by Levine, Nina
“Who’s that?”
“You might wish you never asked me that question,” I said before launching into a fifteen-minute tirade of all the things I hated about Earl.
When I finished, she said, “Okay, go have a shower. I’ll make us Milo and one-minute banana muffins. When you’ve cooled down, I’ll tell you everything I hate about Zed.”
“And then we’ll make a plan for me to kick his ass?” I was only half joking. I knew where the little fucker lived; I’d maybe swing by and give him a piece of my mind.
She grinned. “I’m not sure how or why Nitro was so lucky to find you, but I’m glad he did. I love my mum, but you’re like my second mum, and I love you for being you. Even when you get a little too hardcore like this.”
I shrugged. “People learn how to treat us by what we allow. I’ve stopped allowing them to walk the fuck all over me, so now they don’t. And I won’t allow them to walk all over you either.”
My phone rang and I quickly snatched it up.
King.
“It’s about fucking time you called me back,” I answered the call.
“Don’t give me hell today, Tatum. I’m not in the fucking mood.” King sounded as cranky as me, but then this was standard for him.
“Good, I’m glad you’re in a mood, because I’ve got someone for you to take care of.”
“Who?”
I shared what I’d heard Earl discussing today about his plans for King. After I’d done that, I added, “Also, he’s a vile human who treats my girls like shit, and I know you’re not a fan of men who have no respect for women.”
“You got a photo of this motherfucker?”
“I can find one.”
“Send it to me. I’ll deal with him today.”
The line went dead when he disconnected the call, and as I placed my phone down, Renee said, “Earl has no idea what’s coming for him, does he?”
I turned to her with a smile. “No fucking idea.” Standing, I said, “I expect Milo when I get out of the shower, and lots of girl time.”
Her smile hit me fair in the chest, and as I walked to my bedroom, I thought about how much I loved having Renee in my life. Kids had never been on my list of things to do in life, but I couldn’t deny the joy she brought me. I would do whatever it took to help her through this breakup, because in the short time I’d been with Nitro, his family had become my family. And I’d do anything for my family.
5
Nitro
I called Tatum and pressed my phone to my ear waiting for her to answer. She’d called me a few times this morning and I’d missed her calls while taking care of some things with King. Her last message had been pissy, which I’d thought odd for her until King informed me about what she’d discovered about Earl. We’d just pulled up at Billy’s to take care of him, and to say I was more than ready to do that was a fucking understatement. He’d given Tatum hell for long enough, but she’d made me swear I wouldn’t deal with him for her. Vegas was too fucking independent for her own good some days. Her fight drew me to her, but fuck, I’d prefer it if she didn’t come out swinging every time I wanted to help her.
When she didn’t answer, I left her a message. “King called me out to help him with some jobs after you left this morning, and we’re just about to go find Earl. Don’t expect me home until the morning.”
“You ready?” King asked as I slid my phone in my pocket.
I jerked my chin. “Yeah.”
The beat of the music pumping through Billy’s drowned out every other noise as we made our way through the club. I’d never been here on a Sunday; it turned out to be a busy day.
A couple of the girls Tatum worked with recognised me and sent a smile my way, but other than a quick chin lift, I didn’t stop for a conversation. I barely knew them, except for the times Tatum had asked me to step in and help them when they needed the kind of help I could provide.
We found Earl in Billy’s office with him.
“King. Nitro.” Billy glanced between us before settling his gaze on me. “I didn’t realise you’d be bringing King with you for this little talk about your brother.”
“This isn’t about Dustin,” I said, eyeing Earl. “It’s about a little problem we have with Earl.”
“Fucking hell,” Billy said, “If it’s not Tatum with a problem, it’s you assholes. What the fuck is going on?”
King took a menacing step towards Earl. “Do you want to tell him, Earl, or should I?” His question came out a snarl that matched the storm vibrating from him.
Earl was a dumb motherfucker. He squared his shoulders like he was ready to go to war with King. “This has nothing to do with Billy. This is between us, King.”
“Correction,” King said, his eyes blazing with crazy. “This has nothing to do with Billy yet.” At Earl’s surprise, he continued, “You think I got to where I am today without a brain? Or without having people everywhere keeping tabs on everyone?” He shook his head like he was disappointed in Earl. “This is why you would have never pulled off what you had planned.”
“Okay,” Billy snapped. “Would someone care to enlighten me?”
King slowly turned his attention to Billy. “I discovered Earl’s plans to take over your gun business. He was coming after me tonight to settle a score he has with me, and when I heard about that, I did some digging and—”
Earl cut him off. “What the fuck are you talking about?” To Billy, he said, “You always did say King was crazy. This proves it. I’m fucking working tonight, so I’m not sure how he thinks I can be in two places at once.”
Billy wasn’t fucking dumb. I might not have liked the asshole, but I couldn’t deny his intelligence. The way he looked at Earl now told me he didn’t believe him.
“King is fucking crazy, Earl, but he’s not a liar,” he said, “So I’m interested to know more about your plans.” Looking at King, he said, “What else have you got for me?”
