RIDING DIRTY (Steel Titans MC Book 4)

by Franca Storm

  But there were more than a few things standing between us.

  Nolan was just one of them.

  “Freeman’s a half mile down the road with a small army ready and waiting,” I told her, hating that it had to be one of my first sentences to her. I didn’t want to talk about any of this. I didn’t want anything between us and this reunion, between my want and need for her. But we weren’t out of the woods yet, nowhere near to being free and clear, so shit like that weren’t luxuries we had available to us.

  “I know.” She maneuvered herself to glance at her watch, while ensuring she didn’t take her hands off Nolan. “Twelve minutes until I need to make contact again.”

  “Fuck,” I muttered.

  She grinned. “Just couldn’t stay in the shade, could you?”

  “Well, we didn’t know Nolan was tied to what you’ve got going on with Freeman. You could’ve been more specific. We thought they were separate entities again, the safehouse hit being the end of their partnership.”

  “So did I,” Nolan ground out.

  “Shut it,” Willa snarled, grinding the muzzle of her gun into the back of his skull.

  Jeez, she weren’t making my hard-on no easier to handle.

  “How did you get past him and his guys?” she asked.

  “I can be stealth when I need to be.”

  “Especially when he’s got me at his back,” Mason spoke for the first time, coming up on my side and making himself known. He’d been hanging back, flanking me, and watching my back. But now we knew the Nolan situation was already contained inside, there was no need.

  Willa’s eyes flicked over him, taking him in, recognition there. “Mason,” she greeted.

  “Shadow,” he returned with a half-smile. That was as much emotion as he’d let himself show when he was on mission. He gestured at Nolan. “I’m assuming there’s a reason he’s still breathing?” he commented, perceptively.

  “I need intel.”

  “Intel?” I asked.

  She sighed. “This situation is bigger than either of us believed.” She went to go on, to explain, but I saw her hesitation with Nolan being right there listening.

  I snapped my fingers at Mason. “Brother.”

  “Yeah,” he said, knowing me well enough to get it without me needing to spell it out.

  As he strode over toward them, Willa eyed me in question. I gave her a chin lift to let her know it was all good, to trust me. She nodded and released Nolan, allowing Mason to take over with subduing the asshole.

  I crooked my finger and she came my way.

  I felt her at my back, as she followed me out of the bedroom, into the hallway outside.

  Her closeness.

  Her heat.

  Fuck, my body was lit up with hundreds of livewires firing out of control.

  When we’d made it far enough away out of earshot, I turned.

  She was right in my space.

  Before I could even draw in my next breath, she was throwing her arms around me.

  “Oh my God!” she breathed against my chest, clutching me so tight to her. “I’d hoped. I’d hoped so hard, but I wasn’t sure that you were… I can’t believe you’re here. Slade, I… you’re here.”

  I wrapped her up in my arms. “I know, darlin’. I know.”

  I breathed her in, felt her, reveled in her. I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want any space between us, emotionally or physically. But we had no choice. This shit had to end first.

  Forcing myself to pull away, I stepped back to put some distance between us. I took a beat, then scrubbed my hand over my jaw and got down to it, asking, “What’s going on? Rick said you’re working Freeman. Why? What’s he got on you?” I knew she wasn’t somebody who’d remain a prisoner for long. She had her ways. It meant something big was going on, something she needed to stall for, to play along for.

  The sober look in her eyes had me tensing. “You,” she revealed. “You and your club, your town.”

  “What?”

  “That militia of his is bigger than I thought. He has a whole other unit on standby. If he doesn’t believe I’m working with him, he’ll attack Warlow and massacre your club and every single person living there, including innocents.”

  I shifted my weight, trying to take in that fucked-up threat. “What does he want from you?”

  “He wants me to partner with him and use my extensive network of contacts to facilitate the building of a ridiculously ambitious empire he’s intent on forming. The Strikers Rising thing was a ruse. He has no interest in forming a new motorcycle club. His plans are much bigger and deadlier than that.”

