by Levine, Nina
10. If you were to pitch your books to new readers in one sentence, what would it be?
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If you don't love romances with dirty-talking alphas, you
won't love my books ;)
Heart & Soul
Heart & Soul
A short story featuring Nitro & Tatum from Nitro’s Torment. It’s recommended to read that book before reading Heart & Soul.
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This short story originally featured in the Love, Loyalty & Mayhem anthology.
To love, loyalty, and a little mayhem.
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And women with grit.
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“Here’s to strong women.
May we know them.
May we be them.
May we raise them.”
Dear Reader
If you’ve read my Sydney Storm MC series, you’ve met Tatum. She’s my favourite female character I’ve written in this series. Possibly my favourite out of all my books I’ve written.
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This short story is focused more on her than Nitro, because I wanted to explore the love and loyalty she has for all the people who mean something to her. If you’ve read her story, you’ll know she’d given up on people before she met Nitro. I love how he and his family helped breathe life back into her, in the same way she did for them. And I love seeing how far she’s come.
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I hope you enjoy this short as much as I enjoyed writing it. And if you’ve not met Tatum yet, you can read her story in my book, Nitro’s Torment.
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Nina x
1
Tatum
“I’m not letting you out of my sight today,” Nitro said as he spooned me, sliding his hand over my hip and reaching for my pussy. “Seven days straight of you chasing after Billy’s shit is six days too many.”
My lips curved into a smile. What he wanted to say was seven days of me chasing Billy’s shit was seven days too many. But that was only because he still wasn’t a fan of my boss. I wasn’t sure he ever would be. Nitro was a man who didn’t let shit go easily. Not shit that affected his family, and since he still held a grudge over the way Billy handled his relationship with Nitro’s sister, I didn’t see a change coming soon.
Pressing my ass against his rock-hard cock, I said, “You know I’m a fan of lazy Sundays spent at home, so I’m good with your plan, but you might wanna share it with Dustin.”
He pushed two fingers inside me. “Why the fuck would I need to share that with my brother?”
I gripped his arm as the pleasure he delivered raced through my veins. God how I didn’t want him to stop, but if I knew his brother well, we wouldn’t have a choice soon. “Because I’m pretty sure I just heard him outside. I would say I’m surprised you didn’t hear him, but you clearly had other things taking up your attention.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, dropping his head to rest against my shoulder.
“Nitro!” Dustin called out as he banged on the front door. “I brought your favourite breakfast. And I’ll make porridge for Tatum.”
Laughing, I pushed Nitro away and rolled over to face him. “Looks like your plans have been changed, champ.”
His eyes darkened. “We do breakfast. We spend some time with Dustin. And then your cunt is wrapped around my dick while I fuck you for as many hours as it takes to get my fill. Billy fucking Jones has consumed your attention this week; today, you’re mine.”
He left the bed and strode into the en suite he’d recently built for us. My eyes remained glued to his firm ass the entire time, just like they always were when Nitro was naked. That ass would always be my downfall; Nitro could convince me to do almost anything when it was on display.
A couple of minutes later, Dustin banged on the door again. “Nitro! Tatum! Wake up! It’s hot out here.”
Nitro exited the en suite at the same time I left the bed. “I’ll let him in. You take your time,” he said.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me before he left. Then, after standing on my toes, I curled a hand around his neck and angled his face down so I could kiss him. It wasn’t a rushed kiss—Dustin could wait—but rather a long, deep kiss filled with promises. When I finally let him go, I said, “We do breakfast and we spend time with Dustin, but we do that shit as fast as we can. I need that fury of yours today.”
“Fuck,” he hissed. And then he was gone.
Fuck was right. Billy had worked me hard all week, and then some. I’d left early for work every day and come home late and exhausted each night, collapsing into bed unable to even entertain the thought of sex. Nitro wasn’t the kind of man to go a day without sex, and I wasn’t the kind of woman to do that either. We didn’t need it to connect, but touch and intimacy were key parts of our relationship. We’d taken what we could this week, but what we both needed was an entire day alone, skin-to-skin.
I listened to him and Dustin for a few moments, smiling like I always did when the two of them were together, and then headed into the en suite for a shower. I didn’t take my time like Nitro had said; I wanted to hurry breakfast along.
After I dressed in the tiny denim shorts and fitted white tank that Nitro loved, I padded out to the kitchen, doing my best to ignore the heat. It had become unbearable this week, and since it was already stifling, I knew today was going to be another scorcher.
Dustin’s smile blasted my way as I sat on the stool next to Nitro at the breakfast bar. “I’m making you porridge, Tatum.”
I returned his smile as Nitro slid a coffee across the counter to me. “You’re way too alive for this time on a Sunday morning, Dustin. What’s going on?”
His eyes lit up more than they already were. “I had a good night at work last night. And it’s not that early.”
