by Mackenzy Fox
I jump off the bed, go to the bathroom quickly, and all the while, hatch a plan as I’m moving around the apartment.
I need all of the boys on this.
I dial Sienna’s number again, this time, I leave a message.
“Sienna,” I say, my hand is shaking, “it’s me, call me back as soon as you get this. I know everything, you don’t have to do this alone, we can work this out together, you’re forgetting I’m ex-military and I can handle this pussy. You don’t need to do this, please, for God’s sake turn around when you get this message, I’m coming to get you, do not, I repeat, do not go in there alone, I’m begging you.”
I need to call Brock in a second and get everyone I can on this so we can get on the road.
I go downstairs into the workshop and down to the safe; I grab my duffel bag and pull out my large blade and a couple of guns and ammunition. I’m gonna need it.
Who knows what this crazy bastard is really capable of. I can’t wait to get my hands on the prick. I think about Sienna going there alone and curse out loud. How could she be so stupid?
I start putting everything in the back of my truck; it’s then that I notice a car parked in the driveway—a dark blue Datsun.
My heart accelerates. Sienna’s car.
I move fast to unlock the side door and swing it open as I quickly cross the driveway to the drivers’ side, she’s in there, in the driver’s seat, her head is down against her hands on the wheel, she’s slumped forward, lifeless. My heart hammers in my chest.
I tap on the window and she jumps. I hold my hands up.
“It’s me,” I say, tapping on the window, I go to open the door but it’s locked. “Open up.”
She gazes at me for a second, her eyes are red and bloodshot, her face is completely white and devoid of emotion. She looks like she’s been to hell and back. Suddenly, she unlocks the door with a shaky hand, and when I reach in for her, she falls into my arms.
“Oh, Steel,” she sobs.
I hold her for a moment then pick her up and carry her across the driveway in my arms and into the garage, shutting and locking the door behind us.
I prop her up on the bench facing me and let her sob into my shoulder, her body convulses uncontrollably.
She cries and cries and cries. I let her take as long as she needs; she’s no use to me in this state so I let her have it out.
This isn’t my strong point; dealing with emotional women, but I’m not a barbarian. I try to soothe her by stroking her hair and tell her it’s gonna be okay, she’s safe now, I’m here.
I don’t know how long we stay like that but when she slows her sobbing down slightly, I reach to the bench and grab a clean rag and wipe her tears away.
“It’s alright,” I tell her, “I’m here now and we’re gonna work this out.”
“It’s him…” she sobs, trying to get the words out. Pain stabs at my heart knowing she went through this alone, that she thought she had to.
“I know,” I tell her.
“He’s got Cassidy, my cousin.”
She falls into my chest and I hold her there. Seeing her like this breaks me, this is some fucked up shit.
“It’s alright, just calm down, we’re gonna get to the bottom of it,” I tell her gently.
She gathers herself enough to look up at me. “I couldn’t do it,” she says, she fists my shirt in her hands, her eyes look wild, there’s my little spitfire.
“I tried, I drove for an hour but I couldn’t do it, I got your missed call and I turned back, leaving you like that, you thinking that I didn’t want you…” She cries again, I lift her chin so she’s looking at me, tears roll freely down her cheeks. “It broke me, Steel... you don’t deserve that.”
I peck her lightly on the lips. “Sweetheart, you need to calm down,” I tell her gently, “just breathe and hold onto me, you’re in shock and none of that matters now.”
She glances up suddenly, her body goes stiff.
“He can’t know I’m here,” she looks around the darkened workshop frantically; she’s like a wild animal. I have to get control of this situation and fast, “I don’t know if he knows about you, I don’t think so but I can’t be sure. He means business, Steel, if I don’t do as he says, he’ll kill her.”
I brush her hair back off her face and cup her with both my hands and meet her eyes. I hate how scared she is of this jerk face and she almost came this close to tackling him alone. I try not to shudder at the thought, or what I’m going to do to him as payback.
No, I need to concentrate on her now, without all the information, I’m going in blind.
“He won’t because I won’t let him, you should have come to me, you should’ve told me,” I say softly, I don’t want to set her off again by being mad, even though I want to scream my lungs out, but that won’t help her, she’s scared, I have to be patient while she’s in this state. It takes all my might not to fly off the handle. “But I’m here now and none of that matters, I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
She sags with absolute relief at my words, falling into me again.
“Steel, I need you.”
“I know,” I say, kissing her hair, “I need you too, baby. Don’t ever do that to me again, you hear me?”
She nods on my shoulder.
“How’d you find out?” she snivels.
“I know a guy.” I shrug.
She looks up and gives me a watery smile. “Of course you do.”
I kiss her again. “We’re in this together, babe, you hear me, you don’t ever have to run away no matter how big or small the problem is, you come to me first.”
She nods. “I’m sorry to drag you into all of this…”
I silence her lips with my finger. “Stop it, this is what I do, babe, I’m not afraid of this piece of shit, and I have a whole team of brothers behind me, he’s just one deluded guy who probably has no game plan whatsoever, we’ll get her back, you have to trust me.”
