by Nina Levine
“Fuck,” I groaned. “You trying to kill me here, Vegas?” Glancing down the length of my body, I took in her pussy and legs either side of me. My dick was fucking straining in his effort to get inside her. And to be hit with that smile first thing in the morning—if a man wasn’t already awake, that smile would wake him up.
“I’m pretty sure you’re invincible, Nitro.”
I raked my fingers through my hair and took a deep breath. “And I’m pretty fucking sure any man who had you sitting on top of him when he woke up couldn’t withstand you.” Jesus, Tatum was the only woman I’d ever known who’d managed to make me want to flirt with her. I could have spent hours in that bed trying to get in her pants.
She grinned and it struck me that she’d had a complete turnaround in mood from the middle of the night. “You’re so much nicer first thing in the morning.” With that, she moved off me and stood.
“No, I’m nicer any time a woman shoves her tits in my face. It’s got nothing to do with the morning.”
She glanced down at me. “I didn’t shove my tits in your face. If they came anywhere near you it was accidental.”
I sat up and tracked her ass as she walked into the bathroom. The door closing behind her caused me to groan. I wanted more of that sexy banter with her. And fuck if that thought didn’t come out of the fucking blue.
My phone rang while she was in the bathroom.
King.
I answered it, “What’s up, King?”
“Need you to go for a run today, brother.”
“Where to?”
“We got a tip-off about where Silver Hell are hiding out. I want you to take some of the boys out there to check on it.”
“I’ll be ready in ten.”
We ended the call and I waited for Tatum to finish in the bathroom so I could take a shower. When she exited, I said, “I’ve gotta head out to check on something. Can you do me a favour?”
“Depends what that favour is,” she said, her tone a little flirty. Fuck Silver Hell and them getting in the way of me staying in this room.
“Can you check on Renee and Dustin for me this morning? Make sure they’re okay.” Renee was already out of bed and had left the room. She loved to watch the sun rise every morning.
Her eyes softened. “Sure.”
“Thanks.” I took the few steps to the bathroom, but before I entered, I turned back to her. “You good, Tatum?”
Surprise flickered across her face, as if she hadn’t expected me to ask. “Yeah,” she said, but I heard the hesitation in her voice. “Thank you for last night.”
I nodded and slipped into the bathroom.
I wasn’t sure what had happened during the night, but I couldn’t deny the pull I felt to her. From everything I’d seen so far, Tatum was fearless, but in the middle of the night, her nightmares had come to life. I told her she’d been crying in her sleep, but what I didn’t tell her was that she’d also been thrashing around in the bed.
I’d wanted to wake her up and drag her into my arms.
I’d wanted to take her bad dreams from her.
When she’d asked if she could sleep next to me, I hadn’t hesitated to say yes. Because if there was something I knew well, it was the nightmares that claimed your sleep and fucked with your head. I couldn’t stop mine, but maybe I could help ease hers if only for a night or two.
* * *
“Where did this tip-off come from?” I asked Kick as we stared at the empty block of land we’d been told Silver Hell were staying at.
“I’m not sure, but I guess it was to lessen the number of members at the clubhouse.”
“Yeah, my guess, too.” I’d called King to advise him to be alert.
King had sent us, along with four other members, to check the site out. Our orders were that if we found anything we were to call it in and sit tight, keeping an eye on them, rather than to take them on. King had more members ready to send if we found anyone. The site was just out of Gosford and had taken us a little over an hour to get to. I was pissed off at the time we’d wasted.
“Right, let’s round the boys up and head back,” Kick said, his expression revealing he was as annoyed as me.
Five minutes later we pulled back out onto the highway and straight into a shit-storm of bullets. We’d discussed the possibility of that happening and had been vigilant, but our enemy had hidden well. Before my brain caught up to the fact that bikers were roaring onto the highway from behind trees, one of our members copped a fatal bullet and his bike careened off the road, crashing into a tree. There was no time to think about that, though, because eight Silver Hell members were gunning for us. If I wanted to keep breathing, I needed to think fast.
