Nitro
He watched her for a long moment and then got out of bed.
He was careful to be quiet, like he’d done a thousand times before in places where mistakes got people killed.
He got dressed without turning on the light, holstered his sidearm, checked the hallway, and stepped outside the bedroom.
The safe house felt different now—less like shelter, more like a place where they were waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“They are called the Saints,” Ghost said finally, “although they are anything but Saints. They’re based out of the Midwest. No charters, and they follow no rules.
They traffic everything—guns, women, you name it.
They have heavy ties to Eastern Europe, which would explain the hired muscles who attacked you both. They’ve been quiet lately—too quiet.”
Ghost exhaled slowly. “You’re emotionally compromised.”
Silence stretched between them, and he was sure that Ghost was going to try to talk him down. But then Ghost surprised the hell out of him. “I have names.”
Nitro straightened. “Who’s the Prez?”
“A man named Salis Hale. Former military—dishonorably discharged. He likes control and likes to make examples out of people he feels wronged him in some way. I’m betting that your girl fits that bill.”
“That tracks,” Nitro said. “What do you know about her father?” Nitro asked.
“He’s alive,” Ghost replied. “Living off the grid and still feeding them information.” Nitro closed his eyes. In his line of work, there were rules. Engagement thresholds, layers of authorization, and the Saints followed none of them. But there were also moments when the rules stopped mattering.
“This stays off-book,” Nitro said.
“Once you say that,” Ghost warned, “there’s no clean exit.”
Nitro thought of Aurora’s voice breaking. Of the way she’d curled in on herself after telling him the truth. And of how hope scared her more than the men hunting her.
“I’m not looking for clean anymore,” he said. “I’m looking for this to be finished—not for me, but for Aurora.”
Another pause, before Ghosts sighed into the phone. The Iron Vipers will back you.” Nitro hadn’t asked—but the relief hit anyway.
“I don’t want chaos,” Nitro continued. “I want precision. I want their routes, where they keep their money, and their allies. I want Salis isolated.”
“And the father?” Ghost asked.
Nitro’s voice went cold. “He doesn’t get forgiveness,” Nitro said. “But Aurora decides his fate.”
“Understood,” Ghost breathed. Nitro ended the call and stood there in the quiet, the weight of the decision settled fully into his bones. This wasn’t a mission handed down by a faceless agency. This was a choice.
He returned to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to wake her. Aurora stirred anyway, turning slightly toward him, instinctively seeking warmth. Nitro brushed his thumb over her knuckles.
“I’m going to end this,” he whispered, even though she couldn’t hear him.
“Not just stop it, but end it.” He wasn’t sure if he was promising her—or himself.
In the past, he’d justified violence as a necessity.
As duty, as prevention, and as part of his job.
But this time, it was personal. And that scared him more than anything else.
Aurora shifted again, murmuring something unintelligible, her brow creasing like the nightmares were waiting just under the surface for her.
Nitro lay back down and pulled her gently against him, one arm firm around her shoulders.
Whatever it cost him—his career, his cover, his soul, if that’s what it took—he’d already decided that they were all things that he was willing to sacrifice for Aurora.
The Saints had taken years from her, and Nitro was about to take everything from them.
Nitro got up before dawn—old habit. But he had a new reason.
Aurora was curled into him this time, not out of fear but comfort—her thigh draped over his, her cheek pressed to his chest like she belonged there.
The weight of her felt right in a way that unsettled him more than danger ever had.
This was the part that made men careless, and he had learned a long time ago that getting involved was a sure way to wind up hurt, or worse—dead.
He brushed his thumb along her arm, light enough not to wake her, memorizing the warmth of her skin and the steady rise and fall of her breath. She shifted anyway, eyes fluttering open, pupils dark and heavy with sleep.
“You’re thinking too loud,” she murmured.
He huffed a quiet laugh. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Didn’t mean to sleep so much,” she replied. “Guess we’re even.” They lay there for a moment; the world held at bay by thin walls and mutual exhaustion. Then Aurora pushed herself up slightly, propping her chin on his chest, studying his face like she was committing it to memory.
“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” she asked.
Nitro didn’t lie. “No.”
“Because of me,” she said, just stating a fact.
“Because of what’s coming,” he corrected.
Her fingers traced the scar near his collarbone. “That’s the same thing. The men who are coming are coming for me. So, you’ve been awake all night because of me.”
Aurora leaned in slowly, giving him time to pull away, but there was no way that he would. Instead, he met her halfway, the kiss deepening with a quiet urgency that had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with choosing each other in the middle of chaos.
When he rolled her beneath him, it was with careful and intentional movement.
Every movement asked permission, even when no words were spoken.
She responded with trust, with need, and with a softness that cut deeper than any blade.
For once, Nitro let himself feel instead of calculating his next move.
“Are we going to finish what we started last night?” Aurora whispered. Her hands were halfway up his chest, underneath his T-shirt, and he wasn’t sure that he would be able to form words to answer her.
He nodded, “If you’re good with that, honey,” he said.
“I don’t want you to do this because you pity me or something, Nitro,” she said. God, this woman was tough as nails and willing to go the distance to prove it to just about anyone—him included.
“That’s not what this is,” he insisted. “I don’t do pity fucks.”
