Steel 4: Blackthorne MC #4

Title Page

Copyright

Blurb

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Sign up

A Note from Carrie

Carrie's Books

STEEL #4

Carrie Cox

If you would like to be informed when the new Carrie Cox book is released, sign up for the newsletter:

http://carriecoxbooks.com/newsletter.html

Copyright © 2015 Carrie Cox

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author.

STEEL
by Carrie Cox is an addictive new motorcycle club romance novella serial perfect for fans of Fifty Shades of Grey and readers of Nicole Snow.
 

Once you’ve had your first bad boy biker, there’s no going back…

Ella Anderson had no idea what she was getting herself into when she gave into temptation and agreed to a one night stand with hot, tattooed biker, Nick Steel.

Drawn into the Blackthorne Motorcycle Club, Ella finds it hard to work out who she can trust. Is Ella finally going to escape or will her ties to Nick hold her back?

(This romance contains steamy love scenes and lots of twists and turns.)
 

ebook categories
 

—> Romance Anthologies
 

—> Outlaw romance

—> Motorcycle Club romance
 

—> Alpha Male

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

Ella

“Please, Ella, let me in. Talk to me.” Nick’s voice came from outside the bedroom door. It had been two days since Chad and Tom had refused to take me with them to Vegas, following Victor Blackthorne’s orders. I was still furious.

I’d pretty much stayed in my room the whole time apart from mealtimes. As mad as I was, I knew I couldn’t keep on like this, though. I needed to make a plan. I intended to escape on my own.

“Go away, Nick.”

If I had to give him marks for persistence, he’d get ten out of ten. I knew the other members of the crew were teasing him about it. I’d overheard them at dinner last night, but I didn’t care. I’d been taken in for too long by his act. I really thought he wanted to help me. The joke was on me.

I ignored Nick for another ten minutes until he finally fell silent and I heard his footsteps retreating.

I waited for a couple more minutes then opened the bedroom door a crack, peeking out into the dark corridor to make sure he really had gone.
 

It was empty.

There was no lock on the bedroom door so the only thing keeping Nick out was me telling him to go to hell. At least he was respecting my wishes. I suppose that should count for something…
 

I could feel my willpower weakening. No! It didn’t count for anything. I needed to harden my heart to him.

I couldn’t rely on anyone else.

This wasn’t some fairytale, and I wasn’t a Princess waiting to be rescued. I needed to save myself.

I walked down the corridor, carefully keeping an eye out for Nick, but he seemed to have disappeared. I could smell the bacon cooking and made my way to the kitchen. Nancy and Teresa were in there preparing breakfast.
 

Nancy was frying the bacon and had a skillet of eggs next to her. “Morning, Ella.”

“Morning.” I smiled Nancy. “That smells good.”

“Not as good as these are going to smell in a couple of minutes,” Teresa said. “I’m making pancakes. Do you want some?”

I looked at the gloopy batter mixture she was stirring. “Sure, thanks.”

She took a handful of blueberries from a bowl by her side on the stainless steel counter.
 

“Just like my mom used to make,” she said. “Pancakes aren’t the same without blueberries.”

I often wondered about Teresa and the other girls here at the Blackthorn club. It was very isolated so surely they must miss their families.

“Anything I can do?”

Nancy nodded at the cupboard beside the sink. “You could get a few plates out, please.”

I did as Nancy asked as Teresa chattered away about how her mother’s pancakes were the best in the world. Then Teresa turned to me and said, “I’m going into Dorset City later. Do you want to come?”

Nancy dropped a spoon against the skillet with a large clang, making both Teresa and I turn around.

“No!” Nancy said loudly.

When Teresa and I stared at her in shock, she continued, “I mean… that’s not a good idea. Victor wouldn’t like it, Ella.”

When Nancy turned back to the skillet, and turned her attention back to the eggs Teresa looked at me and mouthed, “Damn, girl, what did you do?”

“Absolutely nothing,” I muttered.

Breakfast was an awkward meal. Victor often ate on his own but today he was in the bar with the rest of us. I glared at him angrily. But he didn’t even look at me.
 

I was so tired of this pathetic game. I decided I wasn’t going to play it any more.

I forced myself to eat my pancakes, which were really good, but my appetite was reduced to almost nothing by Victor’s presence.

He chatted away happily as I glared at him from my table across the room.

The bar, like most bars and nightclubs, didn’t look so good during the day. The bright sunlight showed up the dust and scratched wooden panels.

Victor’s face was much the same. The glare of sunlight highlighted his scar and made him look even more evil.

Nancy was sharing his table, and she kept sending me anxious looks. I didn’t have anything against 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 could never be too prepared, and if I had to walk across the desert to escape I would need plenty of water.

I set the bottles of water I was carrying down on the heavy chest and then turned to glare at him. Why did he have to ruin everything?

Nick looked at me. “I’m so sorry, Ella. I really thought that you were leaving. This wasn’t down to me.”

“And why exactly should I trust anything you say?”

Nick sighed and looked down at the water bottles on the floor. “Promise me you’re not planning to do anything stupid.”

I stayed silent. I wasn’t going to promise him anything.

Nick looked particularly good today. The T-shirt he was wearing clung to his upper body in a way that displayed his tight muscles, and his jeans fit snugly around his muscular thighs.
 

I bit my lower lip.
 

Focus
, I told myself sternly. I wasn’t shallow enough to be distracted by the way he looked.

I went and sat beside him on the bed. “I suppose it isn’t your fault,” I said.

He frowned and turned to face me. His soft lips parted as if he was about to speak, but I didn’t give him a chance.

“I thought you were someone I could trust, someone I could rely on. It wasn’t fair of me. You told me from the start that you were no hero. It just took a long time for that to sink in. But I’ve got it now. You don’t need to worry anymore. I don’t see you as a hero.”

Nick winced as if my words hurt him, which was my intention. It should have felt good but instead I felt miserable.

He nodded slowly. “I let you down and I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault you don’t have to apologize.”

From outside, a huge bang suddenly sounded, and I jumped. My heart was pounding as I clutched his arm. The noise had sounded like a weapon discharging.

Nick put his arms around me, comforting me.