STEEL TEMPTATION (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) Page 12

  They ate, they finished, and Nate took the plate and tossed it to his dresser. He then kicked his boots off and plopped on the bed. The entire scene had a relaxed, almost romantic feel to it.

  Mia wanted to take comfort in it, but it scared the hell out of her.

  This couldn’t be anymore real than it actually was.

  Nate folded his hands and put them behind his head.

  Mia looked at him, then looked away. She looked a second time… a third time… starting to feel uncomfortable.

  “You want to know it all,” Nate said. “Just like everyone else. Everyone wants to know. Then they find out and hate knowing.”

  “I can’t help it,” Mia whispered.

  “You can. Everyone can. If you didn’t poke and pry at your uncle, you wouldn’t be in this position.”

  “Fuck you for saying that.”

  Nate looked at her. “Try me. How did you get involved in the poker games?”

  Mia swallowed hard. A bitter taste rose up in her throat. “I lost a waitressing gig I had. Started at the strip club and my boss demanded I buy tits. I had to learn to strip to survive. There was only one person I knew that had money. So I approached him.”

  “You told him you wanted tits?”

  “Hell no. I said I was in a bind. Credit cards and shit. I needed the money to get out before I got in big trouble.”

  “And he said?”

  “He said I needed to survive on my own.”

  “And then you said?”

  Mia looked down. “Fair enough, Nate.”

  “No, tell me.”

  “You’re right. I’m wrong.”

  “I said to fucking tell me.”

  Mia looked at him, tears in her eyes. “Yeah. So I pushed at him. Said he had to have something for me. And he did. You’re fucking right. Congrats.” Mia kicked off the bed and walked to the door.

  “You can’t leave.”

  “I can do what I want.”

  “I’ll get the chains.”

  Mia glanced over her shoulder. “Come get me then.”

  She opened the door, tempting Nate. She made it no more than two steps before she stopped, crippled with fear.

  Where am I going to go?

  There was nowhere to go.

  She turned just as Nate came out of the room. He grabbed her by the arms. “You want to know it all? Goddammit. That’s what you want. To know about Nate. Because you think you like me. Because my cock is big and fun to play with. Because I’ll go down on you until you scream. Because I’ll shoot everyone in this clubhouse to protect you. That’s not me. Not who I used to be. I… I took women like you and set them up. Nothing but pussy, money, and murder.”

  “What kind of murder?”

  Nate leaned in. “Simple. I’d murder you right now… if it was a different life.” He then backed up. “Still want to know everything?”

  Mia sucked in a dry breath. She walked to the open door and went back in the bedroom.

  In a matter of a few minutes they were back on the bed like nothing had happened. Nate in the same position. And he looked pissed.

  “You actually murdered women?” Mia asked.

  He put his hands out. “With these hands? No. I never thrust a knife or pulled a trigger. But what does it matter when I was paid to lure them in?”

  “You don’t do that anymore though.”

  “No. Unless Miller asked me to do it. For the cut, I’ll do anything.”

  For me? Mia thought but didn’t dare ask.

  “What did you do then, Nate?”

  “I worked for the mob,” he said. “That’s the easiest way to put it. Business with suits and ties. Kind of like the MC here, except we wear leather and ride motorcycles. Actually, this life is better. More freedom. I’m able to contribute. I’m able to feel alive. Until you came crashing through this place. You’ve fucking ruined everything I’ve worked for.”

  “I ruined it? What the fuck did I do?”

  “You suck at following people,” Nate said. “You made it so we had to get you, bring you here. And the second I saw you I knew you didn’t belong in this mess. You’re not a bad person, Mia, at all.”

  “I’m glad at least someone sees that,” Mia said.

  Silence fell.

  Nate sighed and ran his hands down his face. When he put his hands to the bed, Mia slowly moved her hand to touch his. Such dumb romantic moves, but it mattered to Mia. Just touching Nate ever-so-slightly was enough to make her feel comforted.

  “Is all that real?” Mia whispered. “What you used to do?”

