His Beauty_The Wounded Souls

by Leah Sharelle

  “Steel loves you.”

  Okay, I was not expecting that. And I certainly did not believe it.

  “Creed, I really don’t think—”

  “Yeah, he does. This stupid shit with Callie is him being safe. Calculating the easiest path,” he interrupted me.

  What on earth did he mean by that? I started to ask, but he held his hand up to stop me from arguing with him.

  “Steel and I were partners in the snipers. We spent a lot of time in shit places, not talking but comfortable with each other’s company. Fucking hours and sometimes days in one spot, waiting for our target, hardly eating, sleeping, or moving. But I wasn’t the only one to depend on the ability to be quiet, and solace became my best friend.”

  “Creed,” I tried again, but he was on a mission to share, and who was I to stop him? He didn’t indulge very often, so I was going to take whatever I could get from him. Despite this mess of feelings between us, Creed’s friendship was important to me.

  “Being a sniper, you get training on how to shoot, how to hit and not miss, but you don’t learn the patience. That is something already in you. Steel and I can wait forever for that target to come to us.”

  “What does that have to do with Steel and me?” I was a bit lost. I knew there was a message, but he wasn’t making it easy to see it.

  Creed looked out the window for a long moment before he turned and looked right at me. The intensity of his look scared me a little.

  “His path to Callie is easy. There is no love, just release, and she is a distraction from what he really needs, which is you. His path to you is harder. You make him want to shed the sniper and the quiet, but he doesn’t know how. The day he lost his leg, he lost that part of him that sees his appeal to women. Callie shows interest, but she also makes him feel inadequate as a whole man. He is used to her, but it would kill him if you rejected him because of his prosthesis.”

  His words hit me, and I could see what he was getting at, but I didn’t believe the words. Steel knew I would never make fun of him or belittle him like Callie did.

  Looking at Creed, I got a glimpse of the man behind the pain.

  “And you, Creed. What would kill you?” I asked softly as I daringly reached out and laced my fingers with his.

  Surprising me, he immediately tightened them around mine.

  “Losing another person I love. When I lost Lila, I swore I would never love again. So please, gorgeous, don’t ask me to because you are the one I really would like to love. But I can’t, so just don’t.” He brought our joined hands up to his lips and kissed my knuckles gently. “Please don’t,” he whispered again, his voice full of devastation and heartache.

  I felt tears prick at the corner of my eyes as I thought about how much he must have loved her. Losing her in that accident had taken his heart, as well. Suddenly, I thought of the rose he left behind the morning he left my place. The rose… Lila Rose—his wife. He left it as a symbol to tell me why he hadn’t been able to make love to me. He couldn’t betray her memory, just like he couldn’t risk his heart again. A heart he no longer had the courage to give to another person.

  “Don’t give up on love, Creed. Don’t lose yourself in the sorrow of the past.” I took in a shaky breath. “I don’t know if Steel will ever admit to any feelings for me, and I don’t know if I can take too much more of seeing him with my sister. But I do know the feelings I have for him are like nothing I have ever experienced, and no other man will ever do for me. But I am realistic, Creed. I know I may have to let Steel go and get on with my life elsewhere.”

  When I said the last part, Creed’s eyes narrowed, and his fingers tightened painfully around mine.

  “You can’t go anywhere, Mia. Apart from the fact the entire club would be hurt, there is a crazy man out there looking to get at us through our women, and we can’t protect you if we can’t see you,” Creed said emphatically, repeating the mantra of the club. His concern was sweet, but it was coming from the wrong man.

  “Why can’t I love you instead?” I whispered instead of reassuring him I wouldn’t go anywhere because I couldn’t promise him that. Seeing Steel agreeing so easily to help Callie tonight, even after the horrible way she treated me, hurt too much. It hurt that he chose her every time when I treated him so much better than she did. Unlacing my fingers from Creed’s, I let myself out of the huge truck. Damn, these men had to learn that not everyone was as tall as they were.

  “Mia, don’t leave tonight without an escort out to your car,” Creed warned me as I moved away from his truck, heading to the back entrance of the Bar and Grill.

