Steel Cobras MC Complete Box Set: Books 1-6

by Evie Monroe

  “Oh, you’d better not. I’ll fuck you up. If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”

  I doubted that, but point taken. After all this, I had to admit, I was actually starting to like the kid. He didn’t fit in with the Fury, not one fucking bit. The way he was willing to protect his sister? To me, he seemed like a Cobra, all the way.

  I lifted my hands in surrender. “If I ever do hurt her, I’ll let you.”

  He pressed his lips together, thinking. “After all this time she’s spent trying to warn me away from guys like you . . .” He let out a sour laugh. “It figures. It figures she’d fall for one of you. You understand, she doesn’t do this, normally.”

  I was glad he sounded a little more rational. “What do you mean?”

  “She doesn’t date. She doesn’t even talk to guys. She’s like a fucking saint. I used to think she was a nun in another life.” He leaned over and picked at a blade of grass . “So she must really like you. Just . . . really. I meant what I said. She’s the best person I know. Hands down.”

  “I got it.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think you do. I don’t think you can, unless you know . . .” He trailed off, and his eyes clouded over. “Doesn’t matter. Just . . . you’ve been warned. I’m a shit to her, I know. But if you don’t put her on a pedestal where she belongs, fuck you.”

  It did seem hypocritical for him to give me these warnings when he hadn’t treated her so great lately. But I ignored it. I reached my hand out to him to help him up.

  He stared at it for a long time, as if deciding whether or not to take it.

  “What would you say if I told you I wanted you to be a Cobra?” I asked him.

  His eyes widened for a split second before narrowing in suspicion. “Why? That because you feel guilty for fucking my sister?”

  I shook my head. “It’s because I think you’re one of us. Not one of them. I’ll sponsor you, if you want.”

  He opened his mouth, but nothing came out, and when he closed it, the corner lifted up into a smile. “Yeah?” He grabbed hold of my hand and I pulled him to his feet. “Then all right.”

  “Good. I’ll get you all the info you need to get on board with us, okay?”

  “But . . .” His eyes drifted toward the apartment complex. I was sure Charlotte had her eyes on us, but in the darkness all I could see was the light in the window. “What about the Fury? Won’t they be pissed?”

  I nodded. Pissed was the understatement of the year. “Oh yeah.”

  He kept his eyes on the apartment. “I don’t know . . . maybe Charlotte’s right. What if they find out? I don’t care about me . . . but what about her? I can’t have anything happen to her.”

  We walked toward the apartment. As much as I wanted to be with Charlie, I’d made the decision that I wouldn’t go back inside, just for the kid’s sake. He’d been through enough. “You don’t need to figure it out tonight.”

  He stared at the ground. “I don’t know. I’m fucking up where Char’s concerned. What I need to do is get a good job. Something to help her pay the bills. Make it easier on her.”

  “Well . . . we’re looking for a guy at the garage. You know anything about oil changes?”

  “Yeah. A little.”

  “It’s mostly just keeping the place clean. The pay’s shit. But it’s a good way to start.”

  He considered it. “Yeah. Thanks. I might be interested.”

  “Look,” I said to him. “If you’re seriously in to this, and the guys agree, you have the Cobra’s word that we’ll protect you. All right?”

  He nodded, but something in his expression said he wasn’t sure.

  “Just trust me, okay?” I said, clapping him on the back. “Go inside, get some sleep. I’ll text you later. Just keep doing what you’re doing with the Fury in the meantime. All right?”

  “Yeah. Okay. Thanks.”

  “Everything go okay with them, tonight?”

  He nodded. “I don’t think they suspect anything.”

  “Good.”

  As I got back on my bike, saw Joel jogging up the steps to his apartment. I wished I was a fly on the wall to hear the conversation he had with his sister, but I figured I was already skating on some pretty thin ice as it was.

  So I strapped on my helmet, started my bike, and lit out of the parking lot toward my place.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Charlotte

  After I got over the stunned feeling of shame over what I’d just done, my thoughts automatically turned to making sure my brother was okay.

