Sheltered By Stone (Steel Sinners MC #10)

Chapter 1

Iloved long rides.

Especially ones like today.

Riding back from Moonlit Pines and straight to Vegas was fucking beautiful. The tall redwoods and pines that turned into beach cities then into an endless desert were a reminder of just how beautiful Mother Nature could be. How vast and extreme.

I took a long drag of my cigarette, the last one for a while since I was once again trying to quit, and tossed it onto the ground, stomping it out with the tip of my boot.

“You good, man?” Cowboy asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah,” I answered, my voice sounding raspy in my own ears.

Cowboy was a good guy. Solid and reliable.

He had a woman waiting for him at home, the lucky fuck.

I had a feeling by the way he stared out at the horizon, he was anxious to hit the road again to get to her.

Much like Griffin, my best friend in the club.

Hell, he hadn’t come on this run for that reason.

Marty had a rare weekend off, and he’d wanted to spend it with her.

“Going inside. You coming?” he asked, when a shadow to our left caught my attention.

“I’ll be right there,” I promised. His gaze followed mine and he frowned. “Whatever it is, I got it,” I told him quietly. “Order me a big-ass burger. Two of them.” I patted my stomach. “I’m still a growing boy.”

“You’re what the kids would call a big back,” Cowboy muttered with a chuckle as he headed inside.

I pulled out the last cigarette packet I’d told myself I would buy before I finally fucking quit and took one more out.

Lit it and stood there, slowly letting the nicotine and smoke hit my veins as I breathed in.

We’d made it to the state line, on the Nevada side, to stop and get something to eat before we rode directly to the casino.

Back home. My lips twitched at the thought.

If my mama knew I called a god’s honest casino home, she would shake her head with a sneaky all-too-approving grin.

She’d loved the slots when she was alive.

She and my aunt, her sister, had always gone when I was younger.

Not in a problematic way where she was addicted or would be there instead of with me and my brothers.

Hell no. My mom had been the best. But being a single mom of four boys had been a lot, chaotic and stressful, and her girl time was a necessary outlet for her to keep her sanity.

May God rest her soul. The good ones always died too soon.

I inhaled my cig deeply, letting the tobacco and menthol fill my lungs before I exhaled slowly.

Home was less than two hours away.

I’d be able to get to my room and kick my feet up and watch a baseball game.

Hell, the mood I suddenly found myself in, thinking about my mom out of nowhere, I might even call one of my brothers to check in on them.

Mom. I scratched at my chest as my eyes rose to the sky.

The sun had just set, leaving lingering shades of deep orange and reds slowly blending into the purple and navy hues of the quickly-darkening sky.

The wind kicked up, and I rolled my head side to side.

The shadow of whoever was at the far end of the parking lot hadn’t moved.

I wasn’t usually a suspicious man, but with so many of the Steel Sinners together in one place, one couldn’t be too cautious.

A huge gust ripped through the air and me.

It was a strong breeze kissed with something more than the summer heat; it had a tinge of humidity that hinted at a seasonal storm.

I was about to turn and head inside when something up in the sky caught my attention.

Night had washed over, the darkness making something heavy settle in my chest. I stared up at the star-littered cloudless sky.

Maybe it was because my mom had drifted into my thoughts or because at thirty-eight, I was getting to an age where reflecting on my life, where I’d been to, where I was going, happened easily.

I felt like I needed a sign.

From the great beyond or the universe, I wasn’t sure. Not that it mattered.

Griffin had been teasing me, saying I was probably having some kind of midlife crisis, and fuck if that hadn’t stuck to my like a piece of gum at the bottom of my shoe.

Midlife. Am I really that old already? How the fuck did it feel like one day, you’re twenty something, with your whole life ahead of you, and then you stupidly blinked and looked at what you’d done with your life so far.

Doing that wasn’t so bad. I was proud of my life.

My brotherhood and the family I had with the Steel Sinners.

Shit, I’d met my best friend there. But it didn’t take away from what you one day thought you would have in your life to the reality of it and what was missing like a fucking sore thumb.

I’d been without my mom for twelve years. Hadn’t seen either of my three brothers in about at least half that time. I lived in a casino. Not to mention, I was single. I’d been single and alone, sans the club, for a long fucking time, over two decades since I’d had a lady riding the back of my bike.