Thank fuck we brought a van with us. King always insisted on it whenever we went on a run. He liked to ensure we always had extra weapons if we needed them. Blow was driving it, and when I made the signal for him to pull up, he screeched to a halt. I was the closest to him and quickly circled back and pulled in behind. The back doors opened and he threw me a rifle.
Kick and Devil had taken point, which gave me some breathing space. Silver Hell members fanned out across the highway about fifteen to twenty metres in front of us. I stepped out from behind the van, took aim at the closest member and squeezed the trigger. His attention had been on Kick, so he never saw the bullet coming.
As a Silver Hell member fired at me in retaliation, I ducked behind the van for shelter. Blow took over from his point at the front of the van, as was our practiced plan. I waited a few moments before sticking my head around the side to see what was happening. Kick was stationed on the ground behind his bike, narrowly avoiding bullets, as were two of our other members. Devil ran my way.
I moved back behind the van and reached inside for another rifle. Devil rounded the back of the van, and over the sound of gunfire, I yelled, “Anyone else taken a hit?”
He shook his head as he took the rifle from me. “No.”
We stepped out from behind the van together, rifles ready. I whistled loud, alerting our members to get down. They immediately ducked and we opened fire. Blow also fired from in front of the van while Kick and the boys continued shooting from their positions.
Devil and I had the best aim of any Storm member and soon half the Silver Hell members were down. As the gun battle waged on, I knew there was only one way this fight would be won. And so did they.
Kick made the first move, running from his bike towards Silver Hell. Devil and I covered him while also moving forward. Our other members followed suit and soon the battle plan changed. Knives and fists replaced guns as our weapons of choice and we engaged in a furious fight to the end.
The lonely stretch of highway was a silent battleground, but we filled that silence with the sounds of shattered bone and tortured grunts.
My face was a blood-coated sticky mess by the time we’d managed to shrink our enemy to two. Blow had been knocked unconscious, but not before he took out a Silver Hell member. Kick dragged him to the van before re-joining us. With Silver Hell losing so many members, I thought we had a good chance at making it out without losing any more of our men, but I was proven wrong.
“Kick!” Devil shouted, drawing my attention because of the horror-filled tone he used.
Time passed in slow motion as I watched Kick take a bullet to the chest. He didn’t go down straight away, but as soon as he did, my fighter instincts took over.
Without processing the consequences, I charged at the guy who shot Kick. Grunting low and deep, my body slammed into his and pushed him backwards. I didn’t stop moving until he was on his ass, at which point I bent over him and punched him hard in the face. I punched him straight on, so fucking hard that his skull hit the road with a loud thud.
Running on autopilot, I delivered bone-crushing punch after punch to his face. My hands were coated in blood and he’d stopped moving, but I continued slamming my fist into his face.
It felt good.
Satisfying.
My brai
n filtered out the sounds around me. My only focus was killing this motherfucker.
“Nitro! Fucking put a bullet in him and be done, brother,” Devil yelled out.
With one last punch, I straightened, wiping the sweat from my forehead, really only succeeding in replacing it with blood from my hand. As I did this, another gun sounded and I whipped around just in time to see Jerry, another of our members, go down. Bullet after bullet riddled his body and I knew he had no chance of surviving that.
“Motherfucker!” Devil cried out. Aiming his gun, he shot the guy who killed Jerry. At the same time, I pulled my gun out and fired at him, too. I then turned and pumped bullets into the asshole who shot Kick, ensuring he would never take another breath.
As I surveyed the scene in front of me, my breaths came hard and fast. Devil and I were the last men standing. Blow was unconscious in the van. Jerry and Kick lay dead on the road, and Cruise, our first member to take a bullet that day, was dead on the side of the road.
