Chapter 8
Training took over and Steel dropped to the floor of the truck bed, taking the brunt of the impact while keeping a tight hold of Jenna as they fell.
He protected her head with both his arms, not daring to budge until the tremor was done. It had been quick, but Steel recognized the sound of an explosion. It wasn’t right on top of them, though still too close for comfort.
As Steel started to sit up, he caught sight of Viktor and Darrin as they made their way to the truck, keeping low with their guns out.
“What was that?” Jenna asked, her body a little too limp in Steel’s arms.
He got them up high enough to see over the edge of the truck bed. Jenna’s gasp echoed Steel’s shock as he saw the end of a fireball dispersing into the sky in the town below.
“It’s coming from Main Street,” Viktor observed.
Darrin nodded his agreement. “Leave the truck,” he ordered over his shoulder. “Our cage is safer. Let’s move.”
While it went against the grain to take orders from a prospect, Darrin’s words were exactly what Steel was thinking.
“Take her,” Steel demanded. The SUV had bullet-resistant glass.
Right now, he’d kill for Pumpkin’s new armored cage.
But some protection was better than no protection.
They were like sitting ducks out here if that explosion was meant to be a distraction.
He knew the direction of town it had come from, and got a sinking feeling in his gut.
Viktor kept guard while Darrin leapt into the truck bed. He scooped Jenna up off Steel before jumping down and bolting for the SUV.
Steel was slower to stand, the hard metal of the truck bed unforgiving in his hard fall.
Something was jabbing him in the thigh, but he got himself moving.
He was wearing an ankle holster tonight, not wanting to be obviously armed on their date.
Bending low as he landed on the dirt ground to retrieve it, he realized what was poking him in the thigh.
His broken phone fell from his pocket, the touch screen blank and cracked.
Well, shit. But his phone was not the priority.
“Let’s go!” he yelled to Viktor, and the two of them ran to the SUV. While he’d been hoping Valentine’s Day would end with an explosion, this was certainly not the kind Steel had had in mind.
He got in the backseat with Jenna. Darrin was already in the driver’s seat. As soon as they were inside, he put the SUV into Reverse and spun them out of there. Steel fought the momentum of the fast-moving vehicle to get to Jenna’s side.
“Baby, are you okay?”
She was shaking from head to toe, but her expression was terror, not pain. “I think so. Just… Trying to breathe. Are you okay? You weren’t hurt, were you?”
Steel shook his head. He’d likely be bruised, but he’d be damned if he mentioned that to her. “I’m good.” He absolutely hated to ask, but he knew he had to. Jenna wasn’t stupid. “Did you see what direction the explosion came from?”
Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. “Whatever that was, it came from Little Shoes.”
“Jack—”
“Don’t even try it, Jen,” Steel snapped. He hated, fucking hated, using such a tone with her, but there was no way on this fucking planet that he would allow his wife anywhere near Main Street before he had a chance to assess the danger.
“It’s my store too!” she argued, tears streaming down her cheeks.
They were nearly off the mountain. Viktor was on the phone with Ghost in the front seat, and from what Steel was overhearing, Ghost had tried to call him first. With Steel’s phone busted, Ghost had then called the prospect.
“I have just as much of a right to be there!”
It gutted Steel to see her tears like that.
As angry and frustrated as he was, his hands were still gentle as they lifted to her face to wipe them away.
“You know damn well that this has nothing to do with who owns what or who has a right to be where.” He tried so hard to keep his voice even, but fuck, his throat felt like he’d swallowed a fistful of sand.
There was not a single doubt in his mind that that explosion was Shaw.
“This is about protection, and more importantly, keeping your stress down.”
Jenna cringed. “I’m fine—”
“And you honestly think I’m going to take that risk? Especially after last month?”
Her tears started flowing faster. Fuck Shaw to the deepest pit of Hell.
Steel had already signed the man’s death sentence, but he’d need to find a way to keep Scar from killing Shaw.
Shaw was Steel’s, and he would die a very slow, very painful death.
Not because he’d framed Steel for murder or murdered Ollie’s birth mother or stalked the club or salted the frozen pond or whatever was happening at the store right now.
But for the very simple reason that he’d made Jenna cry.
Steel leaned over and kissed the top of her head.
