RIDING WRONG (Steel Titans MC, #2)

by Franca Storm

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  EPILOGUE

  Franca Storm Library

  Bad Boy Clubhouse

  About the Author

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  RIDING WRONG. A Steel Titans MC Novel.

  Copyright © Franca Storm (2020). All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

  Cover Design by Les at Germancreative.

  The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed”. Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book”.

  Cole Taylor is the top enforcer for the Steel Titans MC.

  Their most loyal soldier.

  Their go-to for dealing out pain, punishment and justice.

  A formidable deterrent to enemies far and wide.

  Turning rage into power makes him an unstoppable force.

  Until he’s sent on a mission to HER.

  Natasha “Nightshade” Ireland.

  A well-known troublemaker, hated by the club.

  An old flame he’s never been able to forget.

  A shocking revelation ups the stakes for them like never before.

  It’s time to take a stand.

  Time to risk it all.

  Time to put something ahead of the club.

  He’ll wage a war to make it happen.

  To protect her.

  To claim her.

  To finally bring her into his world.

  He’s not letting her go this time.

  No matter the cost.

  1

  ~Cole~

  THIS ISN’T GONNA GO DOWN WELL.

  The heavy, pissed-off thump of my motorcycle boots on the disgusting old hardwood floor had hard looks from all the fuckers in the shithole bar firing my way.

  Sure, it could’ve also been a couple of other things that were known attention-getters anywhere, not just in this seedy joint.

  The blood, for one.

  Staining my jeans, my white tee, my hoodie, and my leather jacket. Not to mention, my knuckles, where I’d inflicted major damage to four of her bodyguards on my way here.

  Damn woman had a way of coercing men into risking life and limb for her sweet little ass. Hell, I knew better than most.

  Aside from the blood, there was also the blade I was spinning in my hand as I moved further into the bar. I was sure some of the more experienced eyes on me knew I was also packing a pistol. The bulge of the holster at my right hip was perceptible, with just my jacket covering it from view.

  Just as I caught sight of her silky mane of jet-black hair over in the far corner of the bar, three assholes stepped into my path, blocking my way.

  I heard a little cackle from her. This shit was amusing to her?

  “Tasha!” I yelled.

  Over the shoulder of one of her bodyguards, I saw her rise to her feet. Yeah, she knew that tone from me meant I wasn’t messing around, that she was on real thin fucking ice. I was right on the edge here, for fuck’s sakes. She knew better than to drive me over it. My temper wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Ever.

  Still, she tried to push it a bit, coming up on the side of the biggest guy and trailing her manicured nails over his bicep. She winked at me slyly as she gave it a sensual squeeze, the guy turning into her with a dirty fucking smirk.

  That ended real quick when I stepped forward, brandishing my blade at her muscle, and told her, “I’ve already put down four, woman. Do you really want to make it seven?” I cracked my knuckles and shifted my weight. “You know what I’m capable of.” I narrowed my eyes. “Especially when anybody blocks my way to you.”

  She paled noticeably and dropped her hand from the guy. Leaning into his ear, she whispered something that I couldn’t make out.

  He gave a nod and signaled the other two to stand down and back off. The three of them headed over to the bar, but kept eyes on us, watching from a distance.

  “Good call,” I told her. “For once,” I couldn’t stop myself from adding. To say she deserved it was an understatement.

  “Let’s talk.” Rolling her eyes, she muttered, “Seeing as though you aren’t giving me a fucking choice.”

  “Watch it,” I warned her.

  She slapped her hand to the hip of her skin-tight black jeans, making sure to thrust her big tits out in the process. Fuck, they were popping in the black lacy tank she had on.

  “Yeah?” she challenged. “Why’s that?”

  I stepped up close to her. Her breath hitched as I left barely an inch between us. Looming over her, I spoke in a low growl, “You know what it does to me when you roll those Devil eyes at me.”

  “Devil eyes? My eyes are green.”

  Yeah, a real deep, emerald-green. I’d never seen a shade like it in anybody before. They were enthralling as hell.

  “But you’ve got the flash of the Devil in them.” I breathed her in. “Especially, when you’re being real bad.”

  She moved into me and trailed her hand down the length of my tee. “Something I know you enjoy about me, Cole.”

  She was watching me intently, studying my reaction. Smart as she was, I knew her too well to let her outsmart me. I knew what she wanted, but she wasn’t gonna get it.

  Her face fell as I stepped back, breaking her hold on me. “Not your best effort,” I said, as I headed to the corner table she’d been sitting at when I’d first walked in.

  Her stiletto heels clacked on the floor as she followed me over.

  “So, why are you here this time?” she asked, with a huff, as we took seats opposite one another. “Clearly, it’s not a pleasurable visit.”