  “Yeah. It still is real. The MC and those guys have agreements in place. Who gets to be in what parts of the state, the country.” Nate looked at her. “This isn’t a town thing, babe. Back Down Devil MC has charters that go up and down the coast. That move east and north. We are everywhere. So are they. I mean, other MC’s like Coast Road and Eight Under. Coast Road attacked us. They’re working with your uncle.”

  “He’s working with a motorcycle club…”

  “Yeah. And the chief of police in town. It’s dirty stuff, babe.”

  “Keep telling me about you.”

  “It’s cliche. I had no home growing up. It made me tough and jaded. Blah, blah. I got into a fight once and took down three guys at once. All for twenty bucks some woman stole from me. I took the guys down and then put my hand out. The woman finally gave up the money she stole. A boss named Anthony saw it all happen and then offered me a ride in his limo. Within twenty-four hours I was in a suit, cleaned up, had two grand in my pocket, and was on my first job. I didn’t think much of it at first. You know? These were people who owed money. They had debts and those debts weren’t being paid.” Nate’s eyes went cold, dark. “All debt must be paid. And death was merely a message to everyone else. The bosses joked and called it their version of a write-off. Take the loss, but send a bigger message. Want to know something else?”

  Mia nodded. She was hopeless, addicted to everything Nate had to say.

  “When they took someone out, money suddenly started coming in. It was like these pieces of shit that got into trouble always thought they could just slip away. But that’s not how it worked. Everyone paid. Sometimes with money. Sometimes with a hand. Or foot. Sometimes with life.”

  “A hand or foot?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you ever…” Mia closed her eyes. Don’t ask.

  “Did I ever… cut someone’s hand off?” Nate asked.

  “Yes. I’m afraid to know.”

  “You want all the fucking truth, take it. I did. I cut someone’s hand off. A guy named Richie. He grabbed Anthony’s wife’s ass. Drunk, young, being a dumb punk. So we grabbed him and took him to a back room. Anthony was livid. Killing the guy would have been too easy. So Anthony held the guy’s hand and I had to cut it off. Slicing through flesh and bone. The guy screaming. Blood everywhere. Anthony then took the guy’s hand and shook it at him. Like it was a broken toy and the guy was a child. Anthony kept the fucking hand.”

  “How did they get away with it?” Mia asked.

  Nate grinned. “Babe, when you have power, you have freedom. We had a bomb go off in our lot. Then a gunfight. Did one cop show up? Anyone bring cuffs? Anyone taken away?”

  “No.”

  “Because of power. We all used to be together. But not anymore. Your uncle wants us out. And it’s all because of fucking drugs.”

  “Drugs?”

  “Drugs. Coast Road MC has a way to move drugs and we’re in the way. So your uncle and the chief of police are helping. Welcome to the war, babe.”

  Mia shivered and inched closer to Nate.

  “Do you think I’m even cooler now?” he asked.

  “I never said I thought you were cool.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “I’m here because you took me out of that room. Because you wanted to be near me. You made your move, Nate. I’m going along for the ride.”

  “Got it.”

  �
��I didn’t mean it like…”

  “I got it,” Nate said.

  “Tell me about your chest. I saw the scars.” Mia lifted Nate’s shirt a little. She slowly slid her hand up his shirt, over his strong stomach up to his stronger chest. Her fingertips moved up and down, feeling the ridges of the scars.

  “Nasty, huh?” he asked.

  “Not at all,” Mia replied. “They’re you. Who you are.”

  “I got strung up,” Nate said. “I got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore. We were going after people who had nothing. Yet we were giving them money, doing favors, knowing these people could never pay us back. Anthony was a bad person. He enjoyed too much of the power. We tried going to the higher bosses. Moving up the ranks, and that’s hard to do. That’s risky. You think cops and judges are hard… Christ, I can’t even imagine where the top actually is for them. They’re families. Big families. I lost my edge after a guy with a family was set to be taken out. I tried talking to Anthony so he punished me by burning down the guy’s house. I didn’t know the guy, but he had a wife and two daughters. The house was burned down… nobody was able to escape. There was no help for that family as they died together.”

