Page 28 of Steel

“You saying we can’t protect what’s ours?” I challenge.

“I’m not saying—”

“Then what the fuck are you saying, Soul?” I put my cigarette out and rest my elbows on the table. “If they come for her, I expect you to do your fucking job and protect our club. But I’m not sending her back home where they can use her against us again. Especially with how close they got the first time.”

“Understood.” Soul leans back in his seat. “But where you gonna keep her? Your room couldn’t hold down the four-year-old this morning.”

“You haven’t heard?” Havoc grins, tipping his chin up at me. “Prez is putting the girl up in his house.”

Soul’s face is blank for a minute, and then it cracks with the biggest smile as he tips his head back and laughs.

“Steel’s putting up a girl? We’re all fucked.”

A few of the guys start laughing with him, and I know I’m screwed, but I can’t come up with any better options.

“You want her gone?” I say. “Then everyone do your fucking jobs and figure out who sent her here in the first place.”

“You got it, Prez.” Soul grins, shaking his head.

“Get to it.” The guys disperse, but I hang back, watching them disappear into the different parts of the clubhouse through the windows that look out from the room where we hold church.

Ghost is the last to leave, and he pauses in the doorway like he’s going to say something. But he doesn’t.

And when I see Tempe and Austin come out from around the corner with his bag in her hand, I’m frozen for a moment. Her hair is down again and messy. Her eyes are even puffier this morning. Her gaze meets mine through the glass, and as she wets her lips, I have to remind myself what I’m doing this for.

Who I am.

What I represent to my brothers and my family.

I was young when I was given this throne, and I’ve failed my club a few times since. My VP betrayed meright under my nose, and I didn’t see it until there was already too much damage. I won't let that happen again. No matter how much this girl makes me question what I’m doing as she holds her brother at her side.

Standing up, I make my way out of the room and walk over to Tempe. Her cheeks are pink at my approach, and there’s something so innocent about how she blushes in my presence.

I want to convince myself she’s working against me so I don’t have to admit she’s chipping away at something I didn’t know was there before I met her.

Women don’t affect me, and yet, this girl and her brother have me making stupid decisions.

“Come on.” I walk straight past her, not waiting for her to follow.

They stick close as I guide the way out of the clubhouse to my truck.

Propping the door open, I wait for them to climb in. Austin is first, settling in the middle, but Tempe pauses, turning to face me.

“Don’t think I can’t see through this just because he can’t.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “You’re not doing us any favors by keeping us here, Jameson, so don’t try to pretend you are.”

Jameson.

No one calls me by my first name, and it takes me a second to remember I told her brother to call me that.

“You’re right.” I grip the car door. “I’m not doing you a favor. I’m just keeping my club safe and you alive.”

“For how long?” She quirks an eyebrow in a challenge.

I rest my forearm against the door, and it brings me closer. I’m towering over her, and as a breeze kicks up, tossing her hair around, I’m hit with her cherry-blossom scent.

“Depends.”

“On what?”

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