  Raising my hand above my head, I acknowledged that I’d heard him, but I didn’t look back. I didn’t have a death wish, I really didn’t, but I would rather Rogue got to me than to Shiloh or my two pregnant best friends.

  ————

  “Mia, I’m going down to the cellar to get some more Scotch and to hook up another keg,” Rainn called out to me. The bar was slamming tonight, and Rainn, the kitchen staff, and I hadn’t had any breaks. I was so tired, I’d lost the ability to feel my feet about an hour ago. When I volunteered to fill in for Tori, I completely forgot my shift was after hers. So here I was, pulling a double on one of the busiest nights in the bar’s history. Giving Rainn a thumbs-up, I continued to pour a round of beers for the group of university guys that had been in here since I started the first shift. They were rowdy and a little handsy with the waitresses, but they were spending gobs of money.

  “Hey, beautiful, how would you like to get up close and personal with my mattress?” one of the guys asked me as I handed out the mugs of beer.

  I tried hard not to roll my eyes, and I came close to succeeding, too, but the blonde ‘boy next door’ uni student had been at me all night, and my patience was starting to wear thin. I had heard every single come-on ever written from this lot, and I was getting pretty pissed off with them. It was times like now that I wished I had some of that sniper training in patience—that, or the ability to shoot and kill.

  “Here are your beers, fellas. One hour till closing time, by the way,” I reminded them all for the second time. I just wanted them out of here. After we closed, there would be at least another hour of cleaning up before I could drag my tired body back to Rainn’s house. When Callie and I had our last falling out, I’d asked Rainn if I could sleep in her spare room. She was fine with it, and I had been there for about two weeks. Two weeks of peace and quiet since Rainn was barely there. She spent much of her sleeping time in Mannix’s bed at the compound.

  Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t register the hand that had snuck over the bar top until it grabbed me and pulled me halfway across the bar.

  “Hey, let me go,” I shouted, wildly looking around for the bar security or one on the MC guys. Steel was supposed to be on tonight, but his plans must have changed. Getting sexy time with Callie trumped security detail and looking after me. All thoughts of Steel left my head as the hand on my arm turned into hands all over my breasts. I felt the idiot’s fingers bite into my soft flesh, making me cry out in pain. Oh, God. I think I may be in over my head.

  “Take your fucking hands off her right now, arsehole.” I felt nothing but relief when I heard the sweetest words ever roared from behind the students.

  Looking up, I stared straight into the very pissed off green eyes of the Wounded Souls’ VP.

  5

  STEEL

  I kicked the stand on my bike down with more force than was necessary. I should have known Callie was going to pull some fucking shit. The woman really knew how to play me. I took her for a two-hour ride along the coast, but I didn’t feel the things I was supposed to feel with her on the back of my bike. I used to feel it all the fucking time. Having a beautiful woman behind me with her arms and long legs wrapped around me made me feel like a king, and that a woman as stunning as Callie would be interested in a beat-up, bent, broken soldier like me… but this time, I just wanted her off my bike and as far away from me as possible.<
br />
  When I pulled up to her house, some guy was waiting for her. I mean—what the fuck? I had always known we were never exclusive, and that was fine as long as I didn’t have to see her with anyone else. At the compound, the guys all knew the score and were sensitive about how they went about taking her. But this guy was hiding behind her front window, the curtains obscuring his face from me, but his silhouette gave me a weird familiar vibe.

  “I’m sorry you can’t come in, Steel. I have company, but thanks for the ride, baby.”

  I let her press her lips to mine, but I made no move to reciprocate the kiss. Something just didn’t feel right about this whole deal. Apart from someone being in her house watching us, I felt like I was cheating on Mia, which was just fucking ridiculous because Mia and I were not a thing. I didn’t know what Mia and I were, but until I did, I had to end things completely with Callie. I was no cheater, and even though Mia and I weren’t together, I had feelings for her, and it would not be fair to her. Then there was the fact that everyone at the club hated Callie.

