RIDING DIRTY (Steel Titans MC Book 4) by Franca Storm (ebook voice reader .txt) 📕

“So, two vans’ worth are still yet to come?”

She gave me a nod. “Looks like.”

“Who the hell are these guys?”

“Blake sent them,” Rick informed us.

“What?” I barked.

“They’re military-trained. Hardcore,” Willa pointed out. “No offense, but that’s a far cry from the guys of the Strikers MC.”

“When they attacked me, one of them told me that Blake sends his regards.”

“He knew you were here,” Willa realized aloud.

“He must’ve tagged me. Son of a bitch!” Rick cried, smashing his fist into the wall. “He knew. That little fucker knew I was playing double agent.” He eyed me, fear spiking. “He let it happen so I’d lead him to you.”

“Another crack,” Willa murmured.

“What?” I asked.

She darted over to her bedside table, stepping over one of the soldiers on her way. She ripped open the bottom drawer and pulled out a metallic device that looked a lot like a remote. “I should’ve met you far away from the property and checked you,” she said to Rick. She swept the device over him, the thing emitting a low crackling sound. After doing a full sweep, she pulled back cursing. “It’s not on you. There’s nothing transmitting. He must’ve tagged your truck. That’s the only other thing you brought with you. All other provisions were provided by me when you arrived.”

With a heavy sigh, she pocketed the device in her tactical jacket.

“I’m sorry,” Rick told her.

She held up her hand. “Let’s focus on the immediate situation. Staying alive. The second wave in those vans will be here all too soon.” She bolted forward and marched out of the bedroom, motioning over her shoulder for us to follow her. As she stormed down the hallway, she muttered to herself, echoing what I’d heard from her earlier before she’d gone all berserker on the soldiers, “Bastards think they can invade my home. Arrogant, amateurish shits.”

Rick grinned at me. “Yeah, she’s real territorial. Best keep that in mind. Good thing you’re leaving the club, because even having a club whore within a few hundred feet of you won’t go down well with her.”

“Never pegged her as the jealous type. She do that with you then?”

“Nah, we weren’t nothing, just a one-off thing. You only see it with the things she’s real passionate about. She freaked when The Jackals went after her old safehouse. Took it as a personal insult. She plays it close to the vest, but she’s got a lot of heart. A shitload of passion for the things that she cares about. That used to just be her work and her clients.” He eyed me intensely. “But now there’s you.”

His words were real heavy, hitting me hard.

The responsibility of it weren’t something I was used to.

I didn’t have much time to think more on it, though, as we came to a sudden stop in front of a closet and Willa spun on us and barked, “Cut the chitchat. We have work to do.” She eyed her phone that was still clutched tightly in her hand like a lifeline. “Just under four minutes before they reach us.” She shot a glance out the kitchen window a few feet down the hall, at the driveway that gave way to a private road through the surrounding forest. “That’s the only road accessible via a vehicle. It gives us an advantage. We’ll see them coming. We can control and contain.” She opened the closet to reveal another door with a keypad barring access to whatever was within. As she punched in an eight-digit code, she spoke over her shoulder, “Ricky, you take the east side. Prevent them from gaining access to the basement stairs. That’s our extraction point if all else fails. Slade, take the west side, using the heavy foliage as cover.” A sharp click sounded and the closet door unlocked. She jerked it open to reveal some heavy-duty artillery inside. Jesus Christ. She pulled out a sniper rifle and eyed us both. “I’ll head to the roof and thin the heard a little. The chimney will give me suitable cover and the vantage point can’t be matched.”

As she went to brush past us, I grasped her arm, stopping her. “You’ll be way too exposed up there, out in the open.”

“I told you, there’s cover.”

“It ain’t enough.”

“I know what I’m doing. It’s very far from being my first rodeo.”

“Willa—”

She pried my hand off her and held it between us, smiling up at me. “Last night shifted things between us. I understand that and I understand where you’re coming from. You’ve been rooted in the MC culture for so long and a part of that is shielding your women from any threat. You can’t do that with me, because I’m on the same side of it that you are. You know what I can do and you’ve also witnessed it up close during your attempted takedown of Nolan. I’ll be okay.” She smiled and stretched to whisper in my ear. “But, just so we’re clear, I am yours now.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell, yeah,” she said, grinning.

I sank my hand into her hair and kissed her forehead. “Go get the assholes, darlin’.”

18

~Willa~

SOMETHING WAS WRONG.

As I stepped out onto the porch, intending to use the railing to vault onto the roof, an air of foreboding enveloped me.

I rapidly scanned the courtyard and the immediate area.

Unfortunately, a good deal of it was obscured by the thick foliage surrounding the house. That was usually a good thing, shielding it from the world as a whole, and the difficult terrain posing a deterrent to any potential enemies.

Now, though, it was negatively impacting me.

My ability to see the enemy’s approach was compromised.

Well, shit, it was what it was.

I still had a job to do.

And, as much as I hated the unplanned nature of it, Slade was right. Sometimes you had no other choice but to improvise the crap out of something.

It was time to take action.

I hauled myself onto the porch railing, then grasped the gutter above with one hand to maintain my balance,