by Jayne Blue
“Steel!” I whipped my head around.
“Steel!” I heard it again and thank God.
Sweet Jesus. Darby walked slowly toward us; her eyes were wide. She put a hand over her mouth as the remnants of my place, a shell now, collapsed.
I shook off Ryder and Ridge and walked toward her.
“Thank Christ,” I said and pulled her into a hug. She wasn’t in the trailer, she wasn’t dead. I hadn’t gotten her killed. The emotions were too much to think about. I smelled her hair, squeezed her again. She was alive. She was here.
“Are you okay?” I asked her and stepped back to look at her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. What the hell happened?”
“Propane tank exploded,” Ryder answered as he and Hammer sifted through the chaos while Ridge and Bucky put water on it.
There were sirens in the distance.
“I would have been in there,” Darby said, and I noticed now that she had bags in her hands.
“You were shopping?” I was thrilled that she was gone but fucking shocked that a mall is where she’d decided to go. A fucking mall!
“I had a meeting and yeah, I needed, stuff.” Her eyes were still focused on the trailer. Mine were now focused on her.
“I can’t let you out of my fucking sight. I told you to stay put.”
“Yeah? Well, I am glad I didn’t listen to that.”
“I thought you had agoraphobia. You’re calling for Ubers and hanging out at the mall?”
“Uh, sorry. I had to. I had to keep moving. And I’ve been better. What does it matter? Your house just exploded for God’s sake!” She shook her head, and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. I had yelled. I was pissed.
“I don’t care about that. I care that you’re okay.”
“I’m okay, but I have a lot to tell you.”
I put my arm around her, and my brothers converged on me.
“I’m going to bet this wasn’t an accident,” Ridge said.
“I checked your place last week, nothing at all wrong with it.”
Ryder was a mechanic; he would know if my propane was leaking or something was wrong with my place. The fire crews arrived and worked fast. We all stood back. The enormity of what almost happened was more than I wanted to think about. I had nearly lost what had become the most important thing in my life, and I wasn’t talking about my piece of shit trailer.
Sawyer was also now in charge, making sure to answer what questions firefighters had, assuring them that no one was in there and everyone was accounted for.
And it was true. I didn’t give two shits about my trailer. It was Darby, and Darby only, on my mind. I was relieved as hell that she did defy me and leave on her own. It had saved her life.
At the same time, I realized she better not try that shit again.
Someone was out to kill her, or me, or both. And they’d nearly succeeded.
I had to make damn sure they didn’t have that chance again.
Seventeen
Darby
* * *
“I want you two off-site. And don’t tell anyone where. No one,” Sawyer told Steel, and he nodded.
“Got it. I’ll settle us up and then meet tonight. As planned.”
“You can skip that,” Sawyer said. A dark shadow fell on Steel’s face.
“No, I fucking can’t.” He took my hand, and we walked away. I stole a glance at Sawyer, and there was unmistakable worry on his face.
Before the literal dust settled on the disaster that was Steel’s trailer, we were in motion. Steel met with Sawyer and Ryder and talked with fire investigators. Members of the Great Wolves M.C. checked in with me, as though I was hurt.
These bikers were tough, and before I’d gotten to know Steel, they’d have all scared the hell out of me had I run into them. My old life continued to recede, and even how I saw my old life was changing with each new thing that happened. And each new interaction I had without my Uncle Reid, or from behind the medication he’d said was the only way I could cope.
I was started to suspect a lot about that. But it was one of many things I had to figure out. And it wasn’t the top thing. I reassured each new concerned GWMC member that I was, in fact, okay. They were guardian angels or were supposed to be, and I felt collective guilt coming from them to me. The sanctuary they promised to me, and probably others, here, on the grounds of their club, was just as dangerous at the outside world for me.
Someone had blown up Steel’s home. I put two and two together, it wasn’t difficult. Someone wanted him or me, or both of us, dead. It was luck that had him out of his place. I wondered about what had saved me though.
I had ignored my panic about panic in the outside world. I had gone against even what Steel had said, to stay put. I was brave, for once, and for once it saved me instead of having my worst fears come true.
Steel barely let me out of his sight in the few hours we spent after the explosion. I heard more about his plans, maybe stuff I wasn’t supposed to, and also observed more about his club. Everywhere I turned, Steel was checking in, with a touch, with a look, and finally, it was time to go. Sawyer’s edict was right. Even though these bikers were here to protect me, something awful had gone wrong.
I also gathered that Steel was headed to some hotel later to stake it out. It was likely where I would have been taken if I hadn’t escaped.
Steel packed my stuff on the back of his Harley, and I got on behind him.
We rode for a while. I let my mind go empty. I let my old anxiety float away in the wind as it whipped passed us on the road. I had real fears now, not made-up disasters.
Steel drove us out of town. We headed southwest and eventually we got off the highway and pulled into the parking lot of a major hotel chain.
“Not exactly what I was expecting.” Steel helped me with my stuff while shouldering his own bag.
“Yeah, I never stay at these type joints either. That’s exactly the point.” Steel’s eyes scanned the parking lot.