  “Be seeing ya, Callie.” I gently disentangled myself from her hands with her trademark talon-like nails. Ignoring her pissed-off expression, I made my way back to my bike without looking back at her so not to see her repulsed leer as she watched me walk with a limp, which I normally did.

  “VP, we got a new shipment of that beer you like, and they are nice and cold,” Seb called out from behind the bar, catching me just as I made my way past the pool table. I had intended to have a hot bath to soak my sore leg then sleep, but a beer—maybe a few or ten—sounded fucking perfect right now.

  “Hit me, prospect.” I made my way to the bar, and then took a seat and the offered bottle of my go-to lager. Putting it to my lips, I emptied the bottle in three chugs. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and slammed it down on the bar. Fuck! That hit the spot.

  “Another,” I ordered, preparing for a few hours of drinking.

  ————

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  I turned on the bar stool and raised my eyebrow at my road captain. Okay then, it seemed he was in a broody snit about something. Unfortunately, I wasn’t drunk, which had been the plan when I chugged the first beer over three hours ago, but I had been nursing my third for the last hour or so. Now I felt like sculling the fucking thing then changing to whiskey. Fuck Creed and his fucking moods.

  “And where should I be, Apollo.” I almost laughed at the stupid nickname we gave him during selection and training for the commandos. Almost but I didn’t because the look he was giving me had my senses firing.

  “You better not tell me Mia and Rainn are at the Bar and Grill without any detail.” Creed growled at me as I quickly scanned the main room of the compound and saw all the prospects were there.

  “Fuck,” I shouted. I pushed myself to my feet and started running out to my bike. Jesus. Fuck, how could I be so irresponsible to leave the girls when I was supposed to be there on security? Please, let them be okay, I prayed silently.

  “You know you are a fucking arsehole, right?” Creed shouted from behind me after following me out to the car park, but I wasn’t in the mood for his shit.

  “What is your problem, Creed? Why are you pushing Mia in my face all the time lately?” I backed up my words with a shove to his chest, which he, of course, pushed back at me. Creed was a big guy, no doubt, but I was taller than him. It used to be an advantage before I lost my leg, and he knew this, so his shove was harder and put me off balance.

  “My problem is you, fucker, not being able to see that a beautiful, sweet woman is in love with you, and you continually hurt her over and over again. The way you just forgot about Mia and went off with that whore Callie makes me want to punch your face in,” Creed shouted in my face. “She is talking about leaving the Bar and Grill, the club, and leaving town, Steel. So you better go deal with that or trust me, brother, I will. I will claim her for myself.” Creed spat at the toe of my boot, narrowly missing it. I could see he was furious, but what he just said—holy shit! Mia was not leaving the Bar and Grill, nor was she leaving the protection of the club. She certainly wasn’t leaving town—that was for sure. But what I knew for a fucking fact was Mia was not going to be claimed by Creed. Absolutely no fucking chance. Nope, that wasn’t happening.

  ————

  “Take your fucking hands off her right now, arsehole.” The words came out of my mouth in a deep roar. I saw red with what was before me. Some fucking yuppie wanker had his hands on Mia’s breast, and the other wanker was pulling her over the bar by her arms as her cries of distress went unheard by those around her. I made it to the two guys in less than three strides, ignoring the protest in my leg, and roughly yanked wanker number one away from Mia and the bar.

  Grabbing him by the neck, I tossed behind me. I didn’t even turn to see if he landed on his feet or his arse, nor did I give a shit. My hands were on wanker number two a split second later, hauling him by the collar of his expensive upper-class shirt. Pfft, I had more money than the designer who made the shirt. I was not impressed by the show of wealth, and I was definitely not impressed with the red marks on Mia’s forearms.

  “See what you did to her? Do you see the finger marks you left on my woman’s soft skin?” I yelled at him, spraying his face with bits of spit—but I didn’t give a fuck.

  Mia’s shocked gasp barely registered in my mind as I dragged the fucking idiot out of the bar along with his mate.

