Chapter 6
CENTURY
Ifelt Saylor tighten behind me as we rolled through the entrance of Redline Speedway, her arms snug around my waist and her thighs hugging mine in those fucking leather pants that had been testing my sanity since she opened her apartment door.
The ride had been its own kind of torture. By the time I parked in the paddock area, the only thing keeping me from taking her somewhere private was knowing how badly she wanted to see this place.
The Speedway was Kane’s biggest arena, which meant it had the polished face of professional racing without losing the pulse that made it ours.
Permanent road courses stretched under banks of lights, the asphalt cutting through multiple turns and elevation changes designed to test nerve, machine, and discipline.
The pit lane was packed with teams moving through final checks, crews crouched around tires, mechanics leaning into open hoods, riders rolling bikes toward technical inspection, and race officials keeping the chaos moving with clipped hand signals and radios pressed to their ears.
Safety barriers, runoff areas, scoring towers, garage blocks, and medical stations surrounded it all.
This was the lifeblood that ran through my veins.
Saylor climbed off the bike after me, and I had to take a second before touching her because watching her swing one leg over the seat was sexier than I’d thought the movement could be.
The leather dragged tight over her thighs, her hair fell over one shoulder when she pulled off the helmet, and her cheeks were flushed from the ride.
I took the helmet from her and watched her look around, her eyes widening as she took everything in.
“This is incredible.” She turned in a slow circle. “I knew it was big, but not this big.”
I stepped in behind her and slid my hand to her lower stomach, pulling her back against me because I wanted her close…
and every man within twenty feet needed to understand she wasn’t standing there alone.
She leaned into me without hesitation, and her easy trust hit my chest almost as hard as the feel of her ass against my thighs.
“One of the biggest raceways in the state.” I lowered my mouth near her ear so she could hear me over the engines. “Only pro races here. We’ve got other raceways where shit gets rowdy. Redline is where the world watches us pretend we’re civilized.”
She tipped her head back with a giggle. “Pretend?”
I grinned. “Some of us are better actors than others.”
Her laugh slid straight under my skin, and my fingers pressed a little tighter into her waist. She had no fucking idea what she was doing to me, or maybe she did and was enjoying it. Either way, I was fucked.
I turned her toward the paddock, keeping her tucked close as we started walking, and every few feet she asked another question.
She had clearly done some homework, and the curiosity in her voice was too real to fake.
Her interest in my world made me want to show her every hidden corner just to watch her eyes light up again.
The first group I introduced her to was near Jana’s car, where Nitro was crouched beside the front end, talking low with one of the crew chiefs.
Their kids, Nella and Von, were with one of the old ladies somewhere safer and quieter, but Jana looked ready to remind every asshole watching that having a baby hadn’t taken a single ounce of speed out of her blood.
Another brother, Axle, stood a few bays down near his own setup, scanning the track with the focus that made him a great road captain.
When we approached, our sergeant at arms’ gaze dropped briefly to my hand on Saylor’s waist, then to her face, and his mouth curved with enough amusement that I knew I’d hear about it later.
“Saylor”—I pulled her a fraction closer because subtlety had never been my strong suit—“this is Nitro and his old lady, Jana.”
Taking in Saylor’s outfit with approval, Jana’s smile came quickly. “Okay, I like her already. Anyone who shows up to a speedway in leather pants on her first big night has taste.”
Saylor flushed but held her ground, which made me even more pleased. “They’re new. I figured if I was going to ride on the back of Levi’s bike, I should look like I belonged there.”
Nitro made a low sound that might’ve been a laugh, but he stifled it with one glare from me. “Careful saying shit like that. He’s gonna hear ‘belonged’ and start measuring you for a property vest before the first heat.”
I gave him a look. “You got somewhere else to be?”
“Not anymore.”
Jana smacked Nitro’s arm with a chuckle. “Ignore him. He gets mouthy when he’s proud and doesn’t know what to do with it.”
Saylor laughed, and I watched her shoulders relax as she stepped a little more naturally into the conversation.
She asked Jana about the car first, then about how soon she’d returned to training after having Von, and I could tell from Jana’s expression that the question landed right.
When Saylor asked about weight distribution and whether her reaction timing felt different now that she’d taken time away from competition, Nitro’s eyebrows lifted.
Jana grinned wider, and I felt that possessive pride rise in me again.
We moved through the paddock after that, stopping with crew chiefs, racers, and brothers who had all clocked my hand on her back within two seconds of seeing us.
I didn’t leave space for confusion. My palm settled at her waist or the base of her spine, and when a couple of younger drivers looked at her a little too long, I gave them the kind of stare that had the color draining from their faces.
Saylor noticed by the third time it happened.
“You know,” she murmured as we walked past a row of bikes waiting near inspection, “you don’t have to glare at every man who looks in my direction.”
“Sure as fuck do, baby,” I grunted. “Need them to know you’re mine.”
“I think you’ve sufficiently established that.”
I shrugged. “Gotta be sure. Besides, never hurts to remind everyone else.”
She tilted her head, her eyes dancing. “So you’re just going to keep doing it?”
“Yup.”
Her lips pressed together, fighting a smile. “At least you’re honest.”
“Never said I was reasonable.”
“True.” She put a little more sway in her hips and winked at me, sending my blood rushing south. “Are you sure just keeping me plastered to your side isn’t enough?”
I bent close, letting my mouth brush the shell of her ear. “Keep teasing me, baby. See what happens when I finally get you somewhere private.”