“Like fuck I’m listening to this shit,” Earl said, taking a step towards the door. I didn’t miss the nervous flare in his eyes.
Placing my hand on his shoulder, I stopped him. Yanking out the chair in front of Billy’s desk, I said, “Sit your ass down. You’re not going anywhere.”
While I held Earl in place, King shared everything he’d learned today. When he finished, Billy hit his manager with a filthy glare. “Tatum was fucking right about you all along. Fuck.”
Earl finally realised Billy wasn’t on his side, and attempted to escape my hold. He shot up out of the chair and took a swing at me, but I saw him coming and ducked. I then did what I’d wanted to do for a long fucking time; I punched the motherfucker and knocked him to the ground.
His grunts of pain filled the office, and he looked up at me with contempt. Spitting blood on my boots, his lips pulled into an ugly sneer. “If only you channelled some of that anger of yours towards Tatum; you could pull her into fucking line. Fuck knows how you put up with that cunt.”
Red rage consumed me and I kicked his stomach hard enough to shift him. “I would have dealt with you a long fucking time ago if not for Tatum. The only reason you’re still walking is because of her.” Bending, I jerked him up and slammed him against the wall before punching him again. Over and fucking over, taking great fucking pleasure every time my fist connected with his body.
It wasn’t until Billy pulled me off him that I stopped. By then, Earl was a bloody mess and the wall of Billy’s office was painted with his blood.
King’s phone rang. “How did you go?” he asked, answering it.
He’d sent Hyde and Devil to locate Earl’s friend, Ian, who Tatum had overheard him talking to this morning, so I guessed it was Hyde reporting in.
After he ended the call, he crouched in front of Earl. “If I had any intention of letting you live tonight, I’d give you a tip to take better fucking care when choosing the people you align yourself with. Turns out Ian was a bad fucking choice; he squealed before we even got to his fingers.” He glanced up at Billy
. “And he shared every single name of who you were working with to steal Billy’s gun trade.” Looking back down at Earl, he continued, “Looks like you’ve got a long night ahead of you while the three of us take turns gutting you.”
Earl, who was curled up grunting in pain, stared at King through squinted, bloody eyes. “Fuck you,” he spat, “And fuck Billy for being a weak fucking man led around by a cunt who I should have put in her fucking place—”
I had one boot in front of the other before he managed to get that sentence finished, ready to fucking crush his skull, but King beat me to it. He straddled Earl, gripping his neck with both hands, and bellowed, “You say another fucking word about Tatum and I will take all fucking week to end your life rather than one night.” He yanked Earl’s head up and slammed it back down onto the polished cement floor, the loud crack ringing out like my favourite fucking song.
“King,” I growled, “Get off him. He’s mine.”
The need to deliver pain rushed through my veins.
Every muscle tensed, ready to attack.
Ready to destroy the man who had threatened my woman for far too long.
I would need hours with him to sate this need.
King took his time but he finally stood. His dark eyes met mine with understanding. “He’s all yours, but we don’t do this here. Hyde is about ten minutes out with the van.”
Fuck.
This had always been the plan, but I hadn’t realised how unhinged I’d be after confronting Earl. I should have, though, because Vegas had become my fucking world since I’d made her mine, and I would go to the ends of the earth to protect her. To keep her safe from men like Earl.
I clenched my fists and moved away from him.
“I’ll wait outside for Hyde,” I gritted out. There was no way I could stay in the same room and not tear Earl limb from fucking limb.
King nodded and I exited the office. I’d only taken two steps down the hallway when I turned and punched the wall. “Fuck!” I roared, driving my fist into the wall over and over.
Fuck.
I should have taken care of this asshole a long time ago. I should never have allowed him all this time to fuck with Tatum. I wouldn’t make this mistake again. She was mine to protect and defend, and she could argue with me all she fucking liked over it, but she wouldn’t win this battle.
She. Was. Mine.
And I took care of what was mine.
6
Nitro
I stepped out of the shower and dried off, taking my time while doing my best to push the adrenaline coursing through my body away. I’d arrived home ten minutes ago after spending the night working my rage at Earl out of my system. I’d need Vegas to help me work the rest of the wild energy I was left with out of me. However, the fact she was currently asleep in our bed with Renee meant I’d either need to wait or find another way to get rid of it.
Wrapping the towel around me, I left the en suite to find some clean clothes. The sight of Tatum with Renee slowed me and caused my gut to tighten. The way she loved my family always caused that. Vegas had a heart the size of Australia, and I’d watched as she slowly opened it to my family after closing it off for so long. Fuck, being with her and watching how she loved had changed me too.
She stirred and her eyes came to mine. Wordlessly, she left the bed. Taking my hand, she led me out of the bedroom and into the living room.
“What time is it?” she asked softly, sleepily, her hand to my chest.
“Fuck you’re beautiful like this,” I murmured, smoothing her hair from her face. “It’s just after four; you should go back to sleep.”
“You just got home?”
“Yeah.” Reading the question in her eyes, I said, “He’s been dealt with.”
She moved her hand from my chest to my waist and gripped me. “Good.”
“This won’t happen again, Vegas.”
Her brows pulled together. “What?”