  “Jesus.”

  “I need to get intel on the commander leading this second unit he’s got waiting in the wings. Right now they’re doing recon on an arms dealer, and Freeman intends to unleash them upon him to force his hand into giving Freeman a piece of the black market pie. If he achieves this, he’ll become far too powerful, and far too quickly for us to stop. If I can reach the commander, I can stop it from happening, and stop them from then being redirected to come at Warlow and Titans.”

  “Who’s this arms dealer?”

  “Tony Rockford. I’ve heard of him, but I don’t have any leverage over him, or any specific details to act on.”

  To say the name rang a bell was an understatement. “I do.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “You have an in with Tony Rockford?”

  “One of my brothers does.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Excellent. Have your brother contact Rockford, tell him just enough of what’s going on to make it clear that he’ll need your cooperation to stave off Freeman’s campaign. That way you can use him to get intel on that commander, or maybe even apprehend him. Together you can stave off Freeman’s plans to wipe both his business and Warlow out.”

  “We.”

  She eyed me in question. “What?”

  “You keep saying ‘you’. We’re together on this.”

  “I can’t. I have to stay with Freeman.”

  “No fucking way is that happening.”

  “Slade, I—”

  I grasped her arms, making her gaze jolt to mine, needing her to hear me, to understand the urgency bleeding from me, how on edge this whole thing of her working behind enemy lines was making me, how fucking crazed. “You ain’t heading back into that fucker’s clutches.”

  An amused smile from her broke through the intensity from me that’d been ramping up so much it was close to exploding all over the place.

  “What’s funny here, woman?”

  “You.” She pressed her hands to my chest. “Getting all heavy-handed and protective over me.”

  “Shouldn’t be a surprise,” I told her, covering her hands on my chest, and stroking her fingers. “I’ve been that way with you since the first time we crossed paths.”

  Her smile grew. “You were smitten with me from that very first day, huh?”

  “Nah, darlin’. Way more than that. I ain’t the kind of man who walks away from something, or someone, he wants. You were the first I ever tried to protect from the dark and dirty in me.” Saying the words out loud, it hit me like a shitload of concrete. It had me breaking contact and pulling back from her. “Look how well those intentions worked out. Jesus fucking Christ.”

  “I make my own choices, Slade. This isn’t on you. Save your loathing for our enemies.”

  She went to step back, but I grabbed her hand, holding her to me, with me. “I’m dead serious. You ain’t going back to him. Hell, you ain’t leaving my sight.”

  “I won’t put you, or a whole slew of innocent people at risk, just to protect myself.”

  “Willa—”

  She held up her hand, cutting me off, “Take Nolan. I’ll make it look like he packed up and took off, having gotten a tipoff that Freeman and I were headed here to kill him. Head back to Indulge with him. He claims intel on the militia exists on his hard drive there. I’ll come to you as soon as I can undermine the militia and make damn sure it
can’t come at you or Rockford.”

  She started for the door to Nolan’s room, but I rounded on her, blocking her way.

  “Slade, don’t make this harder than it is.”

  I stepped up to her. “You told me that I was right all along about Freeman. I was the only one who had an instinct about him. Remember that?”

  “Of course,” she said, slapping her hands to her hips, her impatience clear. “What’s your point?” Eyeing her watch, she winced, telling me, “Six minutes until I need to make contact, or Freeman and his guys come storming in here.”

  “My point is that you gotta be trusting my instincts here with this.”

  “All right. What’s your way around this shitshow then?”

  “Simple. Nolan and his men are gonna kidnap you.”

  She cocked an eyebrow.

  I merely smiled, then led her back into Nolan’s room.

  “What happened?” she demanded as soon as we caught sight of Nolan sprawled out face down on the carpet, while Mason leaned against the wall all casual and chilled about it.

