Free Steel 4: Blackthorne MC #4 by Carrie Cox Page A

her. Nancy had always been kind to me. But I really didn’t understand how she could live with someone like Victor and his brother, Damien.  
    Damien was sitting on his brother’s right hand side as he’d taken advantage of Jackson’s absence.  
    Both Jackson and Nick were missing this morning. I had no idea where they were. There tended to be two sittings for breakfast every day. A late sitting, like this one, and another earlier one around eight AM.  
    It was a hell of a long day for Nancy. She had to work in the bar in the evenings, and then be up bright and early to prepare everyone’s breakfast.
    She stood up and looked exhausted as she reached for the empty plates. I collected my own, surprised that I had actually polished off the pancakes, despite my apparent lack of appetite.  
    There was no one else at my table, so I carried my plate through to the kitchen.
    When I got to the kitchen, Nancy was holding one hand to her head and was gripping the counter with her other hand. She looked pale and her face was pinched and tense.
    I dumped my plate on the counter with a clatter and rushed to her side.
    “What’s wrong? Do you want me to get someone?”
    Nancy smiled weakly. “No, I’m okay. Just a little tired. Do you think you could do me a favor and collect the plates and load the dishwasher for me today?”
    I nodded and watched concerned as Nancy shakily left the kitchen. I decided I would check up on her as soon as I’d finished clearing up after breakfast.
    I went back into the main bar. Victor was still sitting at the table.  
    Damn, that meant I would have to collect his plate as well.
    I would have asked one of the girls to help me, but they all seemed to have disappeared already. I started collecting plates slowly from other tables, biding my time and hoping that Victor would be gone by the time I got round to his table.
    No such luck. I’d cleared down the tables, wiped them and loaded the dishwasher in the kitchen. The only thing left to do was Victor’s table.
    There was nothing else for it. I would have to go and collect the plates with him still sitting there.
    Why was I scared of him? He wasn’t even looking at me.
    I walked up slowly behind the table, wishing I was invisible.
    I stacked the plates as I went, but when I reached for Victor’s plate, he grabbed my arm suddenly.
    I glared down at his thick fingers encircling my wrist. I wouldn’t give him the courtesy of looking at his face.
    “Please, let go of my arm.” My voice was cold.
    Victor didn’t let go immediately. I could sense his eyes burning into me, he was either trying to read me or trying to intimidate me, but I wasn’t getting sucked into his mind games.
    I had already tried to play along with his rules, and it hadn’t worked. He wouldn’t fool me again.  
    Finally, he let go of my arm, and I carried on stacking the plates before taking them out to the kitchen with my cheeks burning.
    As soon as I got out of there, I planned to go straight to the police. I would make sure Victor Blackthorne realized he wasn’t the untouchable man he thought he was.
    I kept busy in the kitchen until everyone had left the bar area, and then I helped myself to two extra water bottles. No one would notice. Everyone drank a lot of water here because it was so hot.
    I left the kitchen with its stainless steel surfaces gleaming and headed to find Nancy.  
    When I got to her room, I saw Teresa was sitting beside Nancy’s bed. Nancy was sleeping soundly.  
    “How is she?” I asked.
    “I think she’s going to be okay,” Teresa said. “It looks as if she’s managed to pick up some kind of bug. She’s gonna try and sleep it off.”
    I nodded, smiled at Teresa and closed the door behind me before heading back to my room.
    I opened the door to the bedroom, stepped inside and then froze.  
    Nick was there, sitting on the bed.
    In front of him, he’d lined up the six bottles of water I’d stockpiled under the bed.  
    I figured I