  I pulled on my shirt, ran for the door, then heard him unleashing a string of curses into the night air. Curses meant not just for Hart, but for me, as well.

  I crept over to the balcony and looked over the rail. Hart had him on his stomach, on the ground, trying to subdue him, but the second Hart let him go, Jojo was up again, shoving him. Again, Hart stopped it, but that didn’t stop Jojo from shouting at him, calling him a motherfucker.

  Hart spoke so calmly; I could barely hear him. As I strained to listen, doors on either side of me opened and people started looking out. It was after one in the morning.

  One of my neighbors, a fifty-something man who lived alone and spent most of his time with a bottle of beer in his hand, slurred, “What the fuck’s going on here, for fucksake?”

  “Nothing,” I explained as he looked over the balcony. “Just some guys talking.”

  He looked me over, head to toe, winked at me, and went back inside, slamming the door.

  By then, Jojo had crouched down on the grass to listen calmly to Hart. He nodded his head like he understood. I couldn’t hear most of it, but I heard Jojo say, “If you don’t put her on a pedestal where she belongs, fuck you.”

  My heart squeezed. There was the little brother I knew and loved.

  I moved closer, wanting to hear Hart’s answer, but I couldn’t. I wanted to hear more of what Hart thought of me, and what we were doing here. I mean, we barely knew each other. Of course it was just sex. But with my little brother involved, it was complicated. Clearly, he respected Hart. And Hart didn’t seem all that terrible a person anymore.

  Jojo and I were both starting to fall a little bit in love with Hart. Which would make it doubly hard for Jojo, if the relationship went south. I could probably deal with it, but for the first time I’d found a guy that Jojo could look up to. And I didn’t want to ruin that.

  I listened as Hart offered to sponsor my brother as part of his club. I thought he’d jump at the chance. I thought I’d have the urge to go out there and tell Hart to take his invitation and shove it up his ass.

  But something strange happened. I found myself glad that Hart made the offer to sponsor him, to be the big brother he never had. It was Jojo who hesitated.

  He shook his head and looked up toward the apartment. Something was bothering him. I wasn’t sure what it was, but when he mentioned the other motorcycle club, it hit me just why Hart had come over here.

  If Jojo broke his promise to pledge a different club, and went with Hart’s club, there’d likely be hard feelings. Or maybe something more than that.

  Were we in danger?

  Hart helped Jojo off the ground and headed to his bike. I was glad of that, even though all the while, my body still ached for him. I needed to talk to Jojo first. Explain myself.

  After Hart’s motorcycle roared into the distance, Jojo came climbing up the staircase. I tried to make myself busy, cleaning out the litter boxes. When he appeared in the doorway, I met his eyes. He looked tired and beaten. He crossed the room and sat on the sofa, and Opie crawled into his lap. He didn’t say anything for a long time.

  Finally, he said, “Well. He’s not an asshole.”

  I supposed that was as much of a blessing as I could expect from him. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, Jo—” I swallowed back his nickname. “Joel. I swear, I thought I hated him. But he’s been so good with you, and he’s the first guy that’s really been nice to us. I just—I just like him.
Is that so bad?”

  He shook his head. “You don’t have to explain it, Char. You don’t owe me anything.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that. After the life he’d had, I felt like the world owed him some sense of stability and security. But the world was never going to pay up, so as the person closest to him, I’d have to take its place. I replaced the litter box and sat on the coffee table, across from him. “You’re not mad at me?”

  It took him a while, but eventually the corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile. “I kind of am.”

  I tweaked his knee, like I used to when he was a kid. “So, baby brother. Are you going to tell me what’s going on? With these two motorcycle clubs?”

  He yawned and started to shuffle in his seat, preparing to get up. “Aw, Char, I—”

  I lunged toward him, took hold of his shoulders, and pushed him back down onto the sofa with all my weight. He nudged me off of him, but I ended up in corralling him on the couch so he couldn’t move. “Don’t tell me you’re too tired. What’s going on? Are you, like, working as a spy against the other club or what?”

  He hung his head lower and nodded.

