Heart of Steel

by Cathleen Cole

  I could tell I was making the woman in front of me nervous but, I liked that. I liked how tense she’d gone when she’d realized I was watching her. I wished I didn’t have somewhere else to be so that I could find out more about her. She was trying to pretend that she wasn’t noticing me, but she was. I saw her eyes tracing my tattoos. Finally, Gunnar broke apart from the women.

  They turned and ran to the building. My eyes tracked her, the way a wolf would a wounded doe. Watching the play of muscle in those long legs as she sprinted across the courtyard I shifted on my bike, trying to relieve the restless feeling growing inside of me.

  She paused by the door, watching Gunnar threaten the administrator who was trying to kick us off of the campus. I tried to suppress the wicked grin when her eyes found mine again. Her eyes widened slightly before she frowned at the challenge she found in mine. Then she rushed into the building, disappearing from sight.

  “Let’s go,” I yelled back over my shoulder and started up my bike. I saw my brothers’ two women walk toward class, laughing and talking together. I waited until they went into the building. Gunning the engines, we took off down the road. Students looked around at the sound of the Harleys and stared as we drove past.

  Chapter 3

  Remi

  I slid on the floor a bit as I rounded the corner at a run. My sneakers were making a squeak, squeak, squeak, sound with every step. I saw the door of the classroom ahead of me. Standing there, scowling was Mr. Mancini. He looked down at his watch and his face softened slightly in smug triumph. I watched in horror, still racing down the hall, as he shut the door and locked it. I thumped into it three seconds later. I tried the handle, nope, locked. Our gazes clashed through the glass, mine pleading. He just turned away and went to take his place for the lecture.

  Dick! I can’t believe he just did that.

  I turned my back to the door then slid down to the floor, dropping my bag next to me as I sat there trying to catch my breath. I let my head fall back onto the door with a thump. I just hoped there wasn’t a quiz today. My grade couldn’t afford to miss many of those. I held up my watch; it was one-minute past eight.

  “Asshole,” I muttered. He could have let me into class.

  I considered my options. I could go to the library to study. Meh. I stood up, picked up my bag, and made my way across the buildings until I found Bridget’s class. I watched quietly through the window until the professor turned her back to the students and I quietly snuck in and plopped in the seat next to Bridget.

  She looked over at me and gave me a sympathetic and slightly guilty look. “Got locked out?”

  I nodded quietly, half-listening to the professor excitedly chirp about contrasting colors and color palettes.

  “I’m so sorry, Rem. I wouldn’t have asked for a ride last night if I’d known I’d oversleep.”

  I looked at her and shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. I’ll try to get some extra credit to see if I can bump up the grade.”

  Now we had a chance to sit and talk about what had just happened. I think she thought the biker’s actions were sexy. I found them downright scary. Bridget tried to control the excitement in her voice and keep it low so she wouldn’t alert the professor.

  “Those guys were so sexy!”

  I frowned at her. “Yeah, they were but that guy was really intense.” I didn’t elaborate on which man I was talking about.

  She rolled her eyes at me. “They’re bikers. That’s how they are. His name is Gunnar.” She all but sighed his name out.

  “The blonde?”

  “Of course, who else would I be…”

  “Something to add ladies?” The professor glared at us. We both quietly shook our heads and the lady eyeballed me.

  She’s trying to figure out if I am in her class, I realized.

  “You noticed one of them,” Bridget whispered accusingly after the professor turned back around. A girl sitting in front of me turned and gave me a heavy frown as if I was the one speaking. Bridget made a shooing motion directly in front of her face and I had to smother a chuckle.

  I just shook my head at her but pursed my lips together. After a few seconds of suspicious silence, I glanced over and couldn’t help but sigh. She was sitting there staring at me like I was a circus freak. Granted, I hadn’t paid guys any attention for the last year. It had been a hellish one for me, so men had been pretty far down on my list of priorities. Apparently, one making a blip on my radar shook Bridget speechless. I wished I had the ability to make that happen more often.

