at the building in front of me before turning to face Hyde. “What’s going on? Why the fuck am I standing in front of Billy Jones’s strip club?”
“Sutherland has cut us off,” Hyde said.
King stepped up onto the footpath. “Dragon got to him.”
Jesus.
Sutherland was our gun supplier. We’d discussed the possibility of this happening if we pursued Silver Hell, but I hadn’t thought it likely.
“We need ammo, and we need a fuckload of it,” Hyde said.
“We stocked up, Hyde. We have time to sort this out,” I said. Billy would supply us if need be, but he was the last person I wanted to call on.
“I don’t want to take that risk,” King said. “I want a plan brought into play today, and Billy is our best option.”
“He’s also our most expensive option,” I pointed out. “I can make some calls, King, work out something else that won’t bleed us like Billy will.”
“We can do that, too, but I’m not ending this day without knowing this is sorted for now,” King said before striding into the club.
Hyde agreed. “I’m with King on this one, Nitro.”
Against my better judgement, I followed them. Billy and I didn’t have the best history, so fuck knew what would take place when we were in the same room.
A brunette with not much on besides a black dress that barely covered her tits and ass greeted us. Glancing between the three of us, she pasted a hesitant smile on her face. “I’m sorry, but we don’t open for another couple of hours.”
“We’re not here for the show, we’re here for Billy,” King said.
Smile still in place, she said, “He’s not here at the moment, sorry.”
King’s nostrils flared and he stepped closer to her. “That might be what you tell everyone else, but it’s not what you tell me. Let him know that King’s here to see him.”
She blinked as she faltered on her words. “Honestly, he’s not here at the moment.”
King’s voice darkened with menace. “I don’t believe you. Take me to his office.” He paused for a moment before barking, “Now!”
Fear chased her smile away and she jumped in fright. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“Gentlemen,” a commanding female voice sounded from behind us. A voice I knew. “I don’t appreciate you intimidating my girls.”
Turning, I found Tatum standing with her arms crossed over her chest, a hard glare in place. Black jeans painted her long legs and a leather biker jacket covered her tits. Stilettos gave her height, and her eyes met mine with little effort. “Vegas,” I murmured, taken aback. This woman standing in front of me was not at all like the woman I rescued
the previous night. Sure, her eye was swollen and her face and neck were bruised from the beating she suffered, but she stood tall and fucking fierce. And as she shifted her gaze between the three of us, she didn’t back down.
King moved towards her, snarling. “Tatum Lee, we meet again.”
She squared her shoulders. “So it would seem, King.”
“Where’s Billy?”
“He’s stepped out for a couple of hours to deal with a family matter. Can I help you with something?”
King stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “I highly fucking doubt that. I didn’t come here for a lap dance.”
She uncrossed her arms. “And you wouldn’t get one off me even if you did.”
He gripped her arm and I caught the wince of pain that escaped her lips. Pulling her to him, he said, “I’m not a fan of your smart mouth, Tatum. Now call your fucking boss and set me up a meeting.”
She didn’t fight him, didn’t even attempt to wiggle out of his hold. Instead, she simply stood there and said, “The last time I saw you, I told you never to touch me again, so take your fucking hands off me and then I’ll see what I can do for you.”
He continued to hold her for another few moments before eventually shoving her out of his grasp.
With eyes that roared her hatred of him, she held his gaze while pulling out her phone. When Billy answered her call, she turned and walked away from us to talk with him.
I tracked her ass as she moved away. Tatum had an ass made for sin and legs that begged a man to spread them. I imagined cutting those clothes off her and sinking my dick deep inside her. That cunt of hers would—
“Nitro!”
Fuck.
I snapped out of my thoughts to find King staring at me. “What?”
“Bronze texted. The raids on Silver Hell clubs will go down tonight.” Bronze had been on our payroll for years and never let us down. If the New South Wales police force knew they had a dirty cop as high in their ranks as he was, they’d probably kill him before they’d admit it to the public. Just over a year ago the state flushed out what they thought to be all their dirty cops, along with the handful of dirty lawyers they had in the DPP. Since then they had heavily promoted their clean force. For Bronze to have survived that, I knew there had to be more amongst their ranks.
“So we need to sort our supply issue out today,” Hyde added.
“Yeah, I’m getting that, Hyde,” I muttered, my eyes still on Tatum.
She ended her call and came back to us. Eyeing King, she said, “Billy will be back in two hours. He’ll see you then.”
With one last glare at her, he turned and stalked out of the club to his bike. She watched him for a beat and then looked at me. “Your president is an ass.”
Hyde scowled at her and left, but I closed the distance between us and said, “You’d do well to keep your thoughts to yourself, Vegas.” Unable to stop myself, I dropped my gaze to her chest. The little I could see of her tits was hardly enough, but I took what I could and then looked back up at her.
She lifted a brow. “If you knew me, Nitro, you’d know I never keep my thoughts to myself. And right now, I’m thinking you’d do well to keep your eyes off my tits.”
“I only take orders from one person in this world and I’m not looking at him.”
“So maybe you should turn your ass around and leave so that you are looking at him.”
I reached out to touch her, wanting to run my finger over those lips that were giving me attitude, but she wrapped her hand around my wrist faster than I saw coming, halting my progress.
“You’d also do well never to touch me without my permission,” she said calmly before dropping my arm and turning to leave.
