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

for thirty minutes, wanting to get a lay of the land before he showed up at his ridiculously predictable time.

Sure enough, as I looked out toward the corridor that led to the backrooms, I saw the asshole himself striding down there.

It’d been a few years since I’d laid eyes on him, but he hadn’t changed. Still a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

That three-thousand-dollar pinstripe suit and the expensive cufflinks and jewelry was all in perfect place in a wasted attempt to hide his true fucked-up nature from the world. His bleached-blond hair was drier than ever, after dying it for so long to ward off the gray, a mark of age that he just couldn’t accept. He’d had so many face lifts that his skin looked more plastic than real. The guy was playing at being a twenty-something kid, unwilling to accept that he was coming up fast on his fifties.

He didn’t know the meaning of keeping shit real. The asshole was hella deluded. And that kind of wild, unhinged thinking made him all the more dangerous.

He didn’t get far toward his destination until he was stopped by one of his suited security guards. The guy leaned down and whispered in his ear. Nolan pulled at his goatee as his gaze shot straight to me all the ways across the room, chilling in a red velvet booth.

I held up my scotch glass and flashed him a shit-eating grin.

To say he looked pissed was a major understatement.

Good.

I wanted him that way.

On edge.

Reacting with emotion.

It would make it more likely that he’d slip up.

He started over my way, holding up his hand behind him to signal his security guard to hang back. That limp of his didn’t escape my notice. Seeing as though I’d caused it, it made it all the more noticeable to me. I felt my body tense, my mind shifting to a highly alert state with every step he took closer to me. I kept it from my face though. Showing a reaction to a man like him was a weakness.

When he reached me, I pushed my scotch glass off to the side and held his fierce glare as he took me in.

“Got a death wish, Slade?” he seethed.

I took in the six-inch jagged scar etched into his left cheek. Again, something else I’d put there. “Got the hang of using make-up to hide it a bit, yeah?”

His eyes narrowed to slits. “You piece of shit.”

“Right back at ya.”

I watched him draw in a breath, his fists clenching as he struggled to both hide and control the rage I’d awakened in him.

Underneath all that hardcore security at his back, all his bravado, he weren’t nothing but a weak man.

“So, your club’s waiting in the wings, surrounding the place?”

“They got no idea I’m here.”

Our eyes locked.

He looked nervous. He clearly didn’t like that I seemed so confident coming in here alone to his territory surrounded by his high-priced security team. “Whatever your plan is, even if you somehow succeed, you’ll be all over the surveillance footage. The law will come down on you hard and lock you up for the rest of your pathetic, miserable life.” He leaned in close to me, the move he’d always used to intimidate his enemies or those he’d wanted to manipulate into seeing things his way. “You can’t do a thing to me here.”

“I guess you got nothing to fear then,” I said, meeting his fierce glare head-on, as I rose to my feet, forcing him to drop back. “So, how about you stop stalling and show me up to your office to get these negotiations underway, yeah?”

A menacing look came over his face. He clearly thought he knew something I didn’t, had something in store for me. We’ll see about that.

It took him a moment, then he finally said, “Let’s have that talk.”

He led the way out of the seating area and off the public area of the club. Just as we were about to turn down a corridor, one of his suited security guards hurried up to him.

Nolan tried to keep his voice low, but he was too riled up to pull it off and it came out as some whisper-yelling hybrid instead, enabling me to hear every word.

“Why the fuck didn’t you give me a heads up on him being here? It’s just by chance I saw him sitting in my club when I was headed down here to liaise with Chardonnay.”

Liaise? That was a real fancy-ass word for fucking.

“He didn’t pop up on the surveillance footage.”

I smiled to myself. Damn straight, I hadn’t. I’d made sure of it.

“How is that possible?”

“No idea, boss. We’re looking into it. Maybe he snuck in here.”

“We’ve got too many cameras in here for that to be a possibility. He’s not that stealthy. Sounds like what happened is you fools were sleeping on the job or something.”

“No. I swear.”

Knowing Nolan as well as I did, I doubted it was just the prospect of being fired that was striking fear into his employee. I wasn’t gonna let some innocent pay for what I’d done, even if the guy had been stupid enough to get mixed up working for the likes of Adrian Nolan. Before I left here, I’d make sure they knew the truth. I had enough blood on my hands without adding collateral damage to the charges.

Nolan waved the security guy off, then crooked his finger at me to continue on after him toward his office. I gritted my teeth at the insult of the gesture. But I left it at that.

This wasn’t about pride. It was about what was necessary.

Besides, he’d get his. Sooner than he realized.

I followed him around a corner down a corridor that was lit with blue pot lights.

A few more feet and closed doors along the way and we finally made it to his office.

He opened the door and stormed in ahead.

“Shut the door,” he muttered over his shoulder.

Eyes narrowed at him giving me a command, I kicked the thing