  “Which one?” She hissed loudly at me once she found her voice again.

  When the professor turned to glare at us again, we quieted down and listened to the remainder of the lecture, but Bridget’s meaningful looks told me that this conversation wasn’t done. Yay for me.

  Chapter 4

  Steel

  We pulled up to a warehouse later that afternoon, and I glanced around as I got off my bike. It looked abandoned but belonged to the club. This was one of the locations that we used for our drops. Two prospects were waiting there for us with a cage ride. They were in charge of bringing the truck so we could transport the merchandise. I hated driving anything that wasn’t a bike, most of us did, which is why we called them cages.

  “Doesn’t look like they’re here yet.” Gunnar lit up a cigarette as he stopped at my side. He offered me his pack, and I took one and lit it before handing his lighter back. I shook my head when he ran a hand through his short blonde hair. We were constantly giving him shit about being too pretty to be a biker. I would have started ribbing him. It was my favorite pastime and had been since we were kids, but I needed to focus on the drop about to happen.

  “We have a few minutes.” I watched as the prospects opened the rolling door on the warehouse and drove the truck in. The rest of us followed them in on foot. Gunnar and I paused by the door to finish smoking.

  “Steel.” He nodded toward the entrance as our buyer drove up. We both flicked our cigarettes away and Gunnar motioned for them to pull in. As soon as the door was closed behind us the front and back door of the car opened. Two men in suits got out and strode forward toward us.

  I leaned against the truck and watched as they approached. The air was thick with tension. Gunnar stuck close to my side as he always did, insisting on taking a position that allowed him to cover my back. He was one of the few men I knew I could trust with that task.

  “Good to see you again, Steel. Gunnar.” Alexis, the taller, blonde man shook our hands. “Enzo was happy with your shipment last time. We’re looking forward to continuing to do business together.” The man spoke with a heavy Russian accent.

  I felt my lips twist in a smirk when I remembered one of the prospects, Scout, imitating the accent but talking about fluffy bunnies and cute puppy dogs. He’d insisted that even when these guys talked about harmless things, they sounded dangerous.

  He wasn’t wrong about that. Both Alexis and Enzo were dangerous. They’d contacted us, interested in forming a mutually beneficial relationship between our organizations. They got our guns; we got their cash. Our dealings with the Bratva was new but it was proving to be very lucrative.

  Enzo was the Pahkan of the Austin Bratva, so we hadn’t met with him directly, yet. I’d been organizing everything with his second in command, Alexis since Enzo had reached out to Cade a few months ago. Eventually, Cade would insist on a face-to-face meeting between all of our officers and his if we were to continue our relationship. But he was happy to do things Enzo’s way, for now. We would soon become indispensable to the Bratva.

  Our club, Vikings MC, was responsible for eighty-five percent of arms dealing on the west coast. That, drugs, stolen vehicles, and a few legit businesses were how we made our money. We never got into prostitution or human trafficking. There were some lines that even we wouldn’t cross.

  The Bratva was attempting to edge out the local Italian Mafia Don. We were happy to supply the weapons for that war. We had our own to deal
with. The Lycans MC wasn’t only our rival, but they were the ones stupid enough to be making a power play for our territory.

  There had been a shakeup with our MC last year. Our former president hadn’t been willing to do what was necessary to grow the club. Our new president, Cade, along with Gunnar, my brother, Riggs, and I had been members, but when the opportunity to take over had presented itself, we’d done what was necessary.

  It had ended with a significant amount of bloodshed and over half of the surviving members of the club leaving. That didn’t matter to us. We had already had a core group of guys that were waiting for us to take them on.

  It was a little over a year later and we had thirty-five members and six prospects hoping to patch in. Business was booming for us. As word of the takeover spread, we’d fended off a few of the local clubs who’d tried to take advantage.