  I scooted my chair back so I was out of her reach. I couldn’t risk her touching me again. My dick was already rock-hard as it was, just from that brief brush of her talented fingers. It was what she did to me, what she’d always done to me.

  “Slade,” I answered.

  “The psycho President of the Steel Titans Motorcycle Club, huh? What about that son of a bitch?”

  “Tasha,” I warned. She knew it pissed me off when she disrespected Prez right to my fucking face.

  She slumped back against her chair, looking me up and down. “If you’re on an errand for him, why aren’t you in club colors? No cut, just your leather jacket, and not the one with the MC crest on it either. Are you sure you’re not covering?”

  “What?”

  She flashed me a sexy look. “Sure you’re not here just to see me, Tiger?”

  “Real sure, Firecracker,” I threw back at her, retaliating with my own nickname for her. “I’m out of club color
s to keep shit on the down-low. Nik Stone always has eyes on you. Can’t risk inciting a war by having reports getting back to him of a Steel Titans club member moving in on his supposed turf.”

  “If you think people don’t know about you and me continuing to see each other, then you’re delusional.”

  “Slade knows. To everybody else it’s just an unsubstantiated rumor.”

  She ignored that and asked, “His turf? Nik’s?”

  “What about it?”

  “It doesn’t bother you then?”

  I shrugged. “Why would it?”

  “Me being referred to as his? It doesn’t bother you one bit? You? Alpha-male, possessive asshole extraordinaire?”

  “We’re not together, Tasha.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Fuck you, Cole!” she exploded, slapping her hands down on the tabletop, then kicking back her chair and shooting to her feet. She leaned over the table, trying to get in my face.

  There was that infamous temper of hers. Interesting. Something was up with her. Unlike with me, it normally took a hell of a lot to unleash her fury.

  I glared up at her. “Sit back down. We’re not done here.”

  “Yes, we are!” She gave the table leg a violent kick, then spun away from me, storming off.

  I let her go, watching as she stomped across the bar, her muscle looking between the two of us, warily, ensuring that I wasn’t going to make some sort of aggressive move after her. As soon as she was through the door, they slid off their stools and filed out after her.

  Tapping my fingers on the tabletop, I tried to force patience, something that didn’t come easy to me. I had to play it smart here, wait it out long enough, until she dismissed her muscle. I’d already taken down four guys just to force a face-to-face meet with her. That wasn’t gonna be without consequences. Prez was giving me some leeway, because he knew how she was and the kinda shit she was caught up in. But pushing it too far was gonna have him coming down on me like a slab of fucking concrete. I wasn’t a man who scared easy, but when Slade Mitchell brought the hammer down, it was a whole different story. The guy had a brutal rep for a damned good reason. Unlike sometimes where the stories were exaggerated, that wasn’t the case with him. Nah, the guy had done everything that was rumored about him, and more.

  But he only got that down and dirty when he had to.

  Plus, he’d always been good to me.

  He’d had my back for years.

  Hell, he’d taken me into his club family, given me a mission, and helped me to carve out a life for myself. That was something I’d never thought possible a few years back when I’d been living through hell on earth with my little sister and my best friend. And it wasn’t something I was ever gonna forget him doing for us either.

  I was his most loyal soldier, no question.

  It was one of the reasons why he’d trusted me with this mission. A mission none of the club brothers knew about. As far as they were concerned, I was on personal leave, trying to check my rage. As if that could ever be accomplished. That shit was in me for good now. It was just as much a permanent part of me as the blood running through my veins.

  What certain people didn’t seem to get—my best friend, Mason Cross, for one—was that the way I was with my so-called temper had saved my life, saved my sister, him, and helped the club out time and time again. Rage was power. It made me an unstoppable machine. And, the way the world was, it was the only way to survive. Strength, power… it was everything. Giving that up would be like lowering my guard just as a blow’s coming my way. No fucking thanks.

  With this current mission I’d been tasked with, I’d be needing that more than ever.

  Natasha Ireland was caught up in a real bad world with dangerous players and so many wildcards. I had to draw on everything at my disposal to work my way through all of that and get this shit done.

  She might’ve walked out, but I wasn’t worried. I knew her well.

  She wasn’t going far.

  Plus, I hadn’t shown up here blind. I’d been down in this neck of the woods for three days, scouting out shit, putting feelers out. I knew exactly how she was operating here, what she was up to, and where she was staying.

  There was also the fact that I knew in my bones that she wouldn’t take off anyway.

  Not now that she’d seen me.

  Those who knew about us figured that she had a hold on me, but they had no clue of the hold I had over her.

  Nah, she wouldn’t be able to walk away from me.

  I’d wait until she calmed down, dismissed her muscle, and was finally alone.

  Then, I’d make my move and get this shit done.

  2

  ~Natasha~

  “ASSHOLE!” I SCREAMED at the top of my lungs.