  “In case anyone else gets the sudden inclination to put their hands on my staff, I suggest you don’t,” I said to the room at large. The rest of the uni students were all cowering behind chairs, tables, and anything they could hide behind. Glaring at one of the other guys who had been standing at the bar but hadn’t been touching Mia, I directed my next comment to him.

  “If your friends need to do something about this, let them know they are on security footage, and I will be sending a copy to the university’s chancellor. And if they try to do something stupid, remember the Wounded Souls own this place, and I am the VP of that club. Tell them to think carefully before they enter a bar again, but not this one because they are banned. Got it?” I barely hung on by a thread. What I wanted to do was to take Mia into my arms and hold her until I stopped seeing that scene play before my eyes. His hands on her tits—my tits. Whoa, okay, that’s new. I’d never had that thought before, not even about Callie—who I had never once claimed in any way. Hang on! Was I claiming Mia? No, no, I just wanted to make sure she was okay, right? Holy fucking shit! Was I going to claim Mia? Jesus, I needed another drink.

  6

  Mia

  I watched in disbelief as Steel manhandled the two idiots as if they weighed nothing at all, but my jaw dropped when he called me his woman. Seriously? Did he really call me that? My blood started to boil. How could he say that when not a few hours ago he was smiling indulgently at my sister after the horrible things she had said to me? Then he’d agreed to a nice long ride on his bike with her wrapped around him. I knew how that felt, and like a fool, I loved it. I cherished the times I was on the back of his bike with him. Being part of the MC, riding on the men’s bikes, was part of normal everyday life. All of us girls were familiar with being a passenger, and the guys made sure they taught us how to be safe with them. And I always felt safe with Steel when I rode behind him.

  Not able to stay there a minute longer, I took the opportunity to escape from the bar area. I just needed a minute to gather myself. That guy hurt me when he grabbed my wrist, but when the other one grabbed my breast, it really hurt. Without even looking, I knew there would be bruises tomorrow. Pushing my way past the waitresses who had stopped to watch the drama unfold—not help, mind you—I ran to the staffroom.

  “Mia, sweetie, what’s wrong?” Rainn came out of the door leading to the downstairs cellar, two bottles of the most expensive scotch we offered for sale in her arms.

  “Rainn, can you cover for me? I just had a run-in with a couple of tho
se uni guys, and I don’t think I can finish my shift,” I pleaded with her. I couldn’t tell her I also needed to hide from Steel. I needed time to think about what he said and how he reacted when he walked in and saw the guys assaulting me. My mind was a rush of so many emotions—elation, annoyance, thrilled, and pissed off. There were just too many conflicting thoughts flying through my head, and if I had to talk to him or see him, I was worried I would say the wrong thing. Damn, I was worried I would fall to my feet and beg him to claim me, and then I would be that woman who had a man who liked me but loved someone else. My sister. And that was all kinds of fucked-up.

  I turned my head when I heard Steel’s commanding voice telling the wait staff off for not doing their jobs properly, and he sounded close. Too close. I spun back to Rainn.

  “Please, Rainn. I just can’t... I can’t see him right now,” I begged.

  Rainn gave me a sympathetic smile. “I know, sweetie. Go out the back. I’ll hold off the movie-star biker for you.”

  I leaned over and gave her a quick hug. “You have been hanging around Shiloh too much,” I joked with her, knowing that was something Shiloh would have come up with to call Steel.

  Laughing, Rainn nodded her head. “Most likely. Our club princess is definitely the queen when it comes to nicknames.” Giving me a gentle shove, Rainn urged me down the hallway where the exit door to the car park was at the end.

  Moving fast, I made my way out the heavy door and looked around the well-lit car park. The guys made all the businesses safe for their employees with not only seeing to security but making us safe with ample lighting for late-night shifts. Getting to my car, I reached for my bag, but my hand only found my shirt. Damn, shit, arsehole. I left my bag behind the bar and my jacket, too. Good grief. If there were a prize for not using your head, I would definitely be a top contender. I mean, look at what I had done so far? I’d fallen in love with a man obsessed with my sister, and drunk dialled him—twice.