“I want you to go in that side door. And turn right, go straight to the ladies’ restroom. I want you out of sight, I don’t want anyone to remember I was in this lobby with you.”
“I can pay. You don’t have to...” Steel put up his finger to my mouth.
“It’s not about that. It’s about keeping you hidden. No one is looking here. But let’s not give anyone a reason.”
I nodded and walked into the hotel. The desk clerks didn’t look up as I followed Steel’s instructions. I waited for ten minutes and went to the elevators. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he appeared. We went up to the fifth floor. As we walked, Steel kept looking around, checking that no one was watching us.
Finally, we were in our room. I had barely taken a step inside when I felt Steel behind me. He pulled off my jacket and lifted my hair. His lips were on my neck. His hands came around to the front of my blouse, and I felt him claw away the fabric.
I leaned into him, I felt his need pressing against my backside as his hands and mouth were all over my body. He ripped down my jeans. I was nearly naked, and it had been only seconds since we had walked into this room.
“I need you.” Steel rasped the words in my ear. I needed him too. After all we’d been through, the pull to be closer was impossible to ignore.
Steel angled me forward toward the bed, and I bend over. His hands reached around and pulled hard on my nipple, one, then the other. I cried out and felt him move down, to my panties. They were gone, in a blink. Steel nudged my legs apart with his. I couldn’t see him, only feel him on me, around me, and then the hard heat of him inside me.
I gasped again, in shock at the way this felt. He owned me at this moment, taking me, making me his. I felt that as sure as I felt my body respond to his. I braced myself hard, against the bed, but my arms collapsed, and I was on my elbows.
“Fuck,” Steel said, and I felt him deeper. Steel’s lips scorched a trail from my neck to my spine. The friction of our bodies drove me insane. I felt his fingers twi
st the buds of my nipples and I bucked back into him. I didn’t know what sensation I wanted more of. I just knew I wanted more of him, of whatever he did to me.
His hands moved to my hips and steadied me. He pumped faster, and I arched my back. An orgasm that began where we were connected, where I felt him inside me, rocketed from my core outward, to every nerve in my body.
“Steel, Oh. Oh, GOD!”
He kept the merciless pace, and I couldn’t support my own body. I collapsed forward, and he pulled my hips to him again as sight, speech, rational thought left me. I could only feel. He was my whole world.
A growl escaped his lips. It was as primal as the way we were connecting at this moment. It was his body reacting to mine, his motion feeding mine. He fell forward on me, my head resting lightly now on the bed. His body slowed, and so did my heartbeat. We gasped for air and then found our breath together.
He pulled out of me and turned me over in one swift motion. He lay his head on my shoulder and our legs entwined.
“I thought you were dead,” he said and tightened his arms around me.
“I’m here.”
“I don’t want that feeling again. I can’t.” He was talking to me, but also to himself.
“It was terrible, but I’m okay. I’m better than okay.” I had started to realize that the things that should have broken me in the last few days were making me stronger.
I had feared so much that wasn’t real. When real things happened, I survived them. It was changing me. And so was Steel.
“You need to stay here now, you need to only go out with me, or someone from the M.C. When I think about what could have happened at the mall.”
“Except that wasn’t where I was in danger. The danger came from the inside this time.”
“That’s on me. I can’t forgive myself for that, and I will kill whoever is responsible.” His words made me shiver. They scared me, he scared me right now. I put my lips on the scruff of his clenched jaw. The violence of his thoughts had turned his face harder. I kissed him softly. Over and over. Steel relented, his body relaxed.
“I have learned that I can do more than I am more than I thought. Even during all this.”
“You can do anything. I believe that. But I need you safe. Now is not the time for you to go meet someone I don’t know. You don’t understand the risks. It won’t be okay until I have a handle on this.”
I slid over, away from Steel. Something in me had awakened. He’d awakened it, and dammit, I’d awakened it myself.
It was confidence.
“I am not going to be hidden away ever again.” As I said it, I realized it was true. I thought of all the ways my uncle had helped stoke my fears. How, if I looked at it, he’d encouraged my terror instead of helping me overcome it. Now, with no choice, I had discovered my own strength. I had gone out, on my own, and survived. And I wanted more.
“I am not trying to hide you away. But anything could happen. The explosion, the kidnapping, people fucking shooting at you. Are you insane? You’re telling me now is the time you decide to be brave?”
“I just understand now; I know more now.” I tried to explain it to Steel.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
I had wrapped the sheet around me, almost like armor. I didn’t want to be naked, or exposed, or vulnerable with him right then.
“I am not. I know there’s trouble out there. Evil. Whatever you want to call it. Hiding didn’t get me anywhere, and I am done.”
“This is stupid.” Steel got out of bed, found his jeans, and as fraught as the situation was, I still couldn’t help staring at the way his chest trailed to perfect abs, and lower, to gorgeous sexy hips. But I had just found my voice. I wasn’t going to quiet it just because I wanted to keep someone else happy. Even if it was Steel.
“You’re saying I’m stupid.” This was a full-blown fight, I guessed. I’d never had a boyfriend so I had no idea how quickly the sweet words and kisses could turn into something ugly.
“You’re being stupid, there’s a difference. I forbid you to leave here unless it’s with me.”
