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

to be none. You and me are from the same world, but I’m way deeper in it than you. I’m connected. I’m the thing these so-called brutal kings fear. They don’t want war with me and they’ll do a hell of a lot to avoid it, even settle and make a deal. I was in a position to go that route. You and the club weren’t. I also knew you wouldn’t be on board with me even being in the same room as someone as dangerous as Decker. Especially not now that I’m carrying your child. So I took it out of your hands. It was the only surefire way to deal with the militia threat and render Freeman virtually powerless, without suffering casualties, maybe even fatalities and collateral damage. This was the only safe way.” I grasped his hands. “It was the only way I could keep my promise to you. I handed over what I have to keep us and the baby safe.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and cursed.

When he opened them, the emotion there threatened to overwhelm me. “You gave up everything you worked for, darlin’. Didn’t fucking want that for you.”

“With something like this, there was always going to be a sacrifice that had to be made. We’re fortunate that it wasn’t our lives. This was the better way, the only way that was acceptable to either of us.” I took his hand in mine. “I don’t regret it. I’m glad I did it. For us. For our family.”

Although it was clear he wasn’t ready to accept or be okay with what I’d given up, he made an effort to drop it for my sake, smiling down at me as he said, “We’ll get it back, build a new life together.”

The bittersweet moment shattered as he eased us back to reality, saying, “Without those meds, you ain’t gonna make the ride all the way back to the clubhouse.”

“We can just pull over whenever the nausea gets the best of me.”

He screwed up his face. “Nah, I ain’t having my pregnant woman suffering like that, and forced to chuck up all over the roadside. No fucking way.”

“Slade, I—”

He held up his hand. “End of story.” He pulled his phone from his leather jacket pocket and told me, “I’m gonna get the doc to send another prescription to a pharmacy down this way ASAP.”

“It’s a Sunday, Slade. The closest store, let alone a pharmacy, is forty-five-minutes away. The chances of it being open are slim.”

He thought on that for a while. “Fine,” he said, dialing another number. “I’ll have one of the boys bring your current ones right down to us.”

“That’s a bit much. The ride is—”

“It ain’t too much, darlin’. You’re the club president’s Old Lady.”

I grinned. “Am I now?”

“Fucking right.” There was a twinkle in his eye as he added, “Well, for a little while longer, until the whole retiring thing finally gets underway. Then it’s gonna be Abi.” He shook his head. “Can’t fucking believe that. It’s a hell of a thing.” He blew out a breath. “But, it works for Liam, so it is what it is.”

“Then what?” I teased, sidling closer to him.

He dipped his head, his lips just shy of brushing mine. My body hummed from the need radiating between us. “Then,” he spoke in that husky turned-on growl of his, “You’ll be mine until the goddamn end.”

“Slade,” I breathed, reaching up and cupping his face in my hands.

I didn’t get much further than that when another awful wave of nausea hit me.

I jerked back from him quickly. “Hold that thought,” I said, before bolting for the bathroom.

Talk about bad timing.

Dammit!

35

~Slade~

 

SHE WAS EXHAUSTED.

Not that she’d ever admit it.

But her passed out on the couch in the backroom of her office building was a dead giveaway, even if I hadn’t noticed the change in her over the last few days.

I pulled my phone out of the inside pocket, then shrugged my leather jacket off and draped it over Willa, tucking her in nice and easy, careful not to wake her. She needed her rest badly. Her being without those meds really weren’t helping. She hadn’t been able to eat and the constant sickness was wearing her down without any fuel to keep her going. Living the way we did, we had to be at our best physically and mentally. We were warriors. We had to be ready for anything, to stave off an attack, to pull an all-nighter during a mission, or whatever the hell. And right now that was majorly compromised for her. I’d put in a call to the club to send somebody down with them ASAP, and they were on their way, but it was a few hours’ ride. It had me on edge, big time.

Willa had a rule about never meeting a client in the same place twice in such a short timeframe. But, that was what had happened with this place. Between meeting me that first time, then stopping off here while she was under Freeman’s thumb to pick up equipment, and then Will Decker, she’d been here three times. Way too many, ramping up the risk something fierce. Every second we stayed here upped the danger and the chances of Freeman or Nolan getting a lock on our location. It weren’t like being at the clubhouse, which was a fortified position. Nah, this office was in the middle of nothing, cut off from any backup. It weren’t intended as a stronghold, just a covert place to meet a client from time to time.

I took one last look back at her, then stepped out of the room and closed the door quietly.

As I made my way down the corridor toward the reception area, I dialed. I needed an update on the ETA of the prospect, or whoever Liam had sent down to bring those meds for Willa.

It connected on the first ring.

“Prez,” Liam answered. “Wyatt is almost there.”

“Wyatt? Thought you were sending a low-level prospect,