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

a shitload of trouble in a real small amount of time. And sit tight? Did she seriously think I could ever do that, especially when her safety was at stake? Nah, of course she didn’t. It was why she’d snuck out, to give herself a head start.

“Fuck,” I growled. I took a few moments to get a grip. I needed to focus. Not on what she’d done, but on what could be done about it.

And there was a shitload I could do.

In her desperation to take care of the situation, she’d clearly forgotten how well I actually knew her. I’d believed that she’d wanted to live up to her promise to play it safe, but I also knew that it wouldn’t be an overnight thing. She’d lived a certain way for a long time, it was more than even a habit. It was need for her. Survival. Hell, I weren’t far off from that neither.

So, I’d taken precautions.

And this time I was going to act right away without anybody getting in my way and derailing it.

I’d tagged her duffel bag.

I knew exactly where she was.

***

666.

That just about summed it up.

Fucking devil woman.

I was right back where this crazy-ass mission had started, outside her building.

Well, her last known active one.

The area was almost as empty as before, except for one of the club RAM trucks she’d taken from the clubhouse lot to get down here. And, there was also a fucking Hummer parked right outside that I knew weren’t hers. It was a safe bet that it belonged to that commander shithead, Will Decker.

I scanned the area once more.

Seeing nobody around, I pulled my gun and cocked it, then strode up to the entrance. For all I knew, Decker hadn’t come alone. That Hummer was an armored H2 and it could hold six people. Willa might’ve had that Jackals mission under her belt, where the odds had been worse than that and she’d still come out on top, but she weren’t at her best right now. Plus, she’d taken some serious damage during that mission.

The door wasn’t locked, so I shoved it open and slid inside quick, my gun at the ready.

There weren’t nobody in the reception area. That didn’t mean shit, though. A bunch of them could still be here anywhere.

As I scanned the place, voices coming from down the hall reached me.

One of them was hers.

Adrenaline shot through me and I sprinted down there, ripped open the door and burst in.

She was sitting behind her desk with some guy in the chair opposite, his back to me.

He shot to his feet and spun around at the commotion. His hand went to reach for his piece, but he hesitated when he saw my gun was already aimed his way.

“Slade!” Willa cried, shooting to her feet. “Take it down.”

Take it down? Was she fucking serious? “Like hell,” I seethed, glaring at the guy I assumed had to be Will Decker.

He was a big guy, broad and tall and packing a ton of muscle, just like me. He had spiky salt and pepper hair and hadn’t aged well in the face. He looked to be about late fifties.

“She’s not in any danger from me,” he spoke. “Neither are you. Not anymore.”

“And I’m just gonna take your word on that?”

“Take mine,” Willa said, coming out from around her desk and approaching me.

I kept my focus on Decker. “You had your guys locked and loaded to wipe out me and mine. Now I got this shot to do the same to you, you really think I’m gonna pass that up?”

He held up a hand. “It wasn’t personal. Just business.”

I scoffed. “Not personal? You’re planning to wipe out my club, my brothers, our home, and you don’t want me taking that personally?” I took an aggressive step closer and shifted my aim to his head, a dead-center, surefire kill shot.

The asshole didn’t look as scared as he should’ve been. Either he was too numbed by the fucked-up world he was caught up in, or he was arrogant as all hell.

“Like I said, you and yours are no longer a target.” His eyes shifted to Willa. “Blake Freeman is no longer my client.”

What the fuck?

Before I could get another word out, Willa stepped in front of me. “Let him leave,” she said, her eyes flashing, letting me know she had a hell of a reason to be allowing our enemy to walk free. With her putting herself right down the barrel of my gun, I lowered it right away and flipped the safety on. I couldn’t stand having it aimed her way even for a second. It made me sick to my stomach. Of course, she damn well got that. Good thing I knew her well enough to offer up that kind of trust. Even so, it was still a lot to ask.

It was why she made sure to keep herself between me and Decker as she ushered him through the door. She even locked it behind him and leaned against it as an extra precaution, eyeing me more than a little nervously. It was because she knew she’d been a fucking idiot and that she’d broken her very recent vow to me.

I shoved my gun back into my holster with a growl and glared at her.

“How’d you get him to stand down?”

“I used diplomacy.”

That was it! Rage exploded out of me and I slammed my fist into the wall, taking a chunk out of the drywall. “Enough! No more bullshit, Willa! Jesus fucking Christ!”

She shifted her weight uneasily. “I made him a lucrative offer.”

“What kind of offer?” I barked.

She cast her eyes downward and couldn’t look at me, as she revealed, “One that exceeded Freeman’s several times over. I had to buy out the contract and put some hefty insurance in place that would protect us and your club indefinitely.”

“How?” I knew she had money, but what she was talking about wasn’t just a few grand.

She blew out a breath and straightened herself. Folding