His Young Queen: (Steel Jackals MC #1) Read Free

half block and rudely pushed through the group of onlookers watching a police officer walk someone to one of the patrol cars. Please not Josh or Uncle Nick, please not Josh or Uncle Nick—
    Her legs nearly gave out when she saw who it was.
    Josh. Handcuffed.
    “No!” she gasped, her blood turning to ice. “Josh!” She dropped her backpack, purse, and the sealed envelope containing her marks on the driveway and ran to him on legs she could no longer feel. “No! What are you doing?” She grabbed the cop’s arm and jerked. “You can’t take him! He’s mine!”
    “Aw, fuck.” Josh’s whisper was tight with regret, and she saw more of the same when he turned. His forehead had a deep crease, and his jaw was ticking. “Gimme a second,” he said to the cop, who had to have seen she was having trouble catching her breath through the horror pouring through her. He and Josh exchanged a look. They obviously knew each other.
    “Take these off of him,” she wheezed, trying to get some oxygen into her lungs as she swiped at the tears blurring her vision. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “Tish—”
    “You didn’t, though,” she insisted, even though she had no clue what this was about. She just knew they couldn’t take her happiness away from her. “Please take these off,” she begged the cop as she tried to stop the metal of the cuffs from digging into Josh’s thick wrists. “ Please! They’re hurting him!”
    “Don’t be long, man,” the officer muttered with a sympathetic look before walking over to stand a few feet away.
    “No! Two min— No! I can’t— What? Josh!”
    “Hey. Hey! Look at me. Right here.” He bobbed his head to get in her line of vision. Feeling a panic unlike anything she’d ever felt, she looked up into those golden eyes she so loved. “This is happening,” he said calmly. “You need to take a breath and relax before this goes from bad to worse. If one of these cops thinks to pull you away from me, shit’s gonna get critical real fast. Got it?”
    She shook her head and looked around for someone she could talk to. Someone who would listen to her, help her.
    “Tish-Tosh.”
    His nickname for her—one he thought she hated, but really, secretly loved—had her focus coming right back to him.
    “You’re gonna be okay, honey. I won’t be in long. Nick will take—”
    “ No! You’re not going anywhere!” she wailed. “You can’t! You’re mine, and I need you here!”
    “Jesus Christ,” he whispered, looking pained. He tipped his head back and glared up at the sky. “Two fuckin’ minutes? You couldn’t have given me two fuckin’ minutes to save her from this?” When he brought his head to rights, he looked into her eyes, and then his expression closed up in that way she hated. “Get her out of here. This isn’t good for her.”
    “What?” Her head whipped around, and she saw her Uncle Nick and the club’s VP right behind her. A large group of the others, all wearing their cuts, weren’t far behind. Silent support. Always. “No! I’m not going anywhere! You have to do something, Uncle Nick,” she implored as she clamped her arms around Josh’s waist and held on for her life. “This can’t be happening. Please tell me this isn’t happening,” she whispered fiercely.
    The next few minutes were a blur of pain and misery that Tish still wasn’t sure how she survived. It took both Nick and Chase to peel her off Josh, and once they were separated the cop rushed to open the back door to the squad car. He put his hand on Josh’s head and tucked that huge body into the backseat. When he shut the door, Tish went wild and started screaming.
    Only, in reality, she had stilled, and not a sound was coming from her. The screams were deafening, but they were buried deep in her head. In her heart. Tearing apart her soul.
    “He’ll be out before you know it, Tish,” Nick whispered, his voice rough with something that sounded like guilt.
    She shook her head and