“Fuck!” I roared, meeting Devil’s eyes. “Fucking hell.” I could hardly catch my breath as adrenaline and anger raced in my veins.
Devil’s eyes were wild. Murderous. Clenching his jaw, he thundered, “They will fucking pay for this. I don’t care if it takes me the rest of my life, they will regret this day.”
We stood in the middle of the highway with bikes and bloody bodies strewn around us with the smell of death and destruction in our nostrils, and I vowed to go to hell with him. We would burn in the depths of hell to exact our revenge.
A grunt filled the silence around us as we promised retribution. My head whipped around to see who made the noise. It was Kick. His leg twitched as he gasped for air. Jesus, he was still breathing.
Devil and I moved fast, getting Kick into the van. I drove while Devil did what he could to keep Kick alive. On the way, I called King so he could organise a clean-up crew and the collection of our bikes. And I sent prayer after fucking prayer out that Kick survived this. Not that I believed in the power of prayer, but at that point I figured we needed as much help as we could get. I wasn’t sure Kick would make it.
18
Tatum
“Falling For You” by Lady Antebellum
The day passed slowly. Or maybe that was because my mind kept drifting to Nitro, and that then caused the ache between my legs to intensify, which in turn made me wonder when he’d be back. This all of course led to time dragging while I waited. Not even my work managed to consume me like it usually did.
“Fuck,” I muttered. Who am I today? I never spent my time thinking about a man in this way anymore. I couldn’t deny, though, that most of my time had been spent on him that day.
Nitro had been there for me last night. When I’d been an emotional mess, he’d looked after me in ways a man never had before. Not even Chris had been there for me like Nitro had. Who would have thought a man who appeared so closed off from people would be the one there in the middle of the night?
When I’d woken up that morning, I’d felt like shit. My head hurt—from both a mild hangover and from crying during the night. I’d expected Nitro to be all awkward with me, so the first thing I did was smile at him, trying to stop any awkwardness there might be. Either that smile worked really well or Nitro was so horny that his dick was doing all the thinking.
He’d flirted with me, which was the last thing I’d expected from him. For a guy who wore moody like a uniform, he sure knew how to have some sexy fun with a chick. It was absolutely what I’d needed that morning. The only problem being that he’d stirred a whole lot of desire in me that I’d been trying to avoid thinking about since I’d met him. Being attracted to his looks was one thing, but this was something else altogether. I was beginning to see Nitro in a new light and I couldn’t deny I liked these new sides to him.
“You waiting for your man?”
I glanced up to find the dark-haired woman behind the bar watching me expectantly. She was the one who’d kept my drinks coming the night before. I shook my head. “No, I’m not with any of the bikers.”
Frowning, she cocked her head. “What about that guy you were with last night, just before you left?”
“Nope. I’m stuck here with him, but he’s not mine.”
Still frowning, she said, “Huh, coulda fooled me. The way he hung off every word you said and the way you guys argued… I would have sworn you two were together.”
My belly fluttered. I placed my hand on it as if to tell it to settle the hell down. “You misread him. Nitro doesn’t hang off any words I say. Although, if I were to tell him I wanted sex, he’d probably hang off those words.”
She laughed but her expression soon turned serious. “I know what I saw and trust me when I tell you that I don’t generally misread people. I have a kind of sixth sense about people.”
I paused for a moment. “Are you a psychic or something?” She did have that look about her with her long wild hair, crystal jewellery, earth-mother waif figure and flowing dress.
She hit me with a brilliant smile that turned her pretty face into magnificent beauty. “I wouldn’t say that, but I do sense things.” She held out her hand. “I’m Kree by the way.”
I shook her hand. “Tatum. Nice to meet you.” And I actually meant it. I didn’t bother with most people anymore, but Kree had an energy that drew me in.
“You want a rum?”
“God, no.” Memories of being sick during the night ran through my mind. “But I would love an orange juice.”
