Page 34 of Iron Heart

“Um…” I stammer. “He’s just here to rewire the first floor of the house.”

“Girl! This whole setup is like a porno, but a good one! The hot electrician, here to‘turn you on’?” Savannah starts to cackle, clapping her hands. “I mean, come on! This shit writes itself!”

“Sshhhh!!!” I hiss, finger to my lips. “Vannah, can we please not talk about this right now? He could hear us! Besides, I have to get to work.”

“Okay,” she smirks. “But wearegoing to talk about it later. This is fate, girl. That man is here for a reason. I can tell you’repower-less against him!”

I grab Savannah by the shoulders and hustle her out my front door before she can make any more sexy electrician jokes. As I turn to pull the door shut behind me, I glance back toward the kitchen in time to see Dante standing in the threshold, one hand on his toolbelt. His eyes lock on mine.

And the smolder in those dark orbs tells me he just heard every word Savannah said.

14

Dante

“Bama still got his panties in a wad that the club’s not goin’ with Davakis?” I ask Ranger over burgers at Della’s.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be pissed about that for a while. Bama’s not your biggest fan to begin with.” Ranger chuckles. “My guess is he had a deal with Davakis that he’d take a cut for himself if the Lords gave him the job.”

“You might be right about that.” Sounds about like Bama. He’s a greedy bastard, for sure. Got the glint of green in his eyes. And even though I voted yes when the club was deciding whether to patch him in, I’ve had my reservations about that fucker more than once since then.

“You bringin’ your brother around to the clubhouse soon?” Ranger asks.

“Yeah.” I swallow the last of my burger. “He’s meetin’ me here in a little bit. I guess he’s just taken possession of his first transport truck. He’s drivin’ it over to show me. Then he’s gonna follow me over to the clubhouse so Axel and Rourke can take a look.”

We’re just finishing up our food when the bell on the front door rings. Dom swaggers in and comes over to the table, jingling a key ring in his hand.

“Proud owner of the first vehicle in the Iron City Refrigerated Transport fleet,” he grins, sliding into the booth beside me. He looks across the table and sticks out his hand. “Howdy. I’m Dom, Dante’s much better-looking younger brother.”

Ranger snorts and pauses for a second, then puts out his hand for a shake. “Well, that ain’t too hard. Ranger.”

“You assholes gonna stop takin’ up space I need for payin’ customers, or is this one gonna order something?” A booming alto voice calls from across the diner. We turn to see Della herself approaching, a steaming pot of coffee in her right hand.

Della’s the closest thing our club has to a matriarch. She used to be Bear’s old lady, back in the day — before he cheated on her one time too many and she kicked his ass to the curb. She opened up this diner not too long after they split up. And even though she ain’t with Bear anymore, it’s kind of become the club’s place to go for good, cheap-ass food. She’s good to the Lords, and in exchange for that, we keep the peace and watch over her place.

Dom hasn’t been here before, so he hasn’t met Della. But he instantly turns on the charm. “Well, hello there, beautiful,” he croons. “Could I get a cup of coffee and a slice of your best homemade pie?”

Della scoffs. “First off, I ain’t beautiful. Second off, if you think you’re gonna get some sort of friends and family discount for shovin’ your nose up my ass, you got another thing comin’.”

Across the booth, Ranger practically chokes on a fry, laughing.

“Del, this is my brother, Dom.” I manage not to roll my eyes.

“That right? Huh. Yeah, I guess I can see the family resemblance.” She lifts her chin at my brother. “You tell this one that Della’s is a no bullshit zone.” She reaches over to a shelf behind our booth, grabs a clean coffee mug, and slams it down on the table, then fills it with coffee, not bothering to ask him if he wants room for cream. “We got coconut or apple.”

“Apple,” Dom repeats, subdued.

Della turns and storms away.

“Sheezus, what crawled up her ass?” Dom exhales, raising a brow.

“Like the saying goes, she don’t suffer fools gladly,” I reply. “She’s got a bullshit detector like a fuckin’ Geiger counter.”

“You sayin’ I’m a bullshitter, or a fool?” Dom retorts.

I just smile.

“So, Dom. Dante says you’re on the way to the clubhouse after this.” Ranger glances out the window, where Dom’s truck is visible in the parking lot across the street.