  “Jesus Christ, Nate.”

  “So I lost it. I tried going to Anthony’s bosses. That’s when I met Miller. He had been fighting with two of Anthony’s guys. They were pushing into a Back Down Devil town, working some muscle for drug money and hookers. They had been going back and forth for a while. Miller wanted the guys out of his territory. They were bullying the charter, and for Miller to travel, it means business.

  “Anthony found out about me pushing to the higher ups. Fuck, they probably called Anthony and said to keep his guys under control. So I became the example. Bullets started flying and fights broke out. Back Down Devil attacked us. Anthony had me strung up in a garage. Chains and all, babe. So I know that feeling.”

  Nate paused and Mia swallowed hard. She couldn’t imagine Nate being chained up. She pictured him just breaking through the chains and fighting until death.

  “Anthony chained me up and made an example of me. I was used as a punching bag for a little while. But lucky for me, Anthony was weak. He broke his hand punching my stomach.”

  Nate grinned.

  Mia touched his hard stomach again and definitely could see someone breaking his hand, trying to hurt him.

  Fuck, he was so damn strong and sexy.

  “What happened?” Mia asked.

  “After Anthony broke his hand, he took out a knife. He started cutting. He just… lost it. Slashing at my chest, over and over, cutting deep each time he came at me. The other guys couldn’t stop him. The garage door then opened and Miller stood there, shotgun in hand. By the time Anthony turned around, he was dead. Miller shot him once. Anthony hit the side of the garage, a giant hole where his stomach used to be. I figured I was next, you know? But Miller came up to me. He stuck his finger in one of the cuts. Fuck, that hurt like nothing I could ever forget.”

  “Why did he do that?”

  “Power, babe. Control. He looked at me and asked if I wanted to join the MC.”

  “Just like that?”

  Nate laughed. “It’s never that easy. I had to give up two locations. Had to turn my back on the old life. On the family. Which is hard to do. Even if they were bad people, they were all I had. But there needed to be change. So Back Down Devil wiped out half the crew. Miller had me taken to a hospital to get stitched up. And that was the end of that.”

  “What happened with the other bosses? Aren’t they pissed at you?”

  “I’m sure there’s a bullet or two with my name on it. Then again, look at what’s happening here. There’s a bullet with everyone’s name on it. It’s a random life, you know? What happened is that the MC and the family agreed to stay apart. That was the best way to do it. And it’s been quiet. They have their muscle in cities like Vegas. We’re just small time. But this town is everything. We’re not going to lose it.”

  Mia let her fingers play with the ridges of the scars again on Nate’s chest. She slowly put her head to Nate’s shoulder.

  “I’m not clinging to you,” she said. “I just like to feel comforted, that’s all.”

  “Yeah, I got it. I don’t mind it either. You can’t fall for me though. Nobody can. I refuse it to happen. If you do - or you’re thinking about it - I’ll hurt you on purpose. So you stop.”

  Mia took her hand from Nate’s shirt and touched his face. She nodded.

  I’m not going to fall for him. We’re just going to survive together. That’s it. Survive together.

  seventeen.

  Mia couldn’t help herself as she bit into the pillow. There was nothing like waking up to this. Nate behind her, hands on her waist, squeezing tight as he fucked her. Christ, what was it now… a week straight of this? And each morning seemed to get better, hotter, wilder. It was almost implied at this point. Mia had barely opened one eye, looking at Nate as he sat up in bed, already awake. She wondered when the guy actually slept. But it didn’t matter. Her hand just went for him. Touching him. Stroking his already hard dick.

  And now she was reaping the benefits.

  She had already come twice and a third orgasm was being thrown from the edge right now. Mia was completely flat on the bed, Nate on top of her, his chest to her back. The angle was different, sweaty, and crazy tight. Each thrust of his cock tore into her in a way that didn’t seem possible.

  This was the highlight of the day… unless they fucked again. Most days they did.

