He moved so he occupied the space directly in front of me. Staring down at me, he said, “She’s a complication we don’t need. Why is she here?” His nostrils flared before he turned to face Nitro. “Why the fuck is she still breathing?”
Every muscle in Nitro’s body appeared taut as he watched the other man. “She wanted him dead as much as we did, King.”
“No one wanted him dead as much as we did.”
“Trust me, she did.”
They stared at each other, both seemingly unwilling to bend. “You need to deal with her before I do,” King said. When he said deal with her, I was under no illusion as to what he meant. I filed through my options, and was about to interrupt their conversation when Nitro spoke again.
“He raped her.”
King’s body tensed and his gaze flicked to me so he could scrutinize my appearance. As his eyes held mine, he said, “She’s a liability.” Then, looking back at Nitro, he said, “One you need to take care of.”
I swallowed hard. King’s order sent a chill through me. I knew men like him and when they decided something, they didn’t back down. If I had any chance of surviving, I needed to find a way to get through to him. “I’m not a liability,” I said, holding my head high and my body tall.
King’s eyes snapped back to mine. “I don’t give a fuck what you think. To my club, you are a fucking liability.”
Taking a moment to get my breathing under control, I reminded myself it was the Storm MC I was dealing with. Nitro hadn’t been wearing his colours so I hadn’t known earlier, but the clubhouse announced this fact. These bikers weren’t known for their compassion or their leniency, but maybe I had a shot in hell. I would have died at that asshole’s hands earlier, but Nitro saved me. Then he gave me a second chance when he brought me here rather than shooting me. Maybe luck would come in threes.
Suit up, Tatum.
Suit the fuck up.
I stepped forward.
Closer to him.
“I work for Billy Jones. He would not want me dead.”
King stilled. “You’re one of his girls?”
“Yes.” Kind of.
His eyes narrowed at me. “How long have you worked for him?”
“Six years.”
That number was a winner for me. Everyone in Sydney knew that if a girl worked for Billy for longer than a year she was gold. He went through his girls like he went through his women. Fast.
“Fuck,” Nitro muttered.
It was also common knowledge that Billy would kill for his golden girls.
King glared at me like he wanted to wrap his hands around my throat and squeeze the life out of me. “What’s your name?”
My name was the last thing I wanted to give him, but I’d have to if I had any hope of escaping them. “Tatum Lee.”
He turned away from me. “I don’t have time to deal with this at the moment, Nitro. Get her out of here and watch her until I can verify this.”
With that, King stalked out of the office, leaving Nitro and me alone. Raking his fingers through his hair, he said, “I see you changed your mind about living.”
“I decided I didn’t want to die at the hands of a filthy biker.”
He scowled. “But you’d be happy to go back to Billy fucking Jones?”
I returned his scowl. “He treats me better than you have.”
Tension punched through the air between us and if I thought I’d seen Nitro angry before, something I said made his mood far worse. Dipping his face to mine, he snarled, “Get your ass out that door and to my bike. And don’t say another fucking word about Billy Jones to me.”