She rolled on top of him, smiling down as though he’d given her the answer that she was looking for.
“Good to know,” she said, as she tugged his shirt up his body.
“I think we should move on with the getting naked portion of this meeting, then,” she teased.
He was damn good with the getting-naked portion of things; he just worried that this might all be moving too fast for Aurora, and that she’d come to regret her decision later.
But that was a problem for his future. Right now, he wanted to take his time with her and feel something for the first time in a damn long time.
He let Aurora take her time stripping him, and when she settled between his legs, stroking his heavy shaft, he nearly came in her fucking hands.
“God, that feels so good,” he breathed. She wrapped her hot little mouth around his cock, and he moaned out her name.
"Take all of me," he ordered, shoving into her mouth a little more forcefully than he intended.
He thought that he might have gone too far until she groaned around his shaft.
She seemed to like it a little rough, and he had to admit that was the way he liked things, too.
“Fuck, baby,” he spat as she worked his cock over, giving him all the attention that he needed.
“I’m going to come,” he shouted, trying to pull free from her mouth.
She grabbed his ass in her hands, holding him in place as she sucked him in and out of her mouth while he lost himself down her hot, willing throat.
When Aurora finished licking him clean, she let him pop from her lips, smiling up at him as though she was pretty damn proud of herself. “You taste good,” she said hoarsely.
He wasn’t sure that he’d be able to move. She had left him feeling boneless, but not returning the favor seemed just plain rude. He rolled her under his body, making her squeal and giggle as he did.
“Let’s see how you taste,” he growled, working his way down her body, stripping her as he went.
By the time he settled between her legs, she was panting, and so fucking wet for him.
Her scent alone had made him hard again, and he wondered if he’d ever get his fill of her.
She was intoxicating, and that was new for him.
Most women were up for a good time—maybe a night or two, but for some reason, he knew that wasn’t going to be enough time with Aurora.
Nitro settled between her legs, running two fingers through her wet folds as he sucked her clit into his mouth. She nearly bucked them both off the damn bed until he wrapped his arms around her thighs to hold her still.
“You need to hold still, honey, and let me eat this sweet pussy of yours,” he breathed. She moaned out his name, squirming underneath him a bit, causing him to chuckle. She was going to be a handful, and God, he loved his women that way.
He made a meal out of her, eating her until she was screaming out his name and calling out for Jesus.
She was perfect. Nitro stood, tugging her to the end of the bed by her ankles, not being careful with her.
He was giving them what they both needed, and it was raw and passionate—everything that had been missing from his life for so fucking long.
He sank into her body, “Aurora,” he whispered.
“You feel so fucking good.” She looked up at him, giving him her shy smile, and for just a second, he thought that he saw something more in her eyes.
She reached for him, and he let her pull his body down to cover hers.
They moved in unison, each chasing their own releases.
When the world narrowed down to warmth and skin and whispered breaths, he anchored himself to the moment—because moments like this didn’t come often, and they never came without cost.
Later, when the room had gone still again, Aurora lay against his side with the sheets tangled around her legs, fingers idly tracing patterns over his ribs. She was quiet for too long, and he worried that she was overthinking what had just happened.
“That was a mistake,” she said softly, as though reading his thoughts.
Nitro stiffened. “If you regret it,” he started. He wasn’t going to tell her that she could take it back. Unwringing that bell wasn’t going to be easy because he was pretty sure that he’d never get her out of his head after what they had just shared.
“I don’t,” she said quickly. “That’s the problem.”
He turned onto his side to face her. “I’m not seeing the problem here, honey.”
Aurora hesitated, then met his gaze. “You’re changing things in my life, Nitro.
I know that you have the Iron Vipers pulling their resources to hunt down the Saints.
You’re crossing lines, and that might end up getting us both killed.
” Her voice trembled just a little. “I know that you’ve been careful to hide your phone calls, but I can see everything that you’re doing.
While I appreciate everything that you and your club are doing for me, I don’t want to be the reason you give up pieces of yourself you can’t get back.
” Nitro studied her in the dim light—the fear underneath the surface of her eyes and the way she was already bracing to lose him.
“You think I’m sacrificing something to help you?” he said.
“Aren’t you?” she asked.
He reached up, brushing her hair back from her face.
“Aurora, I’ve spent my whole life giving pieces of myself to people who didn’t deserve them.
The government took its pound of flesh, sending me on missions for causes that I didn’t give a fuck about.
” His voice softened. “This is the first time I’m choosing who I want to help. ”
Her eyes filled, but she didn’t let the tears fall. “And when this is over?” she breathed. He knew that she thought she was expendable, and that broke his damn heart.
Nitro didn’t hesitate. “When this is over, I’ll be right here, standing beside you, and we’ll figure things out from there.” She searched his face as though looking for a lie, but she wouldn’t find one because there wasn’t one.
Aurora rested her forehead against his. “I don’t want to be another war you fight.”
He kissed her gently. “You’re not the war,” he said. “You’re the one that I want to fight for.” She exhaled shakily, then nodded, curling back into him like the decision had been made and her mind was set.
Nitro wrapped his arms around her, holding her through the quiet, knowing this newfound closeness would change everything. But he accepted the cost—whatever it turned out to be. Because some things were worth risking the shadows for.