Steel Temptation (Back Down Devil MC #6)(40)

“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 f*cking 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.”