War of Hearts (Storm MC Reloaded 2)

“Yeah, oh.” It’s a low growl.

I scrunch a handful of his shirt and pull my body to his. I’m not sure exactly what I plan to do next, but Fury takes charge and pushes off from the counter, taking a step back. “Fuck.” He rakes his fingers through his hair. “Fuck.” This time it’s a deeper growl.

I let go of his shirt. The moment is broken and I’m left with a whole lot of awkwardness. Fury seems less than impressed with what’s happened. In fact, he’s looking at me like he just made a big mistake. I don’t know what to do with the feeling that leaves me with so I turn back to the sink and reach for a dirty dish to wash. Maybe we can just pretend that never happened. I’m sure that’s what he wants to do.

“Zara,” he starts but stops.

Before he can say it, I say, “I’ll finish up here; you can go back to work.”

He’s silent for a beat. “Yeah, okay.”

I try to ignore my disappointment at the sound of his boots walking away. The fact I’m even feeling disappointed is just as confusing as what just happened. How the hell did I go from hating him to wanting nothing more than to kiss him?

9

Fury

* * *

“From what we can ascertain, the threat against Zara isn’t real,” Axe says on Friday afternoon when he arrives at the clubhouse to go over some stuff with King, Hyde, and me.

I haven’t seen King since last night when he took Lily to the hospital. He looks exhausted, but his relief that Lily is okay blazed from him when he told me the outcome of their trip to the hospital. I spent the night at King’s, outside. After what happened between Zara and me in the kitchen, no fucking way was I going back inside. Mace showed up just before 6:00 a.m., and I took off as fast as I could. I’m looking forward to heading down to Melbourne early next week. I need the break from Zara and my attraction to her.

“Ricardo tried to get into bed with Black Deeds, but they didn’t want anything to do with him,” Axe continues. “We dug pretty deep into the shit he had going on and found nothing to suggest he had ties to anyone else who would put Storm or anyone linked to Storm at risk.”

“So you think she’s safe?” Hyde asks, crossing his arms and planting his feet wide.

“Yeah.”

Hyde looks at King. “You still wanna keep eyes on her for a while? I can rearrange some shit to make that happen if you do.”

The shit he’s talking about rearranging is the club run down to Melbourne next week to help Winter, the Melbourne chapter president, deal with some problems down there.

King pushes off from his desk where he was settled and straightens. “Yeah, I do. I trust this information, but I don’t wanna take any chances. Not at the moment when we’ve got assholes coming at us from all fucking directions.” He eyes me. “You and Devil take turns watching Zara, and when we all head down to Melbourne next week, you’ll stay behind and watch her 24/7. With any fucking luck, we won’t be tied up down there for too long.”

Fuck.

Not what I wanna be doing. Not by a long fucking shot.

King continues, looking at me, “Good work on Hagarty. This shit should keep him in line for a long time, which means it’ll keep Stark in line, too.”

We discussed Hagarty before Axe arrived and King advised me that I’m finished with him. The dirt I’ve uncovered so far is enough for his purposes. I have no idea what he means when he says that dirt should keep Stark in line except that I know dealing with her keeps King’s stress levels high, so it should mean he can relax a little where she’s concerned.

We finish up and I make my way down the hall towards the front door of the clubhouse. I’m on duty to watch Zara this afternoon and tonight. After last night, I may as well be on duty to find ways to give King a reason to hack my dick off and hang me for my sins. I’ve struggled to keep my eyes off Zara since the day we went running, but I saw her in a whole new light last night and I liked what I saw so much it intensified that attraction. So much so that I almost kissed her. Under her father’s fucking roof.

My only goal in life right now is to make it through each day without laying a hand on her. If that means I have to go back to being the asshole she hates, so be it. This gig of watching her will end soon and we can go back to having nothing to do with each other. Until then, I’ll pretend she’s the entitled little princess I thought she was rather than the caring daughter and sister I now know her to be.

I leave the clubhouse and head over to her place. When I pull up outside the house, she’s standing in front of her car in the driveway, ranting at it. The bonnet is up and she’s bent over the engine, madly touching things like she knows what she’s doing.

“You got any real idea of what you’re doing?” I ask, moving next to her.

Those beautiful blue eyes of hers land on me. I’m not sure if the anger in them is because of the car or because of me. The dynamic between us shifted last night and hell if I know where we’re at now.

The anger in her eyes softens. “Ugh, this car is a pain in my ass!”

“When was the last time you had it serviced?”

“Oh God, don’t you give me a lecture about that, too. King never shuts up about it.”