Nitro took a gulp of coffee before saying, “It’s eight in the fucking morning, Dustin.”
Nitro was still fixated on the early drop-by, but I’d moved on from that. I was more interested in what had happened at work last night. Dustin worked a cleaning job at Billy’s, the club my boss owned, and while I knew he liked his job, it didn’t usually make him this happy.
“What happened last night? Did you talk to Stasia?” I asked. Dustin had a crush on one of the girls and had spent the last week trying to get up the courage to talk to her.
He reached for some plates in the cupboard. “No, she wasn’t there last night.” He looked ready to burst with pride as he said, “I did a job for Earl and he paid me two hundred dollars.”
The second the words ‘I did a job for Earl’ left Dustin’s lips, I placed my hand on Nitro’s thigh, trying to steady his response. This was bad and I needed to attempt to intervene before my man lost his shit.
He ignored me, though, as I figured he would. “What kind of job?” His voice was low and edged with a dark demand. Nitro knew what kind of jobs Earl ran, and they weren’t the kind of jobs Dustin should have been getting himself tied up with. But Dustin’s naivety and faith in people got him into trouble all over the place, as did his desire to make friends everywhere he went.
“All I had to do was drop off some medicine to one of his friends. Easy.”
“Fucking hell.” Nitro moved off the stool, his body tense, his desire for blood evident with each purposeful stride he took towards our bedroom.
Shit.
I looked at Dustin. “Was Billy there?”
He opened the bag of food he’d brought with him and laid pancakes on the plates. “No. It was just Earl last night.”
Earl was one of Billy’s managers at the club; the only one I didn’t like or trust. I’d told Billy he was bad news, but my boss had a way of only listening to some of the stuff I advised him on. He’d told me Earl had increased revenue dramatically, so he wasn’t going anywhere. That had been three months ago, and I’d kept my eye on Earl since, waiting for him to fuck up. He was smarter than most, and sly; so far I hadn’t discovered anything damning.
I slid off my stool. “I’ll be back
in a minute. You keep making breakfast.”
He nodded, still smiling big, completely unaware of the storm brewing.
I hurried into the bedroom and found Nitro with his phone to his ear. His eyes came to mine, full of fury and the expression he wore when he was communicating ‘Don’t argue with me, Vegas’.
“Billy wasn’t there. I doubt he even knows about this.” I never was good at not arguing with him.
“I don’t give a fuck, Tatum. It’s his club; he’s where the buck stops. No fucking way should Dustin have been dragged into Earl’s fucking side hustle.” His nostrils flared. “I swear to fuck, if this shit happens again, and if Dustin ends up on the cops radar, I will fucking spill blood.”
“I agree, but—”
I was cut off when Nitro snapped into his phone. “Billy, we need to talk.”
Silence then while he listened to whatever Billy had to say.
Then—“No, I’m coming to you. This shit needs to be face-to-face. Where are you?”
Fuck.
Billy must have given him the information he wanted because after listening to him for a few moments, Nitro said, “I’ll be there in a couple of hours,” and then stabbed at his phone to disconnect the call.
“Nitro—”
His nostrils flared again. “No, Vegas, I’m done playing nice with Billy for you. This overstepped my limit and I’ll be making that crystal fucking clear to him.”
I reached for his arm as he took the few steps to exit the room. “Nitro. Wait. You’re being unreasonable.”
He stopped and gave me his attention but I knew by the hard set of his jaw that he didn’t want to.
“Let me talk to Billy,” I suggested, “I’ll make it crystal fucking clear that this should not have happened and should never happen again. If you go see him in the mood you’re in, fuck knows where it will all end up. And you causing problems with Billy isn’t something Storm needs.”
He worked his jaw. He knew I was right. “Fuck,” he muttered.
Before we sorted it out, my phone rung.
Billy.
I placed my phone to my ear while holding Nitro’s gaze. “What’s up, Billy?”
“I need you in here to take care of something.”
“At work?”
“Yeah.”
“I was looking forward to a day off.” I tried to ignore the way Nitro worked his jaw again.
“Yeah well we all were, Tatum, but turns out some fucker has caused me a shitstorm that I need you to take care of.”
I exhaled my frustration. “After this, I’m taking two days off. You won’t call. You won’t text. You won’t even breathe in my direction.”
“Fucking hell you bust my fucking balls some days. Just get your ass in here and handle this shit. If I have to sort this out, you’ll be working overtime for weeks to get me free of the consequences.”
I ended the call and waited for Nitro to speak. He would absolutely have something to say about me going into work today.
But he didn’t. Instead, he shook his head and said, “Go take care of whatever he needs and sort this mess out with Dustin. And make it clearer than fuck that if something like this happens again, he won’t have the good fucking fortune of not dealing with me.”
I moved into him, scrunching a handful of his shirt. “Thank you,” I said softly.
He placed his hand on my ass, pressing my body hard to his. “What for?”
