Free Tempered Steel (Steel Riders MC Book 2) by Carmen Faye Page A

you?”
     
    He looked a little sad. “No, not for a long time, and maybe not ever.”
     
    “But what about us?”
     
    “Well, Knight is giving me a million to go somewhere and hide. You have said many times that you can work anywhere. So, I was kind of hoping you would want to come with me.”
     
    This was not something she had expected to hear, so she needed time to think it through. Her first thought was for Daphne. Then another thought crossed her mind. “If I had said yes to waiting the six weeks so that you could get your life out of the shadows, I never would have seen you again, would I?”
     
    “Not in the way you mean it, no. I would have disappeared a couple of weeks before that, and no one would know where I had gone. Also, we wouldn’t have been strong enough in our relationship where I would feel asking you to come with me would be wise.”
     
    She let that sink in, and it felt really heavy on her.
     
    “The first thing I think of is Daphne. Leaving her while she is still so vulnerable: That’s going to tear hard on me Hank, real hard.”
     
    “Maybe you don’t have to come right away. I can get in touch with you, say, once a month, and see if you are ready.”
     
    “Isn’t Skype encrypted? Couldn’t we use that?”
     
    She watched him work that through his mind. “Yes, but not from your house or your office. Or any place that could be bugged. I’ve dropped the hint that you broke up with me because I wouldn’t let you call the cops after the attack — that the world I was in was too crazy for you. So, maybe they wouldn’t bother with you at all. But I wouldn’t want to bet your life on it.”
     
    “Just kill him and be done with it,” she pouted, and then snuggled into his chest. “I know, I’m being a brat.”
     
    “If I could take him and his five lieutenants, too, at the same time, I would. I wouldn’t even hesitate,” he told her.
     
    “Even against Knight’s order?” she asked.
     
    “Yes, even against,” he told her, and ran his fingers through her hair. “If I ever find out that Orlin did indeed tell those men to attack you, nothing will stop me from killing him. Nothing.”
     
     
     

 
    CHAPTER NINE
     
    “I love the idea of being roomies with you,” Daphne said with a smile.
     
    “You sure, even after last night?” Cyn asked.
     
    “Um, what last—”
     
    “Come on, Daphne, someone had to have called you.” Cyn laughed. “I mean, it was probably hysterical to some people.”
     
    Daphne smiled a sheepish grin. “Well, I did see the YouTube video.”
     
    “What!” Cyn laughed. “No fucking way!”
     
    “It’s on there, let me bring it up!” Daphne laughed, and it was the first time since the death of Derrick that Cyn had seen her laugh and smile like she once did.
     
    Sure enough, someone had her at both fights. Rolling that big guy — “Big Ed” he was called — over her shoulders and then tossing him onto the table seemed to be the most popular. But she really liked the step-in sidekick that she did against the man known as “Train.” Her form was perfect, the extension of her hips was right on the money, and the power going through her boot into Train was very pleasing to see.
     
    “I guess what happens at the club doesn’t stay at the club,” Cyn smiled.
     
    “Well … most of it does, ‘cause it’s not anyone else’s business,” Daphne assured her.
     
    “Let’s look up James, James Rath,” Cyn suggested.
     
    “Well, you know, he’s married,” Daphne told her.
     
    “Yeah, I know. Found out the first day I met him. Really a pisser,” Cyn said.
     
    “Yeah,” Daphne agreed with a longing sigh.
     
    After a while Daphne said, “Hey, I found some stuff. Some of these look like they happened in the club.”
     
    “Cool, let’s check them out,” Cyn said.
     
    The first one was James asking two large men to leave the building. He was very polite the way he normally was, and he was not hyped up at all. The