Steel Temptation (Back Down Devil MC #6)(18)

Mia let out a whimper. “Shit. What…”

“I’m counting to ten. At ten, I shoot. Unless you give me enough information. Go. One…”

“Holy shit,” Mia said. “Wait…”

“Two…”

“My uncle is a judge. I don’t know what he does other than that. I mean, I have nothing to do with his…”

“Three…”

“Fuck. Nate. He calls me when he needs my help with illegal poker games.”

“Four…”

“He holds them in underground places like this. In town. Like on the outskirts. It’s always big time businessmen and authorities and stuff. Okay?”

“Five…”

“I usually just waitress for the night. He trusts me that I won’t say anything. Apparently I look good mostly naked. My boss at the club wants me to strip. But he says I need new tits…”

“Six…”

“Uncle Jake called me and said he needed me. I’m f*cking broke, okay?”

“Seven…”

“I showed up and he told me I needed to follow you guys. That’s it. Just follow and tell…”

“Eight…”

“Stop!” Mia cried out. “Just stop! I’m telling you.”

“Nine…”

“Nate! Please. I’m begging you. He told me to follow you and I did! That’s it. I never trailed anyone before except an ex who was cheating. So I guess I suck at it…”

“Ten.”

Mia’s jaw snapped shut.

Nate hesitated and then put his gun away. “That’s everything?”

“Yeah.”

“He sends you to do this shit?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s your uncle?”

“Step uncle, but, yeah…”

“He f*ck you?”

“Christ, no. Never.”

“Has he tried to?”

“No. I would never…”

“You know, he tried to kill me.”

Mia felt her jaw fall to the floor. “What…”

“That’s why you were sent to follow us. Me. There’s some dirty things going on around here, babe. You picked a f*cked up time to help your uncle out.”

Mia felt the emotion hit her again.

This time, Nate let her cry.

After a couple minutes Mia looked up at Nate. He was like a statue, not even caring now.

“Why are you crying? Because you got caught?” he asked.

“No. Because I’m not going to survive this, am I?”

“Honestly? Probably not.”





eight.



Nate didn’t want her to get to him. But she was. Damn, everything about her was real. Her words, emotions, fears. Even her tears were real. She was terrified to be there, chained to the wall, like the club would do to guys who deserved to be gutted.

Mia didn’t deserve that.

She had no idea what she was getting involved with right now.

“I’ll be back,” Nate said.

He turned and went to the door. As he left the room, he left Mia whimpering to herself. It brought back haunting memories of an old life. When Nate used to be a chunk of muscle for some guys who were really f*cking dark, who would do really bad things.

Halfway up the ramp to the compound ground, Miller and Gaige waited.

“It’s bad,” Nate said.

“Define bad,” Gaige said.

“Her uncle is the judge.”

“Fuck,” Miller growled. “So she f*cking knew…”

“No,” Nate said. “She didn’t. He brings her in to waitress at underground poker games.”

“Fucking hell,” Gaige said. “Didn’t we just have prospects busting those up? There’s more now? Under our nose?”

“He’s got connections deep,” Miller said. “Rightfully so. He’s a judge, right? So what do we do, Nate?”

“You’re the President,” Nate said. “I say we let her fly in the morning and tail her. Make her come back. She’s emotional. She doesn’t want any of this. She needs it.”

“Why?” Gaige asked.

“Money.”

“She’s a f*cking whore,” Miller said.

Nate felt rage. He suppressed it. Someone calling Mia a whore shouldn’t bother him.

“I don’t like any of this,” Gaige said. “I say we take her and make it known we have her. That’s it. We hold the power.”

“Until phone calls are made,” Nate said. “Favors called in. Jesus Christ, man, we have to approach all this with care. This isn’t another club. This is… authority. I know we stand on our own, but they have…”

Miller cracked his knuckles and walked toward Nate. “Fuck this.”

He breezed by Nate and Nate chased after Miller. “What are you doing?”

“Making my position known.”

“Miller… she’s…”

Miller grabbed the door handle and opened the door. When Mia saw him, she kicked back and shook her head.

“No. Don’t kill me. I did what he said. I told everything. Fuck, Nate… you said…”