  Anytime there is a big shift in a motorcycle club there are growing pains and that tends to make people sloppy. Cade isn’t sloppy. At thirty years old, he is considered young to be the president of an MC. All of our officers are young, between twenty-six to thirty, but every one of us is ruthless. We have no problem killing to protect our investments or our club.

  We own territory that contains all the main shipping routes to the west coast. It’s why we took over the club, instead of moving on and forming our own. It was also highly coveted by the other local MCs. The mafia organizations didn’t bother with us, luckily. That was an additional problem that we didn’t need. They preferred to buy from us rather than start another war and attempt to edge us out.

  I nodded a greeting at Alexis. I folded my arms over my chest. “We’re happy to supply Enzo with as many weapons as he needs.” I glanced over and watched as our prospects and his man loaded the crates of M4s and pistols from our vehicle to theirs.

  “The payment is being sent.” Alexis watched the exchange as well. We stood silently as the deal wrapped up. I appreciated that he was a man of few words. That quality probably made many men nervous, but it took a lot to throw me off my game.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket when it vibrated.

  Rat: Payment is made.

  I turned toward Alexis. “Let us know when you need the next shipment.”

  Alexis nodded. “I’ll be in touch.” Both Russians got in the car and waited for a prospect to roll up the door so that they could leave.

  Gunnar walked up and clapped a hand on my shoulder as we watched the car turn the corner. “Do you have to head back to the garage?”

  I nodded, finishing my cigarette. My brother, Riggs, and I owned a local mechanic’s shop. We built custom bikes and repaired both bikes and cars. It was work we both loved and gave us the freedom to come and go for club business.

  “Did you invite your little college girl to the party tomorrow night?” I asked, thinking about the brunette from this morning.

  Gunnar chuckled. “Of course.”

  “Tell her to bring her friend.” I ignored the way Gunnar’s brows shot up and the shit-eating grin that spread over his face. It’d been years since I’d shown any interest in a female, other than fucking the club bunnies who hung around at our parties. I didn’t want to listen to whatever he had to say so I hopped on my bike. That was the cue for the rest of the crew to move.

  My enforcers followed me out, but once we hit the highway I split off, heading for our business, Valhalla Choppers. I was ready to get back to the shop. I didn’t like leaving it alone without either Riggs or I there. As the sergeant at arms, it was my job to see to club security — and all that entails — which meant I often had to skip out during the day to handle situations as they arose. Riggs wasn’t much better since he was the vice president. We had a few employees who were all club members so we knew we could trust them. But I still preferred one of us being there, when possible. Hiring club members just made the most sense for us. Not one of our guys questioned our comings and goings, and with the club, we were constantly on the move.

  Gunnar took the lead back to the clubhouse, which was located about thirty minutes outside of Austin. We owned a big stretch of land, which was perfect since we didn’t want neighbors all up in our business. I gunned the engine, trying to force my mind toward the bike waiting for me at the shop instead, a pair of whiskey-colored eyes kept creeping into my thoughts.

  Chapter 5

  Remi

  “Ugh, when I said that we needed to do something together a few nights a week, this is NOT what I had in mind,” Bridget complained, glaring around at our group of friends.

  Plopping down onto the mats ass first I let out a heavy sigh, catching my breath while I readjusted my boxing gloves. I looked over to where she was sprawled on her back, her blonde hair fanned out around her. Anna was crouched next to Bridget, elbows on her knees, head lowered, dark hair covering her face.

  Ming and Julie stood next to the other girls, arguing back and forth in Chinese. I wasn’t sure how the sisters had the breath to argue. I was still trying to catch mine after the last exercise.

  Our parents had placed all of us into our school’s Chinese immersion course. That first day was how each of us younger girls had met each other. The course went on to teach us both English and Chinese, and our parents had been thrilled to enroll us. We’d started from the time we were in kindergarten and finished through our senior year of high school. I wasn’t fluent the way Ming and Julie were, but I could follow a conversation well enough.

