RIDING DIRTY (Steel Titans MC Book 4) by Franca Storm (best books for students to read txt) 📗

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 was 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~

 

“BETTER?”

I smiled at Slade.

He sat on a stool beside me at the bar inside the Steel Titans clubhouse, a first-aid kit open on the bar top.

“Much,” I told him, eyeing the bandage he’d fixed around my arm. He’d also applied antiseptic, as well as a numbing agent to take the sting away from the wound.

He ran his hands over it lightly, grimacing.

“Slade, it’s nothing. Definitely not in the grand scheme of things.”

His eyes roamed over me, taking every inch of me in. It wasn’t