  “Tell me,” I urged. “Everything.”

  He let out an enormous sigh. “Fine. The Cobras—that’s Hart’s club—saw that I was a prospect for the Hell’s Fury, and they took me in. They were making me act like a spy for them, yeah. But the two clubs are in a war and the Fury doesn’t play so nice.” He rolled his eyes, like he was worried, or worse. “Hart offered to sponsor me as a prospect for the Cobras but if I do that, I’m in deep shit with the Fury. And Hart doesn’t want them coming after me. Or you.”

  I blinked. My heart stopped. My eyes immediately went to the door. Had Joel locked it? “They would do that?”

  “Supposedly, yeah.”

  “All of this, to join a stupid motorcycle club?”

  “Yeah.”

  I threw up my hands. “Great, Jojo. Tell me why joining a club was so important to you, now?”

  “I don’t know!” he said, his voice so loud and broken that it cracked. “I guess it was a stupid fucking idea. I want brothers. Brothers like the Cobras have. They all have each other’s backs. They get together and they rely on each other and they’re . . . family.”

  “I’m your family,” I said softly. Then I reached over and tried to ruffle his hair, but he flinched away. “But I know. I know you want more than that. You want what I can’t be for you.”

  He swallowed. “You’re not so bad.”

  I smiled a little. “Well . . . what if we left Aveline Bay? What if we just moved away? Went somewhere no one could find us?”

  “Yeah. I hear there’s a private island off the coast of Fiji we could hide out in.” He snorted. “With what money?”

  I lifted my shoulders in an attempt at optimism. “I don’t know. We’d figure it out. We always have, haven’t we?”

  “Yeah. But it just means starting over again from scratch. Hart told me he could probably get me a job at the garage. We have connections here. You have a good job.”

  That was true. Hart had Jojo thinking about a job, now? It was a big step up, considering only a few days ago I saw him as nothing but a lazy ass. I also hated the idea of uprooting us. Still, it could be worse.

  I laced my hands in front of me and looked at my lap. “Jojo . . . I mean, Joel . . .I’d rather live out of our car than for you to get hurt.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, we could live in a car, with all your pets. We could be a traveling zoo.”

  I smacked him. “I mean it, Jojo. I couldn’t take it if I lost you. I really couldn’t.”

  This time, he reached over and touched my arm. “You won’t. Hart said the Cobras protect their own. I trust him.”

  I was afraid to admit it, because that was usually when the floor dropped out from under us, but I trusted him, too. I barely knew him, but he made good on his promises, which was more than most people in our lives had done.

  “All right,” I said to him, checking the clock again. I cringed at the late hour. “I guess we should go to bed.”

  I went off to my room, feeling good about things with Jojo, despite how disastrous I feared they’d be. But I didn’t like the can of worms we’d opened with these rival motorcycle clubs. It kept me awake all night, wondering how much danger we were really in.

  I could understand why Jojo found the Cobras and that brotherhood so attractive, but still . . . that wasn’t him. He was a sensitive kid, a good one. He might have seen Hart as the kind of guy he aspired to be, but this life wasn’t something he’d bargained for. Jojo couldn’t handle the kind of danger he’d fallen into. He wasn’t cut from the same cloth as people like Hart.

  By morning, I knew I needed to talk to Hart, as soon as possible. I needed to see what he could do to keep my brother and me safe.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Hart

  I decided to give them both some space.

  Not that I didn’t keep a watch on them. But based on what I heard from the other Cobras, with the Fury, it was business as usual. Based on the intel I pulled from Joel’s phone, Fury didn’t have a clue that Joel was talking to us. It seemed like we were in the clear.

  So I figured it was a good idea to cool it with Charlie for the next few days. Not that I didn’t think about her.

  And I guessed they were thinking about me, too. About the same time I got a text from Joel, telling me he had intel on the Fury, I got another text from Charlie. It said: Are you avoiding us?

  I’d been at the Lucky Leaf, helping Nix on an engine rebuild. Wiping the grease off my hands on an old rag, I typed in: Just thought it was better to cool it. For your sake.