“I do, Steel.”
“Good, let me handle this.”
She still clings to me.
“What if he’s working with other people?” she whispers.
“That doesn’t matter,” I tell her.
“I don’t want you to get hurt.” She’s still clutching my shirt. Fear runs through her eyes as I rub my hands along her arms up and down. She’s cold. I need to get her warm and get the rest of my stuff together.
“I need to get you upstairs and then you’re gonna tell me everything I need to know, sweetheart, alright?”
She nods, total trust in her eyes, her belief that I can get her out of this tightens in my chest. I need her compliance; I need to know everything she knows about this piece of garbage so I know what I’m dealing with.
I’m not very happy that she chose to run off and put herself in danger, but I leave that for the moment, we don’t have time and I don’t need another meltdown. I have to get her upstairs, call the M.C., and make a plan with my brothers.
My eyes come back to her.
“Can you ever forgive me?” she pleads; her beautiful eyes watery like she might go again at any given moment. “Can you, Steel?”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” I tell her honestly. I kiss her gently again, she needs Jayson now, not Steel. I’ve never been this gentle with anybody before, but I know I have to. Screaming at her for being so reckless will only scare her even more.
“I love you,” she says, it’s barely audible but I heard it loud and clear.
I smile, my chin resting on her head as she pushes her face into my chest, inhaling my scent.
“I love you too,” I say into her hair and kiss the top of her head. “And nothing and nobody is gonna ever hurt you again.”
23
Sienna
He places me down on the bed, and the minute he leaves me, I feel cold without him, he returns from the closet with one of his hoodies and pulls it over my head and I’m glad to feel the warmth. I’m shaking uncontrollably and I can’t stop.
>
Imagining poor, sweet Cassidy and what she’s going through—tied up and terrified—anger boils in my blood. I know I have to pull myself together but I just don’t know how; all of those awful feelings have come rushing back. I know what he’s capable of but I never thought he’d do something as crazy as this.
Steel comes back to the bed after disappearing for a few moments; he’s holding a small tumbler filled with amber liquid.
“Drink this.” He hands it to me and perches on the end of the bed, he’s acting as if I’m made of glass.
“What is it?”
“Brandy, just take a sip, it’ll warm you up and hopefully calm you down a bit.”
He watches me and I’ve no idea what he’s thinking, he was so nice downstairs, so patient and caring, telling me it was going to be alright. God, I’ve never hoped for anything more.
I reach for him. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He smiles and brushes my hair off my face.
“You’ve nothing to be sorry or be worried about; you made the right decision to come back, to let me help you and I’m going to do that.”
Hope blooms in my chest but it’s quickly replaced by the gloom when I think about Cassidy.
“I need to get to her…”
“You need to take a beat and calm down, I’m going to take care of this my way and you have to trust me, that’s how this is gonna work from now on, do you trust me, princess?” He gives me a lopsided but serious look.
I nod, I do trust him, but I’m scared. I’m scared of what he’s doing to her right now and scared that I’m too far away to help her, but I do need to trust that he knows what he’s doing.
“I need you to be strong, so you’re going to rest for a little bit while I make some phone calls.”
I watch him as he studies me.
“I’m sorry for what I said,” I blurt out; I take the glass he’s still holding and take a sip, still looking at him. I wince as it stings the back of my throat.
“Stop apologizing.”
“I need to, it was wrong. I was wrong.”
“You panicked and were under duress; the important thing is, you came back, now stop it.”
I clutch the glass with both hands, isn’t that the truth.
“You don’t hate me?”
He smiles again. “I could never hate you.”
“I love you, Steel, I don’t want you to get hurt.” The thought sends every nerve into overdrive.
He traces a knuckle over my cheek gently and I lean into his touch.
“I’m not going to get hurt, and I’m going to get Cassidy back just like I said, alright?”
I nod; I’m at his mercy now.
“I’m afraid,” I tell him.
He grips my chin lightly with his hand and kisses me chastely.
“You don’t have to be afraid, I won’t let anything happen to you, that you can be sure of.”
He rises from the bed.
“Wh-where are you going?” I stammer, reaching for him.
“I’m going to run you a bath; your lips are just about blue.”
“I can’t be sitting around here drinking brandy and having baths and a good old time when Cassidy’s out there, terrified out of her mind…” I wail as I try to sit up.
He looks down at me and holds my shoulders to prevent me from moving.
“Listen to me,” he says as I kneel on the bed and he pulls me to his body, “we’ve got hours of time, I need to call the brothers and work out a game plan, and I need you to warm up, calm yourself down by about a thousand notches, and let me handle this. Getting hysterical on me won’t help matters.”
His tone is final, there is no arguing with him, his eyes are fierce as he looks at me and I realize I want him to take over, I want him to take charge, I’m totally out of my depth here. “Shouldn’t we call the police?” I murmur into his chest.
“No cops,” he says.
“Steel…”
“Babe, quit.”
He pulls back and tilts my chin to look up at him. “You freaking out isn’t going to help Cassidy and it isn’t going to help me think and get prepared for what I have to do and how to handle this so nobody gets hurt. I went into an Afghanistan war zone, I’m pretty certain I can handle this little piece of shit.”
