Nitro's Torment (Sydney Storm MC 2)

“You got a spare bullet there, Vegas?” He had the other guy on his knees facing me. Nitro had his arm around his neck in a vice grip, and the guy struggled for breath while trying to claw his way out of the choking hold.

I nodded. “Where do you want it?”

“In his leg.”

As I took aim and shot, a black van screeched into Nitro’s driveway and two Storm bikers jumped out. Everything happened in a blur after that. Nitro and the two bikers quickly moved the two men into the back of the van and then the vehicle and all the men were gone, leaving me staring at Nitro in surprise.

“Where did they come from?” I asked as he guided me inside his house.

“I saw their bikes on my way back here from Marilyn’s and called King for backup.”

I jumped as he slammed the door closed behind us. Staring at him, I processed the anger written across his face. Anger that seemed to be directed at me rather than at what just happened. “What?” I demanded, tensing for an argument.

“I gave you one directive when I left the house—stay inside.” His eyes flashed with as much fury as his body seemed filled with.

“You needed help so—”

“No, I didn’t. What I needed was to know you were inside away from those assholes.”

“I seem to recall that you asked me to put a bullet in one of those guys after I already did the same thing to the other guy. How is that not needing my help?” God, he was so damn infuriating.

“While I appreciated that, I would have preferred for your safety to not have been compromised.”

“My safety wasn’t compromised so I don’t know why you’re carrying on about it.”

He blew out a long breath and raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m carrying on about it because I don’t want this kind of shit to happen again.”

We faced off, both glaring at each other in silence for a few moments. I was annoyed as fuck at his inability to admit my help was appreciated, but the lawyer in me took the time to think through what he’d said and why.

Finally, the tension in my shoulders eased and I said, “You were worried about me.”

He blinked and his breathing slowed. It took him a beat to reply, and when he did, it came out a little snappish. “Of course I was. The last thing I need is Billy coming down on me because you got hurt.”

I shook my head. “No,” I said quietly, “you were worried about me and it had nothing to do with Billy.”

His face clouded over and he clenched his jaw. “Tatum, we don’t have time to stand around arguing over this. You need to get our ass outside and in my ute so we can find Dustin and Renee and then get back to the clubhouse.” He barked his orders like he was used to them being carried out.

Stepping closer to him, I said, “I’m not sure why you can’t just admit you were worried about me, Nitro. It’s okay to care about someone’s safety.” With that, I pushed past him so I could head out to his damn ute. Bloody men and their inability to admit when they cared about someone.

15

Nitro

“Kick Start My Heart” by Alannah Myles

I’d had enough of Tatum Lee and her argumentative ways. The woman seemed intent on pushing as many of my buttons as possible. Every time I thought we were getting somewhere and that she would just do as I said, she managed to get under my skin, again.

And yet, she fucking impressed the hell out of me. When she’d put a bullet in the Silver Hell member without flinching, and then done it again, I’d watched in

awe. I wanted to wring her neck for not staying inside while at the same time, I wanted to rip her fucking clothes off and see just what she was made of.

I wanted to know if she fucked the way she seemed to live—full of passion and fierce energy. And that shit right there sent alarm bells ringing all over the damn place because wanting to know that about a woman wasn’t something that ever interested me.

I turned to her, my hands squeezing tightly around the steering wheel as I thought about her naked body wrapped around mine. “What’s your cousin’s address?”

She’d been silently watching the streets pass by as I drove. At my question, she faced me, a frown set across those gorgeous lips of hers. “Why?”

“So you can check on her.”