“Me holding back on someone because you ask me to. If they’re threatening you, I’ll take care of them.”
“Nitro,” she started, but I cut her off.
“Don’t argue with me. You won’t win.”
Her eyes searched mine and she exhaled a long breath. Moving into me, she reached her hand up to wrap it around the back of my neck. “You’re a stubborn man,” she said, pulling my mouth to hers.
Tatum’s lips were soft and fucking tempting, and I was a man unable to resist. But no fucking way was I doing that in the living room where my niece could stumble across us. Lifting Tatum, I carried her to a spare bedroom at the other end of the house. Kicking the door closed behind us, I threw her on the bed and straddled her.
Smiling that sexy fucking smile of hers that always got me hard, she said, “Fuck, I’ve missed you and your fury.” Her hands went to my towel. A second later it fell to the floor and her hand wrapped around my dick.
“Fuck,” I hissed, dropping my head for a moment. When I met her gaze again, I growled, “This is going to be fast and I’m not fucking apologising for that.”
She increased the pressure as she moved her hand up and down the length of my cock. “You’re still pissy I worked so much this week.”
“Yeah,” I said as I stripped her. “I’m also pissed off that I let Earl get away with his shit for as long as I did.”
“So you’re going to take that out on me?”
I grasped her chin roughly and rasped, “Damn fucking straight I am. You need to learn that being so fucking independent isn’t always a good thing.”
She picked up the pace of her hand job. “And you need to learn that being a caveman isn’t always the best thing. I know my limits, Nitro, and I know when I need your help.”
Fuck, I was close to coming, and I wanted to do that inside her, so I removed her hand from my dick. As I thrust inside her, I growled, “No, you fucking don’t.”
Her legs wrapped around me, her nails dug into my back, and her eyes held mine as she took everything I had to give.
It was as fast as I’d promised her.
And harder than I’d fucked her in a while.
I fucking brought my fury with me this time, because my brain couldn’t get past the fear of what could have happened if Earl had taken his hatred out on her. He’d made it clear during the night that he’d planned some nasty shit for her if she didn’t stop giving him hell. He’d also made it clear he wished he’d just ‘given it to her’ a long time ago.
There were too many men out there like Earl, and while I agreed with Tatum’s refusal to tolerate men like him, her inability to accept my help meant she was a target for them. And that shit fucking terrified me.
When we’d finished, we clung to each other for longer than we usually did. And when she finally let me go, she took hold of my face and said, “Something’s gotten into you. What?”
“I can’t fucking lose you, Vegas. And I won’t allow anyone to hurt you. So I need you to understand I’m deadly serious when I say I’ll step in if another Earl comes after you.”
She thought about that for a beat before slowly nodding her agreement. “Okay.”
I lifted a brow. “Okay, as in you’re not arguing with me over this? Or okay, as in you intend to let me think I won this round?”
Pressing her lips to mine, she kissed me in a way she didn’t often. Soft. Gentle. Surrendering. “Okay, as in I understand what this means to you, so I agree to accept your help from now on.”
“Fuck me,” I muttered, relief filling every cell in my body.
Her expression turned serious as she said softly, “Thank you.” I knew what those two words conveyed: a helluva fucking lot that she would never say because it wasn’t in her nature to get deep and mushy over shit.
It wasn’t often that Tatum shed her skin like this, exposing her vulnerable side and handing me a piece of her heart, so I took it with the care needed and didn’t continue to push the point. She’d given me what I wanted—what I needed—so we were done with this conversation.<
br />
She left me to go to the bathroom and when she returned, I spooned her, my arms wrapped tightly around her. “Is Renee okay?” I asked. Finding her asleep with Tatum led me to believe she wasn’t.
“No, but she will be. Zed broke up with her.”
“Why?” If she said the little asshole cheated on Renee, there would be no holding me back.
“Apparently his ex has moved back to town. He told Renee he still loves the ex, so it’s not fair to Renee to continue seeing her while he’s sorting through those feelings.”
“Fuck, who knew teenage boys gave a shit like that.”
“Yeah.” She rolled in my arms to face me. Tracing my lips, she said, “I love you. I’m sorry to cause you so much worry, and while I’ll try not to be so independent, I need you to know this might take me a little time to work on.”
I ran a hand down to her ass, my dick hard as steel again. “Vegas, you’re the fucking definition of independent, and I don’t expect you to change for me. I just needed you to know to expect a lot more fucking fight from me over it.”
She rubbed herself against me, causing the kind of friction that meant we weren’t going to get any sleep for hours. Not that I’d intended for us to sleep. However, I’d wanted to catch up with her first, but that was off the table now. “I received your message loud and clear, champ. I like it when you fight with me. It usually means your fury isn’t far away.”
“Fucking hell,” I growled, pushing her onto her back and reaching for her pussy. “You’ll be the death of me, woman.”
She wouldn’t be, though.
Tatum had breathed life back into me.
She was strong, and fierce, and brave.
Full of grit.
And loyalty.
Tatum was the kind of woman who could never be the death of me when she was everything I’d ever needed in a woman. When she was my heart and soul.