He’s not like anybody else, any other person on the planet would be involving the police, the S.W.A.T, and whoever else you call in a hostage situation. Christ, I don’t know.
“He’s slippery, and he’s smart,” I breathe.
“Yeah, well, I’m smarter.”
He kisses the top of my head and pulls away and walks down the hall, he comes back a few moments later and I can hear the bathwater running.
He stands over me and pulls the sweater over my head along with my t-shirt and unhooks my bra, he kisses me but it’s not like normal, it’s tentative, soft, like nothing I’ve experienced with him before this moment. He’s being careful with me. Maybe he thinks I’ll break, maybe I will. It could go one way or the other right now.
I cling to him as he unbuttons my jeans and press my body into his strong hold as I look up at him.
His eyes flash to me. “Babe…”
“I want you, Steel,” I say, I can’t get close enough to him. I nuzzle my face into his neck and he groans, his arms come around my body and I feel his heartbeat racing in his chest. He’s so warm, so very warm, big and beautiful.
“You’ve plenty of time to make it up to me later,” he whispers, and yanks my jeans and panties down in one fell swoop; he lays them over the end of the bed.
I turn and kiss him, trying to deepen the kiss but he pulls back, a smirk on his lips. He’s always in control, always.
“Steel…” I murmur. “Don’t.”
“You’re in shock and not thinking clearly,” he tells me, against my lips. “I’m gonna carry you to the bath, babe, and you need to stop trying to get into my pants, so hold on.”
He doesn’t wait for me to reply, he picks me up and I wrap around him, still trying to coax a deeper kiss out of him but he won’t reciprocate, I need him so, so much.
“Why don’t you kiss me back properly?” I moan as his chest rumbles with a laugh.
“Because I’ve got to keep my head in the game, princess, you trying to bed me is a distraction.”
“I need a distraction.”
He kisses me again and I slide down his body, he leans over the bath and turns the water off, there are bubbles everywhere.
“I didn’t have bubble bath, so I used my shower gel.”
I can’t help but giggle, the bubbles are overflowing. He tests the water and then turns back to me, wiping his bubble-covered hand and forearm on the nearby towel. He holds me by the hips and lifts me over the bath so I’m standing calf-deep in the water.
“That temperature okay, babe?”
“Yes, thank you.” I nod, I sit down and he pulls the shower curtain aside and sits on the top of the toilet with the lid down and watches me.
I sink and sit back into the warm suds and sigh. It feels good, and it smells like him.
“You scared me today,” he says eventually, my eyes pop open and I look at him.
“I know.”
“This relationship thing is a two-way street in case you didn’t know.”
I nod, feeling like the worst person in the world.
“And it won’t work unless we’re completely honest with each other, like I’ve said from the start—good or bad.”
“Ok.” I nod.
“From now on, we have no secrets, big or small, it doesn’t matter if you think it’ll make me mad or vice versa. I’ll be madder if you pull a stunt like this again and don’t tell me and then I’m going out of my mind with worry.”
Oh no, his wrath is legendary, but his eyes soften as I stare at him.
“I’m a little rusty at this,” I admit.
“Well, I’m not, babe, I’ve been around the block a time or two, and we have something special and I know you feel it too
. The only way we can be stronger is if we work together, communicate, and not run away from problems.”
I know he’s right, and I need to lighten the mood.
“You ever think about going on Dr. Phil?”
He rolls his eyes.
“Can you be serious for three minutes?”
“Sorry,” I mutter.
“I was so mad at you for leaving,” he drops his head, “promise me you won’t ever do that again and without an explanation, without us talking about it.”
“I won’t leave again,” I tell him.
“Good because I will find you.”
I smirk. “What will you do to me?”
He looks back up at me. “I know what you’re doing.”
“What’s that?”
“Trying to distract me with dirty talk, well, it’s not gonna work.”
I smile. “I’m so happy I found you.”
He rolls his eyes. “You didn’t find me, I found you.”
“Are we really going to argue about that?”
“Only if you continue to defy me.” His eyes dance with mischief; I love it when he’s like this.
“Now, I need you to tell me everything about your ex-loser boyfriend from the very beginning so I know who I’m dealing with, then what he said to you on the phone, exactly what he said, can you do that for me, angel?”
I stare at him wide-eyed but I nod. “Yes, I can do it.”
He smiles gently, encouraging me, resting his forearms on his knees. There are so many pages to Steel, so many layers.
My heart races at having to talk about him though, I don’t want to. He’s my past, Steel is my future.
“Everything,” he says with a nod as if sensing my hesitation.
I gulp. “Everything?”
“Everything.”
It’s a long drive, longer than it should be because, no matter what Steel says about it being okay, I can’t help but feel like this should have included calling the police.
Steel thinks it’s unlikely Cassidy will be hurt if it’s me he’s after, he also assures me that Ewan has one chip he didn’t count on; me asserting myself and having an entire M.C behind me. He won’t be expecting it, so it will be to our advantage.