  A moment later, she responded with: Well, don’t. I need to talk to you.

  As I was staring at my phone, Nix nudged me. We’d finished up for the day and we’d planned on going to The Wall with Jet for a beer. “Hey. You coming?”

  I pointed at my phone. “I’ll be there later. Our kid might have some info.”

  Nix raised an eyebrow. “Want me to come with?”

  I shook my head. We’d taken too many risks, having the kid at the clubhouse and also my apartment. I’d made the decision to meet with him somewhere outside of town. Outside of town would take a while to get to, since Aveline Bay wasn’t exactly a small town. I’d have to cross the bridge and head north. “Better if I do this myself.”

  “Suit yourself. We’ll see you later,” he called over his shoulder. He strapped on his helmet and rode off on his bike.

  As much as I wanted to see Charlie, she’d have to wait. I couldn’t just show up at her apartment. After my conversation with Joel, I felt the burning need to keep her safe. I texted Joel and told him to meet me under the bridge of the highway, outside of town. It was the most remote place I could think of.

  About forty minutes later, I pulled off the highway and rolled to a stop under the bridge. I spotted Joel waiting for me, still wearing a denim kutte with the Hell’s Fury prospect patch on it, smoking a cigarette, which he stubbed out when I got there.

  “What’s going on?” I asked him, sitting back on my bike as I unstrapped my helmet. “You think they know anything?”

  He shook his head. “No fucking way. The Fury’s a mess right now. Bruiser’s been dead a while, and now with Slade gone, too, they’re missing their president and their Veep. It’s chaos. They’re all fighting for who should take the reins. A fistfight broke out in the clubhouse yesterday, which turned into a knife fight. There was blood all over the place.”

  “Jesus,” I laughed. “So who do you think it’s gonna be?”

  “Probably Scar. He’s got most of the support, and he’s been there the longest. But who knows? All I know is that it’s not a good place to be right now. Total disorganization.”

  I rubbed the stubble on my chin. “So they’re not after you, now?”

  “Nah. They didn’t even pay attention to me.”

  “So they’re probably not after us, either, the
n.” I was thinking out loud.

  “Yeah. They got bigger fish to fry.”

  “But eventually, they’ll come after us,” I said, tilting my head up, then slipping off my sunglasses and staring at him. “So we can’t let our guard down. Keep watching your back, kid. All right?”

  He nodded. “Right. So, did you talk to the guys about me joining?”

  I had. The guys had been all for it, and of course, Jet had acted like it was all his idea, even though he hadn’t lifted a pinky finger. The only one who wasn’t sure was Nix, but that was because he’d nearly taken a bullet from him.

  “So, yeah,” I said, “If you want to do it . . .”

  “I do.” He sounded more eager now. More sure of himself.

  “Well, we’re all in on you becoming a prospect. We just might want to wait a little bit until things are over with the Fury, if you know what I mean. Because even if they’re in disarray, if you turn up suddenly wearing our patch, you probably ain’t gonna be seeing home again.”

  “Yeah. Makes sense. But when’ll that be?”

  I shrugged. “No clue. I’m gonna talk to Cullen. I think right now we have enough intel, so you won’t have to keep playing both sides. So if he agrees, we keep you the fuck away from them until we get things settled.”

  He nodded coolly, but a stiff breeze rushed under the bridge right then, making him shudder. He steeled himself and reached into the pocket of his kutte for another cigarette. I reached for my own and lit his and mine with my lighter.

  “Sounds good,” he said, his voice lighter as if maybe he’d been worried I’d change my mind. “But what about Char?”

  “Keep an eye on your sister. As much as you can.”

  “And you?”

  He was testing me. “Yeah. I will, too. The Cobras protect all the families, and that goes for her, too.”

  “No. I mean, have you called her. Since that night?” he asked. “Because I can tell. She’s getting anxious. She thinks you’re blowing her off. That better not be the case.”

  I rolled my eyes to the sky. “It’s not, as a matter of fact. I plan to call your sister after this meeting.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “As long as you’re okay with it?”