Sure, I dated. Well, I used that word loosely.

I had fun. Plenty of it.

Being part of a club like the Steel Sinners, female company wasn’t hard to find.

But for some fucking reason, casually hooking up was getting old.

Boring almost. I shook my head, my mind and heart whispering to whomever or whatever might quietly be listening up above to send me a sign.

Something, a glimmer or fucking hint of what I should be doing.

If I was having a midlife crisis, what the hell was I supposed to be doing with the last half of it? What would it have?

At one time I thought at this age, I’d have a handful of kids climbing me like a jungle gym and a good woman who helped me not only have a family but a home. A soft safe place for the two of us to land after heavy and long days. Someone to share the good and the bad with.

But after my high school sweetheart and I broke up, I’d been over trying to find the one.

Hot, sweaty hookups in darkened alleys, flings, and headboard-shattering one-night stands were as much as I partook.

Is it too late for that? For the one? The question lingered in my head as I stared up at the stars.

That’s when I saw it.

Two yellow lights. No, four. Wait, they weren’t lights, but bright glowing eyes. I blinked, and my eyes widened as I realized they were two owls. Flying side by side, together in the crazy summer wind. They were beautiful. One smaller than the other but both majestic.

Thanks, Mom, I thought to myself.

Maybe love was possible after all? I took a step back when the wind kicked up and something came flying right towards me.

Without thinking, I caught it and looked down at my hands.

A baseball hat. I looked up, and that shadow of someone standing by the end of the building in the darkness had started to jog towards me but slowly stopped as they noticed I had their hat.

I got that. I didn’t take offense. I was a big fucking guy. Griffin and some of the other guys in the club liked to give me shit about how if my road name weren’t Stone, it should be Viking thanks to my size. At six feet four and almost three hundred pounds of mostly muscle, who was I to argue?

“Lost something?” I asked the person I still couldn’t see clearly.

“Yeah,” a small, feminine voice squeaked, and it was the weirdest fucking thing. Something stopped inside of me. My heart or lungs, I wasn’t sure, but fuck me, both stuttered out when the small, curvy form stepped into the light.

Short, dark hair cut just under her chin made my fingers itch to feel.

Her curvy form made my entire body ache to get closer, drew me in, making me step forward without thinking.

And when her face tipped up? Giving me an unhindered view of a round, almost angelic face?

The most beautiful face I’d ever laid eyes on.

But what nailed the coffin and my future were her dark chocolate eyes.

When they connected with mine, I thought my knees would buckle beneath my body.

“Stone,” I introduced myself while extending my hand to hers.

“Excuse me?” that pretty voice asked, and I felt something inside of me start to not only thaw but melt faster than the polar ice caps. This need to tell her everything, to share who I was, protect her kicked in on warp speed.

“Stone,” I repeated. She tilted her head slightly with confusion. “I mean, I’m Stone. Stone Henderson.”

“Your mom named you Stone? Like a rock?”

“No.” I chuckled, wondering if I was capable of blinking because my eyes were firmly set on the most beautiful creature to ever exist. “The guys in the club did.” I gently pointed at the cut I was wearing.

“Club,” she repeated, and I didn’t miss the way her gaze skirted in front of us, where a line of parked motorcycles waited.

“You’re in a biker gang?”

“Motorcycle club,” I corrected.

“Oh, right. Umm, that’s cool.”

“And you are?” She opened her pretty mouth, about to answer me, when a hard gust of wind blew, and it pushed her form closer to me.

An overprotective need kicked up inside of me and I couldn’t stop myself, even if I wanted to.

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her the moment she was within reach.

“You ok?” I asked, my voice dropped an octave. She peered up at me. That close, I could see just how long and dark her lashes were. How pretty her eyes were. How fucking stunning she was. Not a lick of makeup on her angelic face.

“I’m good. Sorry about that.” She tried to step away from my hold, but I held her in place with a tender touch.

“Nothing to be sorry about, princess.”

“Prince—” She snorted. Fuck me, it was the most adorable sound. But she was suddenly turning a shade of pink with what I was guessing was mortification. “I’m nothing like a princess.”

“I don’t know about that,” I answered softly. “Your name?”