She frowned. “It sounds like that rum last night didn’t treat you well.”
“Let’s just say I won’t be having any more for a long time.”
As she poured me a juice, a blood-curdling scream filled the bar and I turned to see who it came from.
King had a petite woman in his arms just outside the doorway and I could vaguely make out her head buried in his neck. Loud sobs came from her. And then she lifted her face to his and screamed, “No! He can’t die!”
King said something to her that I couldn’t hear, and she once again placed her head on him and sobbed. He held her for a few minutes. I was fairly certain he would have held her for longer except for the fact a screeching noise outside distracted him and he left her to go out there.
The woman leaned against the wall near the bar entrance and I watched as her body slid down it to the floor. Shudders racked her body. The pain she felt was palpable. So much so, it pierced my heart. Feeling my way through that pain, I slid off the bar stool and made my way to her.
Joining her on the floor, I pulled her into my embrace. Running my hand over her hair, I tried to soothe her and take some of that pain from her. But I knew—God, how I knew—people couldn’t carry your load; they could only wipe your tears and wait your time out with you.
I’d only been sitting with her for a few minutes when King stormed back inside. He halted when he saw me, surprise in his eyes. A beat of silence passed between us and then he nodded, as if he was pleased with what he saw.
“Can you take her to Nitro’s room?”
I put two and two together and knew why he wanted her taken away. Nodding, I said, “Yeah.”
“Thanks,” he said gruffly. It was the first sign of emotion other than anger or frustration that I’d seen from him.
He turned and exited the clubhouse, and I somehow managed to get the woman to a standing position. Her arms clung to me and her head remained down while she cried.
I placed my hand under her chin and tilted her face to look at me. “I’m going to take you somewhere quiet now. You good to walk?”
Eyes that held her distress stared back at me. She didn’t speak but she did nod, so I held her close and led the way to Nitro’s room. I laid her down on his bed and settled myself next to her, sitting with my back to his headboard with my arms wrapped around her.
We sat like that for a long time. I wasn’t sure how long it had been when she sat up and said, “I-I need to go.” She stumbled over her words and gulped back a sob.
“Need to know if he—” Her hand flew to her mouth as her face crumpled. “Oh, God.”
Her long hair had fallen across her face so I tucked it behind her ear. “King will come to you when he has news. He knows where you are.”
She blinked a couple of times as she processed what I said. As she did that, her vacant stare seemed to shift and her awareness altered so that she actually saw me. “Who are you?”
“I’m Tatum. You?” I didn’t bother giving her any further details because I figured she was in no frame of mind to even want them. She surprised me, though.
“I’m Evie, Kick’s wife. Are you with one of the guys or a family member?”
“Neither.”
Her forehead crinkled. “Huh?”
“It’s a long story.”
She grimaced. “I have time.”
Yeah, I guessed she did and maybe I could help her pass it. I leaned my head back against the headboard and exhaled. “I’m here because Nitro’s under orders to keep me alive. Silver Hell want me dead, and Storm want me alive because of my ties to a guy they’re in business with.”
“Why do they want you dead?”
“One of their guys murdered my brother. I was involved in his death recently and they found out.” The words came out clinically as I stared straight ahead and concentrated on keeping my mind as blank as the wall I was looking at. Concentrated on keeping my sadness at bay.
She reached for my hand and held it. The gesture took me by surprise. Touch was something I’d denied myself for a long time. Well, except for sex, but that didn’t count anymore because that was purely physical. There were no emotions tied to it. Evie’s gesture was bound with emotions and I sucked in a sharp breath. Monroe was my person. My only fucking person. No one else was allowed to breach my walls. And yet, in the space of a few days it felt like my damn walls were being scaled all over the place.
I ripped my hand out of hers at the same time the door flung open. Nitro entered in a gust of caged energy, his eyes wild, his face covered in blood, his clothes torn and dirty. He came to a sudden stop when his eyes landed on us.
