Page 54 of Steel's Secret
But I can’t. Not right now. Not with the Club circling. Not with the Syndicate watching. Not with danger hunting in the shadows I can’t see yet.
So, I slide the phone face down on the counter and get dressed. I pick up my cut and put it on. The leather settles across my shoulders like a weight and a reminder.
President first. Man second. Always.
I take a steadying breath. The bathroom door creaks when I open it, and a gust of frigid air hits my damp skin, raising goosebumps along my arms. I step out of my room, and Rock is waiting outside. He eyes my wet hair, the bloodless wash of my knuckles, the exhaustion dragging at my shoulders.
“You good?” he asks.
It’s not concern. It’s an evaluation.
I lie without blinking. “Fine.”
Rock studies me a beat longer. His jaw ticks. “That girl’s pulling you off your axis,” he says quietly.
My jaw clenches hard. “I said I’m fine.”
He doesn’t believe me. He never does. He steps aside, letting me pass.
But before I do, he adds. “You keep lying like that, brother, and something’s gonna break.”
I walk away before he can see how right he is.
The moment I step into the common room, the clubhouse noise hits me again. Chairs scraping, boots thudding, the distant clang of weights hitting metal in the gym.
But none of it lands right. Everything feels off-balance. Too sharp. Too loud.
I’m halfway to my office when my phone buzzes again. I shouldn’t check it. I know that. Eyes are everywhere. Ears are even worse.
But the sound of her name pulls at something raw inside me.
Aria: You left so fast… Are you okay?
I stop dead in the middle of the hallway. Her voice isn’t in the text, but it’s in my head. Soft. Frantic. Trying not to sound scared.
I close my eyes and exhale through my nose. It would be so easy to call her. Just one button. One word. One breath of her on the other end.
But behind me, footsteps echo. Draft and Nova head down the hall, talking low, their eyes sliding my way for half a second longer than normal.
They know I’m hiding something, or someone.
And then, Aria calls. She doesn’t text, but calls.
Her name lights up my whole screen. The buzz vibrates in my palm like a heartbeat.
Likeherheartbeat. I swear my own stops for a second.
I move fast, faster than I should, and duck into my office before anyone sees the panic on my face. I shut the door quietly and lean back against it.
I stare at the screen. Her name pulses. Calling. Calling. Needing.
I swipe the call away. The sound cuts like a knife.
Five seconds later, her voicemail hits. Her voice fills the silence. “I don’t know if you’re okay. Just call me back, please. Just… just let me know you’re safe.”
I close my eyes. Fuck.
Every syllable cracks something open in me. Something I’ve held closed for years. I shouldn’t listen to it again. I do anyway.