“Viktor and Darrin are going to take you back home. By now, the place will be on lockdown. I will figure out what is going on and I will let you know what is happening. But I need you to go home so I am not worrying about you too.” He kissed her nose. “Please, Jenna.”
She did not look happy about it, but she nodded. Steel felt a weight lift off his shoulders, knowing that she would make it back to the club safely. Darrin and Viktor were both good and honorable men. They would give their lives to protect hers, and that reassurance meant everything to Steel.
“What about you?” she demanded, clinging to his wrists.
“They’ll drop me off at Jazz’s clinic. I’ll run from there.
” He didn’t get up and run ten miles a day for nothing.
He hated that he was in fucking dress shoes instead of his standard boots, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
Jazz’s vet clinic was at the end of Main Street by the elementary school, whereas the consignment store was at the other end towards the high school.
“Jack,” her voice held a warning. “What if it’s a trap?”
He’d already thought about that, and it very well could be. He wasn’t writing anything off at this point, but logically, it didn’t make sense. Jenna and Steel had been out in the open. Why go through the effort of a trap when they hadn’t been hiding?
Steel had a feeling this was about property damage and destroying his livelihood rather than about physical pain. The better question was why now? It was Valentine’s Day, but what statement could Shaw possibly be trying to make?
“I know. The others are on their way.” He glanced to the front where Viktor was in the passenger seat. Viktor nodded his agreement to Steel’s statement. “I’ll be as safe as I can be, baby. I promise.”
He’d been to war and back. Twice. He wouldn’t be felled here on the streets of the town he loved. But he needed to see what had exploded. From the direction of the fireball, it was either inside or near the consignment store. They’d been too high up to miss the trajectory.
Perhaps that was the point. Shaw had been putting on a show for them.
The noises from Main Street were muffled inside the cage as Darrin pulled them into Jazz’s parking lot.
Steel kissed Jenna quickly. “Be safe,” he ordered her.
She nodded.
He turned his attention to the two men in the front of the SUV.
“If anything happens to her, I will string you up by your balls and beat you within an inch of your life but won’t give you the satisfaction of killing you quickly.
You’ll suffer for days, in agony, until you finally starve to death. Do I make myself clear?”
“Jack,” Jenna scolded, but he ignored her.
“She’s safe with us,” Darrin vowed. Viktor nodded his agreement.
Steel kissed her one more time before hopping out of the cage. He chucked his jacket back inside, along with his tie. Out of habit, he wanted to reach for his cut, but he no longer had one. He felt naked as he slammed the door closed.
Darrin gunned it out of the parking lot.
Steel waited. If this was a trap, perhaps Shaw would reveal himself. He hadn’t yet, but he also hadn’t done anything to harm Steel. Making him suffer, yes, but Shaw was a sniper. The countless opportunities a day that presented themselves proved that Shaw didn’t want Steel dead.
At least not yet.
He stood in the falling snow, listening to the distant echoes of shouts and sirens from all the way down Main Street. No one approached him. No one appeared from the shadows or snuck up behind him. No one was there.
Gritting his teeth at Shaw’s cowardice, Steel started a quick sprint down the sidewalk. It was nighttime, but it was Valentine’s Day. The amount of people, specifically couples, that were out and about was higher than a normal night, even for a Saturday.
Crowds of bystanders were collecting towards the center of Main, by the town’s single traffic light. Steel flew past all them, ignoring those who tried to call out to him to ask what was going on.
As he neared the shop, the smell of smoke intensified, as did the heat from the blazing inferno. He’d seen the glow of the fire long before he’d been able to feel it. The town’s two firetrucks were parked in front of the consignment store and the police cruisers blocked the roadway.
“Carlos!” Steel shouted as he approached, pushing his way through the denser crowd to get to the front.
Carlos was dressed much like Steel, in a suit and tie. His fiancée, Zoe, had given birth to their twins last September. Steel knew that Louisa and Papaw were scheduled to babysit the babies, their oldest son Kyle, and Bulldog’s kids tonight so both couples could celebrate the holiday.
Danny was also there, along with Deputy Sheriff Jeffery Miller and Deputies Bert Anderson and Scott Pan. The firefighters were all in uniform, but Steel caught sight of Captain Hunter by the engine closest to him.
Shards of glass and debris crunched beneath his feet as Steel made his way past the cruisers. Neither deputy tried to stop him, which meant they valued their lives.