  I couldn’t believe it. How did he do this to me? How did he get to me like this? No one else had ever managed to get under my skin, to infiltrate my unemotional, forced persona like him.

  My body was literally trembling with the force of my rage.

  I’d known he was coming. I’d gotten word a couple of days ago. It was why I’d had protection in place. While I knew he’d never hurt me—not physically, anyway—I hadn’t been sure who else might have come along for the ride. For all I’d known, that asshole, Mason, could’ve come on down, or one of his other heavy-handed club brothers. That self-righteous prick hated me with a vengeance. He wouldn’t have hesitated to force whatever it was that they’d wanted out of me, I was sure. For everything he thought he knew about me, his fierce revulsion of me was really rooted in him believing that I’d taken Cole from him. With everything that’d gone down the last time I’d been around Mason, his and Cole’s friendship had fractured and it’d never fully recovered. I doubted it ever would. Of course, instead of putting the blame where it’d belonged—onto the two of them—Mason had tarred me as the scapegoat.

  I hadn’t meant for things to turn out the way they had back then.

  Did Mason and his fucking club really think I’d wanted that? It’d forced me from the man I loved, ripped away any chance of finally belonging to a family. With the way they all felt about me, it’d become impossible for Cole and me to remain together. I’d made the break, knowing that it’d been tearing him apart, trying to make a choice between his revered club that meant everything to him, that’d finally given him a home for the first time since he’d lost his parents as a kid, and me, the only woman he’d ever let himself fall for so completely.

  And it’d shattered me.

  I’d ended up alone. Again.

  It’d been different, though. I’d let myself open up with Cole, been vulnerable to allow love into my life. Before, being alone hadn’t affected me, because I’d forced myself to remain cold and unfeeling. A survival tactic. But after opening up like that, having to go back to that lonely, awful life I’d had before hurt. It’d hurt so much.

  I’d managed to take some comfort in the two of us still seeing each other once in a blue moon. Whenever Cole ventured away from the Steel Titans to the underground fighting circuit every few months, we arranged to see each other in secret.

  Just like six weeks ago.

  Six weeks ago when we’d been all over one another, fucking every spare moment that he hadn’t been in the ring beating the crap out of some poor bastard in an attempt to exorcise his demons.

  Six weeks ago when he hadn’t been the cold-hearted, son of a bitch with a single-minded focus on his stupid Steel Titans mission.

  Coming at me like that earlier with nothing but indifference toward me had been soul-destroying. And the timing couldn’t have been worse either. There was something I’d been meaning to tell him for the last couple of weeks. It hadn’t felt right to do it via a text message, or a secret phone call. When I’d found out he was headed down to me, it’d seemed perfect. I couldn’t have been more wrong about that. There was no way I could tell him while he was putting up a wall between us, in order to focus on his mission and nothing but.

  Running my fingers thro
ugh my hair, while taking several deep breaths to try to calm myself, I made my way out to the balcony of my condo, located on the outskirts of the city. I wrapped my cropped denim jacket tightly around me as I leaned over the railing, taking in the view of the cityscape. The wind was really picking up. There was heavy cloud cover.

  A storm was coming.

  In more ways than one.

  I knew Cole would show up again very soon.

  He might’ve let me go earlier, but that was because he knew I was impossible to talk to when I lost my temper. He knew he’d make no headway until I calmed down.

  I was certain he wouldn’t stop, though. When Cole had a mission to complete for Slade Mitchell, he was like an unstoppable machine. He would keep coming until he achieved what he’d been sent to do.

  Slade knew what he was doing. He was aware that Cole Taylor was my one weakness, my indisputable Achilles Heel. I didn’t want to take off into the ozone now. I wanted to see the man I loved again. Hell, I wanted to keep seeing him. I wanted us to be together.

  But what hope was there down that road, really?

  We’d already tried and failed.

  He could never bring me into his world. His club would never accept me, especially after what’d happened a few years ago.

  And I couldn’t bring Cole into my world. He’d never leave the Steel Titans. It was more than a job to him. It was his family, his whole identity.

  It was hopeless.

  And whatever Slade had sent him to get from me, I couldn’t give.

  It was too dangerous. For everyone. He didn’t realize just how much.

  I pushed off the railing and hurried back into my condo.

  I had to leave.

  Now.

  I was pretty sure Cole had figured out where I was staying. He wouldn’t have put himself in a position to lose my tail after going to so much trouble to track me in the first place. I wasn’t an easy woman to find for a damned good reason.

  Hightailing it to my bedroom, I hurried over to the closet and pulled out my go-bag containing everything I needed to take off on a whim and start a new life anywhere I pleased. A pang of regret hit me. I’d done this too many times. When would it end? When would I be at peace, be safe?