  He eyed us and gave a shrug, “He wouldn’t calm the hell down.”

  “Well, he was worked up for nothing, because he ain’t dying tonight,” I told him.

  He and Willa eyed me like they had no clue who the fuck they were looking back at.

  “Because he’s kidnapping me?” Willa asked.

  “Right on, darlin’.”

  Mason pushed off the wall, eyeing me in question. “He’s doing what?”

  An irritating low-pitched beeping sounded. I watched Willa eye her watch. “Five-minute warning.”

  “All right. We gotta do this fast. This is how it’s gonna go.” I pointed to Nolan. “He got word that Freeman and Shadow were coming for him. He was ready, an army of his guys greeting Willa the second she entered his room. They took her as leverage against Freeman, to keep Nolan alive, confining her back at his stronghold at Indulge, a place we know Freeman ain’t gonna hit, because of the blowback of a public takedown and fucking massacre, especially after I’ve already been there and made a hell of a scene not long ago. The place is too hot right now. It’ll buy us the time we need to deal with his militia and him.”

  “What about your shot to put Nolan to ground?” Mason asked, for once looking shocked. He couldn’t believe I was going to let my chance to end my long-time enemy go by.

  “We don’t do this now and Freeman’s gonna take out the club, everybody in Warlow, and gain a massive foothold from Tony Rockford.”

  His eyes shot wide. “Jesus Christ.”

  “Okay,” Willa said, suddenly shrugging off her tactical jacket. “Then, we better make it look convincing, like a real struggle happened here. Freeman will know that I wouldn’t have gone down easy.” She pulled out what she needed from her jacket and shoved the items into her tactical pants. She tossed her gun across the room. She kicked over the bedside table, ripped a lamp out of the wall and made a hell of a mess. Then she pulled a flip knife from her pocket, dislodged the blade, and swiped a deep gash across her arm.

  “Fuck!” I cried, rushing to her. “What the hell are you doing?”

  She only sliced deeper, blood dripping all over the carpet. “We need to make it look convincing, right?”

  I grasped her arm, then snatched the blade out of her hand. “That’s enough. Jeez, woman, you’re hardcore.”

  Mason chuckled. “You two are a match made in hell, no question.”

  Willa grinned at me.

  I shook my head to myself. “Fuck.”

  Truth be told, she was more than a match for me.

  Willa Rose was my other half, the half I’d been missing for way too long.

  26

  ~Slade~

  “EASY.”

  I reacted quick, grabbing hold of Willa, and steadying her on my bike.

  I’d had to hold her hands to me real tight as we’d ridden back to Warlow, because I’d felt her wavering and her weakness against me during the ride. The second I’d let go of her as I’d pulled into the clubhouse lot a few moments ago, she’d tried to get off on her own and she’d nearly toppled right off.

  I lifted her off, then dismounted myself.

  My gaze shot to her arm, the wound she’d inflicted still bleeding. I doubted that was the reason for what was going on with her right now, though, because it weren’t bleeding that much to cause that kind of lightheadedness and weakness.

  “Just tired, I guess,” she said, giving me a smile and trying to shrug it off like it weren’t nothing.

  Like fuck, it weren’t.

  “Slade!”

  I swung my head to see Liam running from the clubhouse, coming our way.

  “We’re all good,” I assured him, seeing the worry all over him.

  His eyes shot to Willa’s arm.

  “I had to make my kidnapping look believable,” she told him.

  He looked more than a little surprised. “Well… good.”

  “Mason has finished up at Indulge. He should be another twenty minutes behind us,” I reported.

  “Yeah, he checked in with me too. We managed to work it, to put word out about Willa being kidnapped by Nolan and being held at his club. From what we can tell, Freeman bought it.”

  “If he hadn’t, he’d be here by now overrunning the town,” Willa pointed out.

  “No way in fuck is that happening,” Liam seethed.