  Each day had become somewhat repetitive, thick with stress, waiting for something bad to happen. All Mia had to do was check in with her uncle a couple times, letting him know she was on the inside. Miller and Gaige fed her stories to give to him. They wanted to see if the stories ended up back to the clubhouse.

  Most of them did.

  Mia had seen the chief of police there three times.

  There hadn’t been any other attacks though.

  At one point Mia wanted to think that maybe it was all going to blow over. But she knew better. It was the calm before the storm.

  Nate’s hand slapped at her ass, pressing harder to her. The smack made Mia scream even louder. Fuck, she wanted it more. His other hand slid up her back and grabbed her shoulder. In one swift move Nate pulled back, pulled at Mia’s shoulder, and changed their position. She was suddenly on her hands and knees, ass in the air. Nate still inside. Her back arching, curving, bringing on a whole new sensation deep within her core.

  She threw her head back and groaned. Reaching between her legs, Mia wanted to feel him even more. Her fingers touched herself, wanting to spread herself more for him, but in reality, she made it so her fingers could feel Nate’s thick cock sliding between her fingers as he fucked her.

  “Shit,” she groaned, the pressure still mounting.

  Nate thrust at her harder, his own body getting ready. Each thrust forward left Mia feeling like she was going to fly into the wall. She hurried to take her hand away from herself and reached for the wall at the head of the bed. She put her palm flat and pressed back, rocking her hips.

  “Fuck, yes,” Nate growled.

  His hand on her shoulder still held tight. His other hand cupped her ass, spreading her open, his fingertips casually grazing to her other hole, making her jump.

  Mia bit her lip as her orgasm crested for the third time that morning. She lowered her top half to the bed, losing strength. The pulsing and throbbing was too much for anything else. The rest of her body started to lower and Nate was right there, his big hands grabbing her waist, holding her up until he started to come a few seconds later.

  Nate fucked her as he came, filling her beyond all her body could handle. Her ass still in the air, Mia felt everything inside her and the leftovers pouring from her body. It only got worse when Nate pulled completely back out of her. His hands pressed at her ass, putting her entire body back to the bed.

  He collapsed next to her, on his side. His
hand touched her back. Slowly, he moved up and down, touching her. This was something that had been gradually happening between them. The silence and feelings after they had sex.

  Mia kept face down, head turned, staring at Nate. She didn’t know what to say in moments like this. She couldn’t fuck anything up right now. The whole idea of not falling for him was fine, she accepted that. But she needed him. Nate gave her hope, gave her life.

  “I have to leave here today,” Mia whispered. “You know that.”

  Nate nodded. “Yeah. You have to get over there. The game is tonight?”

  “Tonight,” Mia said. “He’s got twenty people coming.”

  “He never tells you who?” Nate asked

  His fingers felt so good climbing up and down her back. Leaving her tingling, the gushing sensation still ripe between her legs. Mia didn’t understand how she could want more. But she did.

  “He never tells me,” Mia said. “I’ve never asked, you know? I’ve never cared. It’s a job. I get paid. Then I slip away until he needs me again.”

  Nate’s fingers came up to her shoulder and he squeezed. “You’re not leaving this time, babe. When that’s done, you’re back here.”

  “Nate. How long?”

  “Until it’s all over.”

  “I don’t get what else you need me for.”

  “He thinks he’s getting information from you about us. You have purpose to him. Just trust me, Mia. Okay? Don’t question anything about me and the MC. Worry about him. He’s dangerous.”

  “Very. I have to check on Jacob. I can’t get this feeling out of my gut…”

  Nate nodded. “Don’t think about it. That’s how I get through half my life. You just can’t think about it. What’s true, false, whatever. Just have the moment that’s in your hand.”

  They were silent again. Nate’s fingers still moved. He crept down her back, up over her ass, and cut between her legs. The move made Mia sigh. Nate’s fingers rubbed against her center, just once though.

  “You’re still wet,” he said. “Fucking wild.”

  “You keep touching me,” Mia said. “What do you think’s going to happen?”