Fuck, she was feisty. I wasn’t a fan of attitude off a woman, but I couldn’t deny my dick was hard as hell. I wondered what kind of man Tatum Lee usually fucked, because it sure as hell wouldn’t be a man like me. I’d have to fuck that feisty out of her and I doubted she’d surrender easily, if at all.
* * *
I sat on my bike in the clubhouse car park later that night, watching as Brittany left. Thunder cracked overhead as another storm threatened. It’d been a long fucking day and my mind ticked over with thoughts of stopping by a club I frequented to find a woman to lose myself in for the night.
“Nitro.”
Turning, I found Kick approaching, a look of concern etched on his face.
“What’s up?”
“Silver Hell got to that casino surveillance before we did. They’re looking for the blonde who was with you.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, I figured that wasn’t good news since she’s tied up with Billy.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. It definitely wasn’t good news. Not after we’d managed to get Billy to agree to supply us with guns and ammo. If Silver Hell found Tatum, they’d kill her, and Billy would blame us as much as them.
“I’ll take care of it,” I said.
He nodded. “One other thing, I found someone to replace Brittany. Recommended by Nash, so I’m hoping that means she’s not gonna cause any problems.” Nash was a member of the Brisbane Storm chapter so I figured he wouldn’t recommend someone he didn’t trust.
Lightning streaked through the sky as I sped out of the car park. So much for finding some pussy for the night. Instead, I’d be finding Tatum Lee.
10
Tatum
“I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran
I stumbled as I tried to avoid the cracks in the path as I walked the short distance between my front gate and my front door. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the heels I wore or the rum I’d consumed, but I leaned heavily towards the rum. Unfortunately when I decided to drown my feelings with alcohol, I did a bang up job of it. My feelings were successfully numbed for the night. The only problem with that was they would all return tomorrow. Missing my brother was something that would never go away.
As I pushed open my front door, a figure emerged from the shadows on my veranda and a deep voice I’d heard too many times that day, spoke into my ear, “You’ve been drinking, Vegas. Not the best move when people are after you. You’re lucky it’s me here tonight and not someone else.”
As I attempted to process what he said, he placed a hand on the small of my back and guided both of us inside.
Fuck.
He was right; I should have known better. I should have done everything to maintain my vigilance, but the painful memories had assaulted me and rum had been my only escape.
And now Nitro was inside my fucking house.
He directed me down my hallway to the kitchen before my mind finally kicked into gear. As it did, I forced my elbow back into his gut and picked up my pace to move ahead of him.
“Fuck,” he swore as I stepped out of his hold.
Turning to face him, I reached into my handbag for the pocketknife I kept there. Flicking it open, I held it between us defensively. “Don’t take another fucking step.”
Surprise flared in his eyes and he stopped moving. “Go fucking figure,” he murmured.
“Go figure what?” I snapped.
He watched me silently for a few moments before stepping forward. His damn reflexes were faster than mine and he swiftly took the knife from me. His hard eyes met mine. “You’ve got a thing for knives, Vegas?”
I slammed my hands against his chest. “Why the fuck do you keep calling me Vegas?”
A vein pulsed in his temple and he clenched his jaw. “Because you’re pretty on the outside but dark and dirty”—he pressed a finger to my chest—“in here.”
My breaths lay trapped in my throat as heat flamed my cheeks. I stared at him while self-loathing filled me. He had no idea how right he was. “Fuck you,” I spat, taking a step back, almost stumbling again.
With a clenched jaw and flared nostrils, he lunged forward, catching me around the waist. He then backed me up against the wall, pressing his body hard against mine. Our breaths came hard and fast as we glared at ea
ch other. “I recognise fucked-up when I see it, Tatum. It’s like looking in a fucking mirror.”
I wiggled my arms up between our bodies so I could try to force some space between us, even if it was only a tiny amount of distance. The pain this all caused was almost too much, but no way would I show him that. Instead, I focused on breathing through it, hoping it would subside quickly. “I am nothing like you.”
He nodded. “Yeah, you are. I’ve done my research.”
I swallowed hard, taking in what he’d said while trying to force my shame away. It didn’t matter how many times I told myself I’d moved past my self-disgust, it was a lie; it still consumed me.
When I didn’t speak, he continued, “I don’t know what drives a lawyer to forget which side of the law she’s on, but I’m guessing it was something she’s not proud of. And then, after her profession kicks her out, to go to work for the dirty criminals of this city, getting them out of shit any way she can, that says a fuck-of-a-lot about a person. So don’t tell me you’re not fucked-up because not only do I recognise it, I’ve read all about it, too.”
I pushed against him, but he was too heavy and strong for me, and didn’t budge. I wanted to scream at him and kick him and beat against his chest, but I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere. Nitro had me trapped. In the end, I simply said, “What do you want?”
He kept me caged against the wall. “Silver Hell know you were in that room when I killed their man. They’re looking for you.”
Of course they were.
Fucking brilliant.
“So you’ve come to save me? Like a white fucking knight?”
Anger growled out of him. “That fucking attitude of yours will get you killed one day, but today is not that day. I’m only here because you mean something to Billy and at the moment he means something to Storm. The minute that changes, you’re on your fucking own.” He stepped away from me, but kept his hard eyes on mine. “Now, pack some shit, because you’re coming with me.”
