11. Steel

11

Steel

It’s three in the morning when I finally make it through the front door. Any other night, I would have crashed in my room at the clubhouse, but something felt empty about it when I got there. So I turned around and made the short drive to the neighborhood.

It’s the strangers in my house.

The unease of the night still wearing thin on my bones.

That’s all that makes sense when there’s no other reason I’d be compelled to show up at a house I barely ever sleep in.

Peeling off my cut, I hang it right inside the front door. As I do, movement in the kitchen draws my attention.

The house is dark, so I reach behind my back and pull out my gun, holding it firmly at my side as I quietly make my way through the house. The compound is fenced and monitored from every corner, but it doesn’t mean no one has ever found a way to sneak past .

Peeking around the corner into the kitchen, I spot bare legs sticking out the bottom of the refrigerator, so I holster my gun.

“You’re up early.” I step into the room.

Tempe lets out a little yelp as she jolts upright. Her frame is lit by the glow from inside the refrigerator.

“Jameson.” Her eyes are wide when she spots me leaning against the doorframe.

I never should have told Austin my first name because every time Tempe uses it, something warm churns in my chest. A biker’s life shouldn’t be comforting, yet somehow, that’s what her presence is.

“Don’t look so surprised, wildfire. I live here, remember?” Walking into the kitchen, I slide onto one of the barstools at the kitchen island.

“I know. But you’re the one who said you ‘never stay here.’” She throws up air quotes, tossing my words back at me.

“Maybe I’m just keeping you on your toes.”

After all, it’s what she gets for keeping me on mine.

Tempe rolls her eyes, tugging at the hem of her T-shirt. It hits her mid-thigh, brushing against the smooth skin of her legs. And the cool air from inside the refrigerator makes her nipples peak against the fabric.

“Your grandma gave it to me to sleep in. Hope you don’t mind.” She brushes her hands over the front of the T-shirt, and I realize it’s one of mine. “I didn’t have anything comfortable to sleep in.”

“It’s fine.” Albeit tempting as fuck. “You looking for something to eat? ”

I tip my chin at the still-open fridge.

“Not really, I just couldn’t sleep.” She looks from me to the food and shakes her head. “Thought a snack might help take my mind off things.”

Tempe shuts the refrigerator and tugs her hair out of the messy bun, only to wrangle the waves right back on top of her head in a fresh knot.

“How are you doing?” I ask.

It’s bad enough I’m here—bad enough I’m letting Tempe and her brother live in my house. I shouldn’t give a shit how she’s doing, but I can’t seem to help myself after what happened at the bar tonight.

Tempe grazes her fingers across her neck, skating them back and forth over the faint bruising already starting to show. I wish I could bring Banks back from the dead just so I could suffocate the life out of him all over again for putting his hands on her.

“I’m doing okay.” But her eyes don’t match her tone in the dark kitchen as they trail off.

“And Austin?”

Her gaze snaps to mine, and her eyes gloss over. “He’s in shock, and I don’t blame him.”

I nod, not sure what else to say.

I’ve been that kid—frozen in time. Born into circumstances that only twisted and became more fucked up the older I got. He’s going to become tough quickly, and that’s not always a good thing.

“Thanks for everything you did at the bar.”

“Don’t mention it.” I stand up, circling the island to get a glass of water .

I’m too fucking sober, and the room’s too hot with Tempe standing in the middle of it.

Grabbing two glasses out of the cabinet, I fill them up and hand one to her.

“Why were you there, anyway?” Tempe’s eyes pinch as she watches me take a sip. “I’m sure you have better things to do than check in on your prospects.”

I drain the glass and set it down, wishing she’d stop seeing through everything. “I was around the corner and figured I’d drop in on my way back to the clubhouse. It was on my way.”

Kind of.

It would have been quicker to head straight out of the city, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. After checking in with Kansas, I had every intention of heading back to the club. But something pulled my bike in the direction of Dirty Drakes instead.

Tempe is a magnet, and I’m the metal that can’t escape her pull.

“Well, you had good timing, so I guess it worked out.” She lifts off the counter, setting her water glass down. “Sorry, I’m keeping you up. You must be tired. You don’t need to entertain me. I’m heading back to bed soon.”

“I’m usually up this late.” If anything, this is early.

Her gaze drifts around the kitchen. “Are you hungry then? I was going to make a grilled cheese, if you want one.”

Between Stevie cooking for the guys at the clubhouse, and my grandma always having food packaged in the refrigerator, I’m used to people cooking for me. But her offer feels different. Like genuine kindness when all I’ve done is add to her problems.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s fine.” She waves her hand, walking back over to the fridge. “You’re letting us stay here. It’s the least I can do.”

“Thought I was holding you hostage?” I smirk.

She narrows her eyes, playfully glaring at me over her shoulder. “Technically, yes. But I guess after everything that’s happened, I get it. And I appreciate what you’re doing for me and Austin.”

For now .

Tempe’s got a life. A brother to raise. Wounds to heal.

And my world is no place for a girl who is eight years younger than me, with her whole future ahead of her.