“You what?” The scene was feeling very familiar now. The territory we were walking on was the same trail I’d been on with my uncle. I was unsafe. The world was dangerous. Do not even try to handle things because you can’t.
“I said, you have to stay under my protection until we get this figured out.”
“Am I your prisoner, because it sounds a lot like that?” I was shouting now, crying even. My emotions were out of control.
“I am saying I love you and I can’t watch you get hurt. I won’t.” All off a sudden my rising anger was gone, replaced by doubt.
“You love me?” I asked the question because I wasn’t sure that I heard what I thought I heard.
“I love you.” And Steel was back by my side, on his knees, pulling me to him. His head was in my lap, and I leaned down over him.
“I, uh, this is all so much.”
“You were dead, I knew it. I saw it. I can’t live without you.” Steel held my legs, held my body, tight to his. I stroked his coal black hair.
“I’m okay. It’s fine. I’m not going anywhere. It’s okay.” And I was comforting him. I was promising to stay put. I was reassuring him that I wouldn’t leave this room.
I loved Steel too. But I didn’t say it. Instead, I said, “I promise. I will stay right here as long as you say.”
I had traded Uncle Reid’s for this hotel room.
I didn’t want to hurt Steel. I wanted to make him happy. I would have said anything to reassure him.
So, I lied.
“I promise, I’ll stay put.”
I knew Steel had a mission. But I had a mission too. And nothing was going to keep me down again, least of all my own fears.
Eighteen
Steel
* * *
I kept looking at her, touching, her, and trying to tell myself that she was okay. Fear was new to me. I wasn’t afraid to die, I wasn’t afraid of cops, I wasn’t afraid of much after I put my Dad in his place. After that, I walked through life like nothing could touch me, and if it did, I’d beat it back.
But I was afraid now. I was afraid that Darby would be ripped out of my life just as quickly as she’d dropped into it. I’d glimpsed what that would do to me. I’d tasted the sick feeling of failing to protect her. It ripped my guts out and put them back in the space of five minutes
And I’d be damned if it happened again.
I’d gone from trying to show her she could do anything she wanted to do, to the exact opposite. I wanted her to stay hidden, locked behind a wall that I guarded.
Not forever, no. I knew that was wrong. But dammit, I needed her to stay safe and out of the crossfire now. At least until we figured this shit out.
I felt like she understood. She promised me she’d stay there, she said she, more than anyone else, understood the danger in the world.
We’d figure shit out after Ridge, and the M.C. took care of the bastards that kidnapped her. We’d clean this scum out of Grand City, and then, maybe then, I could relax my grip.
But until then, she’d stay out of the way so I could do my job.
I kissed her, inhaled the smell of her hair, and then it was time to go.
“I don’t know how late I’ll be, go to sleep. I’ll for sure be back my morning.”
“Don’t do anything stupid. Be careful.” Her warning sounded like a question. We hadn’t known each other long, but she did understand that careful wasn’t in my factory settings.
I didn’t want to leave her, but I knew the faster I got this done, the faster I’d be able to tell her something she wanted to hear instead of begging her to do something that had to be done.
I heard the door lock behind me as I left, and it gave me some bit of peace.
It was time to go to work.
We met up at the hotel. The idea was to wait, watch, get the girls out, and then watch who’d brought them try to run for it when shit we
nt south. We had a circle of MC members ready to tighten that loop.
Ridge, Ryder, and I were doing the heavy lifting of this. Hammer, and about half-a-dozen other wolves, were one layer back. They’d formed a barrier and backup.
The plan was Sawyer’s. He knew how to manage us.
It was a simple stakeout; the rest of them would tighten the circle if needed. But Ridge, Ryder, and me? We were busting down doors.
Vince Donovan, the owner of the Night Shade Motel, knew way more than he let on. We knew he was making cash by connecting customers with whoever was in on the sex trafficking ring.
“Ridge, those three.” I pointed to the three rooms, second floor, on the corner of the building. We were sitting in van, hidden, for the most part in plain sight.
“Yep. At least Donovan was straight about that.”
The Johns weren’t an issue. We were here to disrupt this shit.
My phone buzzed.
“Yeah Prez,” I said to Sawyer.
“You see it?”
“Yeah, the second floor last three rooms on the east side, near the stairs.”
“Any sign of the girls?” Sawyer asked.
“No, nothing here? You?”
“No, no suspicious vehicles, no shady fucking operators. We have three Johns waiting.”
Time slowed down. Something felt wrong, but I didn’t know what.
I wanted to go in and kick the shit out of the scum that preyed on these women. But they weren’t the root problem right now. Our issue was finding the network supplying this need. If we could do that, the fucking town would be a little bit safer.
Finally, a car drove into the parking lot.
“You see that?” Ryder said, and we all trained our eyes on it. It was filled: one man in the front driving, one woman next to him, and two in the back.
He parked close to the outdoor steps that would lead up to the waiting customers.
The man got out. Our windows were down, and we were just close enough to hear him.
“You’re going to go up there, one fuck or suck, and that’s it. You got thirty minutes. They want more, you leave. They pay for thirty. You understand?”