Slow Burns (Blacksteel Bandits Motorcycle Club Book 1) Read Free Page A

boots. She maneuvered awkwardly through the crowd, as Naomi languidly traversed the throng. The blonde smiled and gracefully stepped around the drunken masses. Miranda felt like a bull in a china shop as she stumbled through the bodies, trying to keep an eye on Naomi.
     
    Just as she thought she lost sight of the blonde, the crowd opened up for her like Noah and the Red Sea. Her gaze fell on Naomi, hanging all over her date. Miranda paused, eyeballing the two men. Naomi's date stood tall and broad, with a farmer's tan and long black hair. Handsome, in a rough sort of way. His friend wasn't much different. Tall, rippling muscles, a cocked smirk, but with shorter hair than Naomi's date.
     
    Miranda swallowed her disappointment. She had thought, for a split second, it could be Tyler and his friend. Mentally, she shook the thought out of her head. It was ridiculous to even hold that hope. Plastering on a smile, she trudged through the bar.
     
    “Miranda, this is–”
     
    A flimsy table tumbled near the pool table. A hulking behemoth, with a beer gut to match, flung the matching chair as he snarled, “You're a damn cheat!”
     
    “Hey, don't be a sore loser.” From the throngs surrounding the pool table, a voice laughed. Something in the tone, or, perhaps, a lilt in the voice, caught Miranda's attention. Her gaze snapped to the corner and heat clawed up her neck. “Ladies like me, including Lady Luck.”
     
    The behemoth bristled, “Fuck you, smartass!”
     
    The snap of wood – a broken pool cue - echoed through the air, followed by a ripple of gasps through the crowd. Someone grunted. People dove out of the way and more people started to trade obscenities. The sound of fist impacting on flesh muted the lively air of the bar. Someone skidded across a table close to Miranda. She yelped and stumbled out of the way.
     
    Tyler groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, his sunglasses askew atop his head. As he sat up, his back groaned in protest. He caught sight of Miranda wide, green eyes. She was suddenly breathless next to him, without the counter between them. Shock and delight slammed through him. Tyler covered his surprise, and his pain, with a cheeky grin. “Oh, hey, Mir. What's up?”
     
    Before she could answer, another man picked up yet another chair. He swung it at Tyler just as the redhead slid off the table. Miranda screamed, her heart thrumming, as the chair burst into pieces. Using his weight, Tyler managed to tip the lightweight table up and over his head against his attacker. As his opponent struggled against the stick of furniture, Tyler swept out his feet. The man gave out a yelp and dropped to the boards, the table landed atop his torso.
     
    It seemed Behemoth didn't have too many friends, though. Within the next second, the subtle click-clack of a shotgun being cocked cut through the air. The bar's owner didn't even need to say a word. Behemoth and the man who attacked Tyler were promptly escorted – or, more appropriately, heaved – from the bar.
     
    Tyler couldn't help the smirk that curled at his lips. He turned to Miranda, his slightly buzzed hazed painting a darker flush and bedroom eyes on her face. Adrenaline coursed through her head, freezing her thoughts in place as she tried to make sense of the destruction. Their gazes locked and she steeled herself for his smart-alack comment.
     
    At the same time, she fought against her fluttering heart. Tyler didn't get the chance to say a word, though. Within seconds, bar floozies swarmed him, swinging their arms around him and making husky comments in his ear. They leaned their fleshy, soft bodies against him, as if mere proximity meant a better chance.
     
    “Oh, my God ,” squealed Naomi as she sidled up next to Miranda. Her arms looped through her friend's elbow and she leaned close. “You know that psycho?”
     
    Miranda's tongue fumbled around the words. Thousands of answered swarmed her head from an affirmative, to a negative, to