“For trusting I can take care of this when I know the last thing you wanna do is let anyone fight your battles.” I pulled his lips down to mine and brushed them with a kiss before adding, “I love you.”
He gripped the back of my neck and dragged my mouth back to his. After his lips crashed down on mine and he kissed me like a starved man, he growled, “Get your ass back here as fast as you can. I have plans for it.”
2
Tatum
The fucking air con in my car died on the way to Billy’s. Worst timing—it was shaping up to be the hottest day on record in Sydney. By the time I arrived, any feelings of dislike I already had towards Earl were magnified, because heat and me did not go well together. I was hot, sweaty, and cranky. And most of that crankiness was directed towards Earl, with the rest aimed at Billy. So when I ran into Earl on the way to Billy’s office, I stopped and gave him a piece of my mind.
His shifty eyes met my gaze before instantly roaming my body. Nothing unusual for Earl. He was a piece of shit as far as I was concerned. I managed Billy’s girls at the club, and they all thought he was a vile human because of the way he treated women.
I didn’t even bother calling him out on his behaviour; Earl was the sort of man who didn’t care about anyone but himself. Instead, I cut straight to the point. “You paid Dustin to deliver your drugs last night.”
He took his time finishing up with my body before looking me in the eyes again. “Yeah. And?”
Fucking asshole.
“And that will never happen again.”
Amusement crept over his face. “Really, Tatum? You think you have any say over what I do? Sweetheart, you’re just here to keep the bitches in line; don’t kid yourself that anyone but them listens to you.”
Fucking small dick energy. I stepped closer to him, crowding him, noting the flare of surprise in his eyes. “You should take more care with what you say, Earl. Those bitches pay your fucking wage. Also, if you actually knew what my real job is here and what I do for Billy, I guarantee you, you’d watch your words more closely.”
He tried to throw off more bullshit masculine dominance. “I know what you do for Billy, and I’m not impressed. Like I said, I’m not here to listen to you, so if I want Dustin to do a job for me, I’ll fucking ask him to do a job for me.”
“No. You. Fucking. Won’t. Dustin cleans. That’s it. You go anywhere near him again, you won’t just have me to answer to.” I took a step away from him. “And get your fucking eyes off my body. I’m yet to meet a woman who wants your disgusting eyes on them.”
As I stalked away from him, he called out some derogatory remark about my vagina, which I ignored. Fuck him; I was done letting Billy off the hook where he was concerned. If I had my way, Earl would be gone by the end of the day. I didn’t always get my way, though, and sometimes I had to work really fucking hard for it. I figured on this occasion, I’d be working hard for it, so I suited the fuck up as I made my way to Billy.
“Tatum,” he barked as I entered his office. “Shut the door.” Something had him worked up. Billy was an asshole a lot of the time, but he was especially agitated today.
I closed the door and said, “What’s going on?”
He shoved his fingers through his hair. His face was alive with anger. “That motherfucker, Parker, fucked with Savannah last night. I need you to deal with him, because if I do, he won’t ever step foot in my club again, and un-fucking-fortunately I need him to.”
Parker was one of our whales. His fortune was in the millions and he spent most of his nights here, sharing that fortune. This news of him fucking with Savannah surprised me; I’d never known Parker to cross any lines with the girls. However, Billy didn’t get on with him, so I doubted he was thinking about this as rationally as I was.
“What did he do?”
“He put his fucking hands where he shouldn’t have.”
“Where?”
“I don’t fucking know where; all I know is that Savannah is refusing to come in for her shift tonight if he’s here, so clearly some filthy shit went down.”
Savannah was one of Billy’s golden girls—his loyalty to her was absolute. She was also one of the girls who put up with a lot from our customers, so if she was upset, something had definitely happened.
“Okay, you know I’m the first one to stand by our girls, but Parker has been coming here for years, and regardless of the issues between you two, we’ve never had even a hint of a problem with him where the girls are concerned. So I’m going to tread carefully here and get to the bottom of exactly what happene
d.”
Billy took a moment to think about that and then nodded. “However you tread, make sure this is sorted by this afternoon. I want Savannah on her pole tonight, and I want that smile of hers plastered across her face while she’s up there.”
“Will do. And now we need to discuss Earl and the fact that you need to pull your head out of your ass and get rid of him.”
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, settling in for a fight. “I’ve told you before that he brings in too much money to get rid of.”
“And I’m telling you that at some point, easy money becomes hard money. There’s something off about him, Billy, and I’m concerned your club is going to suffer the consequences of whatever that is. Also, Nitro’s gunning for you because of something Earl pulled last night—”
He cut me off. As much as he and Nitro had their differences, Billy tried not to piss him off because if my man was pissed, I was too, and that wasn’t something Billy ever wanted. “Fucking hell, that’s what he called me about this morning? What the hell did Earl do?”