“So you guys have a doctor on call who comes here rather than you going to him?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s better that way.”

“I bet,” she muttered, her words full of acid.

I wasn’t a fucking mind reader so I had no understanding of why she switched her inner bitch on all of a sudden. My irritation at whatever the hell was happening between us flared into anger. “You bet? You have no fucking clue who we are or what we stand for, so don’t come here and throw your opinions at me.”

Her eyes widened and she stood in such a hurry and came at me with such force that she nearly knocked me over. I didn’t see her hand coming until it was too late. She slapped my face and spat out, “That was for all the asshole things you’ve said to me! And maybe you’ll recall that I didn’t choose to come here. And as far as me giving you my opinions… get the fuck used to it, because I keep my mouth closed for no one.”

As she strode back inside, I tried to push the realisation away that I’d checked on Tatum before Kick. I really was losing my shit.

 

* * *

 

“Kick’s doing better,” King said to me later that afternoon. “Doc’s hopeful.”

We stood out the back of the clubhouse, the cold wind whipping around us. Winter this year had been a bitch with unusually high winds and heavy rain, and that day hadn’t been any different.

I shoved my hands into my pockets. “Evie’s doing okay? The baby?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I had the doc check her out, too, and she’s fine.”

“Good.”

“I’m meeting with Dragon tonight.”

“And?” I understood the need to call a temporary truce, but I didn’t like it. That was why King would always make a better president than me. I would have led Storm right into hell because of my need to seek revenge. There would have been no coming back if I was in charge.

“I’ll take Hyde and some of the boys with me while you and Devil watch over things here. I’ll call you once it’s done.” He stopped for a beat, his eyes boring into mine. “If that call never comes, you need to see this through.”

Fuck.

“That’s not a scenario we ever wanna see around here, King. Take me and leave Hyde. He can see shit through if needed, but you never want to leave that up to me.”

Determination lit his eyes as he shook his head. “No,” he said with force. “Hyde’s not in the right place mentally to do it at the moment. You are.”

I sucked in a breath. “I don’t know what’s going on with Hyde, but I’m telling you, honest as fuck, that I’d take everyone down with me if I had to lead the club out of this shit. There would be no club left.”

The determination in his eyes glittered and morphed to crazy. “I’m counting on it, Nitro. If this goes south today, I want you to deliver a level of pain they’ve never known.” His face twisted with hate. “I want you to rip their fucking hearts from their bodies and burn their club to the ground.”

 

* * *

 

I sat at a table in the corner of the clubhouse bar alone that night, waiting for King’s call. The mood in the bar was sombre. We all knew what hinged on the meeting with Silver Hell, although no one besides Devil knew of King’s orders for what was to go down if he was unsuccessful. That shit had fucked with my mind since he’d issued the directive. I was a soldier, not a fucking leader. I’d been indoctrinated in the art of war from a young age and had always known my place as a soldier. I served. I carried out orders. I got shit done. What I didn’t do was command, so that call from King needed to come.

Tatum entered the bar with Evie and took a table on the other side of the room. My presence remained unknown so I was able to observe her freely. She’d stayed out of my way all day. In fact, I hadn’t seen her since she’d slapped me that morning. That didn’t mean she was far from my mind. On the contrary, she’d fucking filled it nearly all day.

I couldn’t get the night she’d slept in my arms out of my head. Or pretty much anything since that night. Tatum was broken and I found myself wondering who did that to her. I knew a lot about her, yet I knew nothing important. Someone somewhere had shattered her, and she’d built walls of steel around her heart. Her mood altered so often I struggled to keep up. The fact I tried to keep up pissed me off.

“Nitro, you need to come and sort Dustin out.”

Renee stared down at me. She’d had a hard few days at the clubhouse, hating the confinement. Most of her time had been spent in my room working on school assignments. Standing, I said, “What’s he done?”

A tired sigh escaped her lips. “What do you think he’s done? The usual.”

“Jesus,” I muttered.

“It’s okay, he hasn’t taken it too far yet, but I can tell the woman has had enough of him. I came to you before it got out of hand.” Thank fuck. The last thing I needed to be dealing with was another of Dustin’s screw-ups.

I followed Renee, stealing one last glance at Tatum. Up closer, I could see that her lips were pressed together in a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She watched Evie talk, but I wasn’t convinced she heard her.

I caught her attention as we moved past her. Our gazes locked. She didn’t smile, but she did sit up straight in her seat and turn her head to track my movements. She bit her bottom lip and her chest rose as she took a deep breath.

My phone rang at that moment. I held her eyes while I answered it, distracted as fuck. “Yeah?”

“Nitro.”

King.

I snapped to attention, letting Tatum out of my sight. “You’re done?”

A pause. And then, “It’s done.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding for hours.

Thank fuck.

 

 

20

 

 

Tatum

 

 

“To Be Loved” by Curtis Stigers

 

Three Weeks Later

 

 

“You look like shit,” Monroe said as she poured me a drink. Sliding it across the kitchen counter, she added, “Is Billy working you too hard?”

“It has been busy, but nothing more than usual.” I drank some of the rum and Coke she gave me. Friday afternoon drinks had been a thing for us for a year, ever since the day I was disbarred. We usually frequented a pub near her work, but for the last three weeks we’d chosen to have drinks at my house instead.