Nitro's Torment (Sydney Storm MC 2)

Moving closer to the bed, he gave my hand a gentle squeeze. The way he looked at me made me think he was about to say something that would make me cry more, but in the end, he said, “Did you just call me champ?”

It was such an out-of-the-blue question that I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, I did.”

His lips curled into a smile, but he didn’t say anything.

“Is that okay?” I asked.

“You can call me anything you fucking want, Vegas. Gotta say, though, I’m not sure about you using it when I make you come.”

I grinned. “Let’s test it out. See what you think.”

He chuckled. And then he did something that made my cold, dark heart melt. He stood and gently placed a kiss on my forehead. A lingering kiss. It was as if he’d wrapped every tender emotion he could find in that kiss and given them to me.

“I never want to lose you.” His eyes met mine and there was a fierce determination there that hadn’t been there a moment ago. “You’re mine, Tatum.”

I pulled his face down to my level. Our lips didn’t meet, but our souls did. “You’re mine, too.”

* * *

I fell asleep, waking again at lunchtime. Monroe sat next to me instead of Nitro and I frantically searched the room for him. I needed him to be there.

Monroe touched my hand. “He’s stepped out for a minute, babe. He’ll be back soon.”

I took a deep breath. “Fuck, Roe, for a minute there I thought I’d dreamt him being here this morning. My heart can’t take much more of this.”

“Vegas.”

My gaze immediately flicked to the door to find Nitro standing there watching me. He’d clearly heard what I said and seemed affected by it. I regretted that, but it was the truth—my heart really couldn’t take too much more. I’d gone from keeping everyone out to cracking myself wide open for him. And it hurt so damn much to think of him not being there.

“I’m just waiting for a call from King. You good until then?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He shifted his gaze to Monroe, and they had a moment before he turned and left.

She turned to face me, her eyes wide. “Jesus, sister, that man has gone all territorial over you. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He turned up late last night, and I mean late. Like, it was really fucking clear he wasn’t waiting for this morning to come and see you. The nurse tried to send him away, but he refused to leave. He made a song and dance about it and they eventually gave in. I was almost asleep when he woke me up and told me to go home. Told me he had this now, which I’m guessing means he has you now. I argued with him for a while, but honestly, I don’t know how you do it, he just doesn’t fucking give in.”

I smiled. “You feel my pain. He’s a bossy fucker sometimes.” I couldn’t deny it, though; I loved the fact he wanted to be here that badly.

“Sometimes?”

Laughing, I conceded, “Okay, maybe more than sometimes.”

She leant back in her seat and crossed her legs while angling her body towards me. “I got here just after nine this morning, and he did leave for just over an hour to go home and shower. Other than that, he’s been here the whole time watching over you like a hawk.” She dropped her voice. “I’ve gotta tell you, it’s kinda hot. I think I might add bossy to my list of required things for my man.”

“So you want a bossy guy who knows when to back off and when to take charge, who picks up after himself and has a pierced dick?”

She shook her head at me like I was clueless. “Babe, when you get out of here, you and I need to sit down so I can show you my list. There are a lot more things on it that just that.”

I shifted and cried out as a shot of pain hit. It caused me to suck in a breath and close my eyes while I panted through it. When I opened my eyes again, Nitro stood i

n front of me, concern all over his face.

“The nurse is on her way,” he said. “What else do you need?”