“Whatever you’re thinking, stop. Duvall has done his time with you, Billy. I won’t be asking him to help us ever again.”

He raised his brows. “And it seems your heart isn’t completely buried.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re confusing the hell out of me today.”

“Why?”

“When I came to work for you, you told me this was no place for emotions and that I should never get involved with anyone we worked with. Now it seems like you want me to open myself up.”

His eyes flashed dark. “To me, Tatum. I want you to open up to me. Don’t mistake my words for something they’re not.” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. “Go work your magic with the girls. I’m sick of hearing them bitch about each other. Sort them out for me.”

It was no wonder Billy had the reputation he did. He was a contradiction. One minute you felt the sun with him, the next, clouds. I understood that roller coaster because I lived it, too. And I’d always have his back regardless.

 

 

21

 

 

Nitro

 

 

“Cold Hard Bitch” by Jet

 

“I don’t want to,” Marilyn said as we pulled up outside my house.

“I know, but even your doctor agreed this is for the best,” I said, opening the car door and exiting.

I made it around to her side and took in the foul expression on her face. She shoved the door open, her mood in full swing. “So you and my doctor are going to run my life now, are you?” With that, she stalked inside, leaving me to contemplate the intelligence of my decision to have her stay with me for a while. Yet, there wasn’t even a choice as far as I was concerned. I’d go to the ends of the fucking earth to make sure my family were okay.

I grabbed her bag out of the boot and followed her in, ready for whatever she threw at me. As soon as the front door closed, she swung around, glare still in place. “Is everyone staying at the moment?”

Dustin dropped the TV remote and moved off the couch. “The mattress is mine. The floor is too hard for my back. Even Tatum said the floor was too hard.”

Marilyn frowned. “Who is Tatum? And just for the record, I’m not sleeping on the damn floor, Nitro. I’ll go home to my bed before that ever happens.”

A smile lit Dustin’s face as he proceeded to fill Marilyn in on Tatum. I blocked his voice out and took Marilyn’s bag into my room. He hadn’t shut up about Tatum for weeks and I’d heard enough. My dick had fucking heard enough, because every time her name fell from his mouth, it shot straight to my cock. I needed a goddam break.

They were arguing about sleeping arrangements again by the time I made it back out to the living room. Raising my voice, I barked, “Marilyn can take my bed and I’ll take the fucking floor. Okay?”

Both heads whipped around in surprise. “No need to yell,” Dustin said, hurt flashing in his eyes. He didn’t cope well with anger.

I raked my fingers through my hair, agitated as hell and unsure why. “Yeah, well you two need to let up. We all have to stay here for a bit and I’ll lose my shit if you keep arguing.”

Marilyn withdrew after that, burying her head in a book on the couch. Reading was her preferred way of blocking out the world and her doctor had warned me she was spending nearly every waking hour with her nose in a book. As far as I was concerned, better that than drowning herself in a bottle of cheap wine. The main thing I cared about was that she kept up with her bi-weekly therapy sessions, and I would make sure that happened.

Dustin stared at Marilyn for a beat. He’d always struggled with our sister’s tendency to spiral into dark places. His mind couldn’t seem to wrap itself around anything but light and happy. They may have fought a lot, but Dustin would do anything to put a smile on Marilyn’s face.

Finally, he turned and headed out the back door. I knew I’d find him in the shed if I needed him. He’d be working on one of my bikes. I always had at least two out there I was working on. It was the one thing we did together. The one thing that eased both of our demons.

My phone rang, dragging me from the problems at home.

Hyde.

“What’s up, brother?”

“Need you to meet Billy today to collect our next shipment.”

“I thought you were doing it with Devil.” I was the last person Billy would want to see. Not that I gave a fuck, but I was all for keeping peace at the moment.

He blew out a harsh breath. “Got some family shit to deal with that I can’t get out of. And King’s busy. I could send another one of the guy’s with Devil, but he wants you to do it with him. He would have taken Kick, but no way would King let that happen.” He was right. Although Kick was itching to get back to work, he hadn’t recovered enough to do this.

I swiped my keys off the table. “I’m in. What time?”

He gave me the info and then said, “Thanks, brother. I owe you one.”

It struck me how odd the conversation was after we ended the call. Hyde never told anyone he owed them.

 

* * *

 

Devil and I arrived at the drop-off point dead on time. We’d attempted to be early, but traffic had dictated otherwise. We backed the van into the driveway as were our instructions and sat with it idling while we waited for the signal to reverse into the garage.

Billy used a house in Alexandria for this. The street was narrow with high fences all the way down it. Trees and flowers everywhere gave an impression of a friendly neighbourhood, but I always wondered what people did behind closed doors. Most people I knew had shit to hide.

Two bangs on the back of the van signalled it was time to reverse. Devil eased the van backwards and the automatic garage door closed at the same time as bright lights illuminated the space. I jumped out and took in the length of the garage. It wasn’t your standard suburban fit out. By my estimation, another two vans could fit there.

Heels clicking across the cement floor and the jangle of bangles drew my attention. I looked around to find Tatum walking our way. Jesus, could she get any sexier? I adjusted my pants as my gaze travelled the length of her. She wore the tightest fucking jeans known to man and a white tank top with a skull and wing design on it that sat perfectly across her tits and revealed her toned arms inked with those tattoos I could spend hours investigating. I’d checked out her ink briefly when she’d been holed up at the clubhouse, and the designs were so intricate and full of such detail that I knew the more you looked, the more you’d find. I wanted to know what she’d chosen to mark her skin with for life.