  Anna snapped something at the sisters from her spot on the mats, and it brought me back to the conversation in front of me. Ming was lecturing us about the need to remain healthy. I rolled my eyes, although good-naturedly. Ming was a few years older than us, but she’d often acted more like a mother than a friend.

  “I meant we should be going out to a club or a bar together.” Bridget wheezed again and Julie just grinned at her. I said nothing. I couldn’t respond. My lungs were currently fighting to provide me with enough oxygen so that my body could go on living.

  “This is way better than a club.” Julie had a prim look on her face, and damn her, she was barely even breathing hard. Her dark brown eyes clashed with Bridget’s baby blues. She’d switched back to speaking English.

  “Exercising is very important for our bodies and health.” This came from Ming. She was in her last year of residency and was about to become a doctor at our local hospital’s ER. That meant we were never safe from her health lectures.

  “And we learn how to defend ourselves.” Both Bridget and Anna groaned, expecting to hear the same speech we’d gotten a few nights ago from Julie. I swear she’d only gotten Anna to agree to this, so she’d finally stop talking about how important it was that we were careful and safe.

  I didn’t mind that we were here at the gym, though. I glanced around and inhaled the smell of leather and sweat. The sound of other people punching bags and the clang of the weights hitting racks and the floor were strangely comforting. I missed playing sports. I’d spent all of high school playing on various sports teams. I’d always been athletic, and it was something that my dad and I had shared. He’d always gone to all of my games and we’d often stay up late, talking strategy on how to beat some of the better teams.

  Unfortunately, a little less than a year ago, my dad had passed away from cancer. I felt the familiar lump tighten in my chest as I thought about him. He’d been the love of my life. A single dad who had taken on the challenge of raising his little girl with no help. He would have liked that I had taken up boxing. A former Marine, my dad was never one to back down from a fight. He would have liked knowing that I was training to take care of myself.

  He was the best. My heart clenched in my chest.

  “Earth to Remi!” I jumped when Julie leaned down and waved a hand in front of my face. I shot her a sheepish grin.

  “Sorry. Brain took a vacation for a minute.”

  Her gaze was sympathetic, her look mirrored Bridget’s and Ming’s. Anna’s might have been as well if she hadn’t changed positions
. She was now lying face down on the mats. I wrinkled my nose. “People sweat all over those, Anna.” She just muttered something and rested her cheek on the mat, eyes closed.

  These girls were my best friends and had been since Bridget had first marched up to us and declared that we would be friends that first day. We’d grown up together, in the same neighborhood, went all the way through high school together, so it was no surprise that we were now at the same college and were also roommates. We had opted for a house off-campus, since Ming was no longer in school, and couldn’t live on campus. Plus, there was no way we were going to chance being split up, which would be the case if we lived in the dorms.

  “Thinking about your dad?” Julie asked, soft enough the other girls couldn’t hear from their positions on the ground. I nodded, my mouth thinning into a grim line. I couldn’t figure out how she could always tell when I was thinking about him. Julie was a psychology major. She was going to make the best therapist one day. Until then, we often had to put up with her psychoanalyzing us.

  I avoided her gaze and watched as a guy squatted an impressive amount of weight across the room. His thighs looked like they could crack a coconut between them. I was mentally avoiding the talk Julie was attempting to have, and I knew it.

  She opened her mouth to say something but cringed when Sergio bellowed at us from the sidelines. He’d given the women in the self-defense class a ten-minute break while he’d gone to answer a phone call.

  “Get off the mats! You don’t lay down when you’re tired! Stand up. Bridget, Anna, if you need to, put your hands over your head and breathe deep.”

  Both girls grumbled and glared at Julie and Ming for getting us into this mess, but gamely got to their feet. “We just did so much punching I couldn’t lift my arms over my head if I wanted to.” Bridget grouched and I couldn’t help but laugh.