Her breath caught, and I felt the tiny shiver move through her before she tried to hide it by turning toward the nearest bike. Cute attempt. Failed completely, though.
As the night went on, she kept winning people over without trying. She was curious, smart, and comfortable admitting when she wanted to understand something better, and that combination made people want to teach her rather than brush her off.
Watching her fit into my world felt like seeing a custom build of mine fire clean on the first start.
She belonged here. With me.
Only one thing would make my claim indisputable, and I planned to ask Kane to order it for me soon.
I stole kisses whenever I could get thirty seconds and a shadowed corner.
One came behind a stack of tire racks, my hand at her throat and her back against a concrete pillar while engines screamed somewhere beyond us.
Another happened near the garage entrance after she smiled too damn bright at something Axle said and I decided I needed that mouth back under mine before anyone else got the idea they could make her laugh like that.
By the final race, I was completely fucking done.
Saylor stood beside me near the paddock fence, cheering when Jana crossed the finish line with a strong run that had Nitro looking smug enough to be insufferable for at least a week. She bounced on her toes, clapping, her whole face lit with excitement, and I couldn’t stop staring.
When we headed back to my bike, she was still buzzing with excitement, talking a mile a minute. She was fucking adorable. I wasn’t sure how she managed to be both cute and sexy at once.
But my attention narrowed down to the way her mouth moved, and the fact that my hands were about to be on her with a lot less restraint.
I handed her the helmet, helped her secure it, then climbed on and waited for her to settle behind me.
As soon as her arms wrapped around me, I made the decision I’d been fighting since her apartment.
I didn’t point the bike toward her place.
It took her a few minutes to notice, probably because she was still riding the high of the night. And maybe because she trusted me enough not to panic when I took a different route.
At the next red light, she lifted her voice over the engine. “Levi, this isn’t the way to my apartment.”
“No.”
“Where are we going?”
“My place.”
She went still behind me, and I waited for anything that would tell me to slow down.
Instead, her arms tightened around my waist, her body pressing closer, and that was all the answer I needed.
The light changed, and I opened the throttle, the bike shooting forward into the humid night while satisfaction burned through my veins.
The compound gates opened as we approached, a prospect lifting his chin when he saw me and smartly pretending not to notice the woman wrapped around my back.
Bikes lined the lot under the security lights, and voices spilled faintly from inside the clubhouse.
But my focus was Saylor and the brutal need riding me hard enough to make every second between the gate and my parking spot feel too long.
I killed the engine and barely gave it time to settle before I was off the bike and reaching for her.
She pulled off the helmet, her hair tumbling around her flushed face.
Taking it from her to set on the seat, I wrapped my hands around her waist and lifted her down.
Her boots hit the pavement, but she didn’t get more than one breath before I hauled her against me.
The kiss detonated.
There wasn’t any teasing left in me. No slow approach or careful easing in.
I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t at the end of what little self-control I’d managed to scrape together all week.
I took her mouth hard, one hand sliding into her hair while the other clamped around her hip and dragged her tight against me.
She gasped, and I swallowed the soft sound, backing her into the side of my bike just long enough to feel her body catch fire. Her hands fisted in my cut, pulling at leather and dragging me closer like she’d been waiting for this just as badly as I had.
“You knew what you were doing tonight,” I growled against her mouth, my voice rough enough that she shivered. “Openin’ that door lookin’ like a fucking fantasy come true.”
Her breath hitched, but she didn’t deny it. I kissed her again, letting her feel the promise I’d been carrying all night while my hand slid down to grip her ass through the leather that had been driving me insane for hours.
She moaned softly into my mouth, and the sound snapped whatever thread of control was left.
I bent, hooked both hands under her ass, and lifted her.
Saylor wrapped around me, her arms around my neck and legs around my waist, her body fitting against mine like she’d been made for it.
The pressure of her center against my hard cock dragged a groan out of me, and I started toward the clubhouse without putting her down.
She buried her face against my neck, laughing breathlessly like she couldn’t believe I was actually carrying her inside. But her thighs tightened around me, and that told me she wasn’t complaining.
A couple of brothers glanced over when I shoved through the clubhouse door with Saylor in my arms. Edge, sitting near one of the tables with Callie tucked beside him, took one look at us and started grinning like I’d just handed him premium entertainment.
Shifter leaned back in his chair at the bar, his eyes full of amusement, but he was smart enough not to say a damn word.
Torque and Raze stopped talking, and their laughing gazes followed me as I stalked toward the stairs that led up to the bedrooms on the second floor.
Kane stood in the hallway with Savannah at his side and one of their kids, half asleep, against his shoulder, his scowl unchanged except for the faintest twitch at his mouth.
“Busy?” Edge called.
“Fuck off,” I threw back without slowing.
“Looks like you’re already handling that.”
Callie smacked his chest while trying not to laugh.
Saylor made a mortified sound against my neck, and I felt her face heat where it pressed into my skin. I tightened my hold on her ass and kept walking, because if she thought I was putting her down now, she hadn’t been paying attention.
“Ignore him,” I muttered. “He gets mouthy when nobody’s stabbed him recently.”
“Should I be concerned that makes sense?” she whispered.
“Probably.”
She laughed, and the sound made my cock throb so hard I nearly missed the first step.
I carried her up the stairs, every little shift of her body against mine making the need in my body grow.
By the time I reached my room, my control was a thing of the past. I needed to be alone with the woman I’d spent all week claiming in every way except the one my body was demanding now.