“Go, sit. You’ve had a long day, Jameson. Let me make you something to eat.”

I chuckle, sliding onto the stool closest to the stove. “I’m still getting used to you being nice to me.”

She rolls her eyes. “I could say the same for you.”

Tempe moves around the kitchen like she already knows where everything is. She grabs two plates from a cabinet and then bends over to grab a frying pan. Her ass peeks out as the T-shirt rides up, and it’s borderline torture when I know I can’t do anything about it.

I’ve been so tired and busy lately that I haven’t even had the energy to get laid. And with Tempe roaming my kitchen like it’s hers, making me a sandwich, every nerve in my body is on edge.

“Pearl said we’ve met before.” Tempe pops back up with a pan and sets it on the stove. “I didn’t realize my mom brought me around here, but I guess I was only two, so I don’t remember it. And back then, we never stayed in one place long. You lived here then, right?”

“Born and raised.” I knock my knuckles on the counter. “Did you move around a lot as a kid?”

“Too much.” Tempe huffs. “I can’t imagine living in one place. I would have given anything to spend a full school year in one city growing up. My mom’s boyfriends never lasted that long.”

“So you and Austin…?”

“We’re technically half-siblings. I was eighteen when she had him.”

“You seem close though.”

“We are. Mom was never that reliable—for me or him. So I tried to make up for it whenever they came through town.” She shakes her head as she butters the bread. “I guess now I’m all he has. Maybe I’ll actually give him a full school year in one place.”

“What about his dad?”

“He’s not much better than Helix. Or so my mom told me. I never met him, and I don’t know who he is, except that she met him in Austin.”

“Texas?”

“Yep.” She plops one sandwich in the pan, and then the other, and they start sizzling.

“So your name… Tempe.”

“Helix was riding through Arizona when they met, and she followed him back here. She said it was fun times until it wasn’t, which is how she operated with men. ”

I try to picture Tempe’s childhood, moving around nonstop. Parents who couldn’t commit to the responsibilities they bred. It’s the opposite of how I grew up, and also somehow, the same.

“Mom always said she was going to settle down.” Tempe shakes her head. “ She was going to change . When she showed up last week, she swore this move was different. I didn’t believe her, and now…”

“Now, what?” I ask when she doesn’t finish her sentence.

“Now I guess she’ll never prove me wrong.” Tempe flips over the sandwiches. “Austin deserves so much more than this. More than she gave him, and more than I can.”

“You offer him plenty. Don’t doubt yourself, wildfire.”

She rolls her eyes. “You don’t know me, Jameson. I don’t even know that side of me. I’ve never raised a kid. What if things get hard and it turns out I’m just like her?”

“You standing here is already proof you’re not.” I shrug. “You’re strong, Tempe, even if some days you feel like you’re faking it. Even if it’s just a front you’re putting on for those around you. Strength isn’t always apparent. Sometimes, you just have to manifest it into existence when life throws a curveball. And I’ve already seen enough to know you’re more than capable of doing that.”

“You have a lot of faith in me.”

“I know a fighter when I see one.” I smirk. “Got the bruises on my shins to prove it.”

She laughs, and the sound lifts a weight off my shoulders. “Thanks, Jameson.”

“Anytime, wildfire.”

Tempe’s still grinning when she turns back to the sandwiches. She checks the bottoms of them and turns off the stove when they’re brown. The moon shines through the window, offering her enough light to see as she moves around.

She walks over with my plate, setting it in front of me, and the breeze of her movement kicks the napkin across the counter. She tries to catch it, not realizing until it’s too late that she’s pressed her chest against me with her efforts.

Her lashes flutter as she looks me in the eyes. We’re face-to-face. So close I can feel her sweet little exhales escaping her lips, and I’m teased with every brush of her pebbled nipples poking through her T-shirt as her chest expands.

So close I can hardly resist when her gaze drops to my mouth, and she wets her lips.

She’s the daughter of the man who betrayed my club.

Baggage I can’t take when my shoulders are already burdened with enough weight.

A girl who comes with expectations a man like me can’t live up to.

But when her hazel eyes flit back to mine, I’m tempted to grab her hips and lift her onto the counter. To claim this girl like I wanted to do the second I met her.

I didn’t ask her to rush my life, but she did.

Tempe is a breath of fresh air in a room without oxygen. A spark when I’ve been walking in darkness. She’s fire when not even the Vegas sun has been able to heat the coldest parts of my chest up to this point .

I want to make her leave as strongly as I want to keep her safe.

I want to push her away, and I want to hold her close.

She makes me want everything.

“Sorry.” Tempe backs up, and I miss her body heat the moment she does.

But she doesn’t circle the island like I expect. She takes the stool next to mine. And when she sinks her teeth into her grilled cheese, avoiding my stare, I know why Soul’s been giving me such a hard time about the fact that I haven’t let this girl out of my sight since she first broke into the clubhouse.

I have no doubt Tempe was put on earth as the weakness of man. And if I’m not careful, she’s going to become mine.