Page 38 of Treachery

Tornado opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of the clubhouse door slamming open made them both turn to see a visibly enraged Redtube stomp across the room, headed toward his bedroom, a bedroom he hadn’t been sleeping in for months. The man had been noticeably distracted lately. Though he hadn’t slipped in his duties yet, it was easy to see that something was on his mind. He didn’t speak a word about it, though, and since Locust had his own drama, he wasn’t going to ask. Not his circus, not his monkeys—or whatever the fuck. Unless it directly affected the club, he’d keep his nose out of it.

Shaking his head, Locust turned back to Tornado, and groused, “What the fuck do you want?”

His silver eyes intense as fuck, he said, “Never seen you look so broody. The girls not doin’ it for ya?” The ass lifted his chin, indicating the three club whores—Marci, Kiki, and the one who’d been cozy with Frost in his office—chatting and giggling in the corner. Locust hadn’t given them a single millisecond of his attention.

Glowering, Locust fought the urge to back hand the fucker. “I haven’t touched a club slut in months, and you fucking know that.”

Tornado smirked, though it looked strange on this usually stoic face.

“You get the specs for the engine for that Low Rider El Diablo yet?” he asked, going right into business like he hadn’t just offended Locust’s sense of integrity.

Once again, shaking his head, Locust replied, “Yup. Gonna start work on it next week.”

From there, conversation went from engines to the Phillies, and finally Tornado headed out to meet up with some chick he’d met at Cool Hands the night before.

Alone once more, Locust checked the time, cursing.

He still had three hours to kill before Nadia would be at his place.

Did I clean? Do have enough to drink?Anxiety made questions spin in his head until finally he headed out, wanting to make sure everything was 100% perfect for Nadia’s first time in his place.

Everythingneededto be perfect, because if he had any chance to get his woman back, he needed to pull out all the stops.

Allof them.

SIXTEEN

Hearingthe ding of an incoming text, Nadia stopped her march out the front door, and checked the message.

Vicki: He’s not Joe. Give him a chance. He might surprise you. If not, there’s always body bags and bleach.

Nadia snickered at the text from her best friend, who’d been a freaking godsend the two weeks after the blowup at Cool Hands. When the woman wasn’t bringing homemade chocolate chip cookies to work, she was texting memes of Viggo Mortensen and Matthew Goode, and every day, Nadia smiled a little more.

Nadia: No, he isn’t Joe.

She admitted that, though it had taken many hours of reflection on what happened then with Joe, and what happened now with Locust…James. Their intentions had been similar, but she could remember how things were with Joe, how he’d blow her off at the last minute, how he’d tell her what he thought she wanted to hear, give her lip service, then put his hand out for something. With James, though, he spent nearly every momentwith her, loving on her, making her feel good, and she never spent a penny when they were together. That had to count for something, right?

Nadia: You watch too much Discovery ID.

Vicki: No such thing as too much. Are you okay? Do you need me to call so you can blabber nervously to me while you drive?

Nadia: No. I’ll freak out later once I’m home.

Vicki: Call me if you need me. Love you!

Nadia: Love you, too!

The drive to the address Locust texted her was short and yet long, even a five-minute drive gave her too much time to freak out.

“God, what the hell am I doing?” she muttered to herself as she pulled up and parked in front of the row of duplexes along Stedmen Road in Pittston. “It’s just talking, Nadia, stop freaking out…it isn’t like you had an amazing date last night, and wanted to jump his bones because he looked like a sexy golf instructor. Nope. That didn’t happen. Nope. I didn’t go home last night and kill the batteries on my vibrator thinking about how much I wanted him to eat me for dinner. Nope.”

And you didn’t get all gooey inside when you learned about his generosity and thoughtfulness, even though your brother was an enemy of his MC, because that’s just crazy….

She was talking to herself, shaking her head, and considering turning around and going home when a tap on her window made her nearly jump into the passenger seat.

Turning, she saw Locust standing there, bent over, his face right next to the glass. He was grinning like a sexy idiot.

“I would have gladly eaten you for dinner, baby, but I think Norma would have had a heart attack if I’d sucked your juicy clit at the table.” Nadia gasped; Norma was the older woman who’d waited on them the night before, and she’d been as sweet as pie.

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