  “Speaking of, where are we at with the Tony Rockford side of things? I figured you telling Van in person was better than him getting an order from me over the phone.”

  “Yeah, it was, because it didn’t go over so well. But Van does what he’s gotta do, and he’s on it. He couldn’t get through to Tony Rockford by phone, so I gave authorization for Van to head down there. I sent Tank with him as extra protection, because we’re not sure how Tony’s going to receive him after what happened with Van and his daughter.”

  I took in his report, nodding. “And the borders?”

  “Extra-fortified. I’ve also got prospects stationed twenty miles out, in case Freeman tries to make a move. It’ll give us enough of an advanced warning.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Fuck.”

  I laid my hand on his shoulder. “We’re gonna sort it.”

  “We won’t let Freeman get much further. That empire of his is never happening,” Willa vowed.

  I took her in. She was shaking with rage. Darkness and the promise of death shone in her eyes.

  That shithead had really gotten under her skin.

  I clenched my fists, anger surging. What the fuck had he done to her? Kidnapping her was bad enough, but had he—had he done something… worse?

  Rick striding out of the clubhouse cut through my thoughts.

  He rushed over to us and threw his arms around Willa, hugging her tight. “Shit. You’re here. You’re okay,” he said, stroking her hair frantically. “If it hadn’t been for that message, I would’ve lost my shit.”

  She pulled back to give him a look. “A lot of good it did. You guys didn’t exactly stay in the shade.”

  “Well, you didn’t give us much to go on. We figured you meant Freeman only, not Nolan.”

  “I had seconds to send and destroy the message, asshole,” she shot back with a grin.

  “Asshole, huh?” he ruffled her hair and stepped back. “Yeah, you’re all good. The same hardass Willa.”

  I caught a flicker of something in her eyes that seemed to say otherwise, but it was gone real quick and she laughed it off, “I can’t believe you ever doubted it.”

  “Nah, sweetheart. Never.”

  She gave him a smile.

  And then she wavered on her feet, causing her to stumble.

  I reached out for her but Rick was closer now. He snagged her arm, stabilizing her.

  She blinked hard then righted herself in the next moment, and shook off his help. “I’m fine. Just a little tired, I guess.” She tried to lighten the situation with a quip, “It was kind of hard to sleep knowing a madman w
as in the next room.”

  But she wasn’t fooling either one of us. Rick shot me a look. I gestured at the clubhouse and he got the message, wrapping his arm around her and leading her over there. “Let’s take a load off, yeah?”

  She murmured her agreement.

  “Do you want to talk about what happened with Blake?” I heard him ask her.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” she said, shutting it down.

  Fuck.

  I watched them disappear inside the clubhouse, then I turned my attention back to Liam.

  “I want the club doctor up here tomorrow ASAP. Clear it with security, all right? Whatever you have to do.”

  “Yeah, I’ll take care of it.”

  “Good.”

  “There’s been a lot of high-level stress lately. It’s probably just that, or, maybe something to do with the sedative Freeman shot her up with. Something minor, all right?”

  I smiled at his efforts to reassure me. “Appreciate it, brother.”

  “Of course.” He gave my shoulder a squeeze, then told me, “There’s nothing more you can do tonight. Rest up while you can. As soon as we get word from Van we’ll take it from there. When Mason gets back I’m gonna have him try to hack into Nolan’s computer at Indulge, see if we can access the name of that fucking commander.”

  “Don’t wanna be relying just on the likes of Tony Rockford for that “

  “Exactly my thinking.”

  He took off back into the clubhouse. I leaned against my bike and took a beat outside, trying to chill in the quiet night.

  A hell of a lot was going on.

  There were way too many players involved now for my liking.

  But we could do this, handle it just like we’d always handled everything.

  And my woman was back with me now, safe and protected.

  That mattered more than anything else.

  She was here with me.

  And I weren’t going to lose her again.

  27

  ~Willa~