Gio (Steel Demons MC #6)

Chapter 5

Harper

L ife had a twisted sense of humor, that was the only explanation for why I was alone with Gio Lombardi, the objection of all my teenage fantasies. The universe must’ve gotten a good laugh, sending him to save me in nothing but a towel. Being around him made me feel like the scrappy little girl who followed him and Cole everywhere they went until they got too big for me to keep up.

But Gio was here now, and he was bigger and hotter. His thick black hair was shorter now and I kind of missed those thick black waves but the close cropped looked was sexier, dammit. His arms were covered in tattoos, some colorful and some black and white, all of them were gorgeous works of art. The one thing that hadn’t changed? Those golden hazel eyes were still so expressive, making most of his thoughts easy to decipher.

Why, oh why did he have to be the one to come to my rescue? And why in the hell was he so fucking hot?

“Thanks for coming, Gio.” Even if I was embarrassed and even if I might still have a tiny niggle of a crush on him, I was grateful.

His lips curled to a one-sided smile. “You already said that, Harp.” His gaze took a long, slow journey of my body, heating up every spot along the way.

I turned away and finished packing my bags.

“You can leave those here. Take just one that you need the most.”

“What?” I stood up straight and turned back to the annoying handsome man who’d swooped in to save me. “I’m not leaving my bags here.”

“Yeah,” he sighed and got in my face. “You are.”

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m not leaving my luggage. It goes where I go.”

“Agreed.” He grinned as if he’d just won something. “It’s coming with you but just a little later. You’re coming with me, right now.”

If I was younger and stupider I might have gotten lost in the colorful swirl of his smiling eyes, but I wasn’t. Not totally, anyway. “I’m not leaving my bags or my car, Gio.”

“Sure you are. I’ll have one of the prospects pick up your bags and your car and bring it to the clubhouse. Where you’ll be.” His gaze darkened and his smile faded, giving me my first glimpse of grown-up, badass biker Gio.

His words finally clicked. “What? I’m not getting on that deathtrap with you.”

His lips curled into another smile, sexier and darker. His eyes sparkled with a challenge. “Wanna bet?”

“What are you going to do, Gio?”

He licked his lips and Lord help me, but my gaze tracked that pink tip, and my breath hitched. “I’m bigger now. Stronger too. I can toss you over my shoulder and put you on the back of my bike, no problem.”

My pulse quickened at the idea of Gio putting his hands on me and carrying me anywhere, so much that I hadn’t come up with a response. Yet. I would, I just needed time.

“Look Harper, I know this isn’t ideal. I know you’d rather be anywhere than near me, but I’m here to keep you safe and to do that you can’t stay here.”

“You’re overreacting because of Cole.”

“No,” he barked loudly. “This has fuck all to do with Cole. Come on,” he grabbed my hand forcefully and tugged me out of my room and down the stairs. He was annoyed or angry, but he was careful until we got to the bottom of the stairs. “They will come back, Harper.” His big hands gripped my shoulders as they turned me in a circle to make sure I took in the wreckage.

I sucked in a breath and took it all in, the broken furniture and art, the hanging door and worst of all, the graffiti. ‘Keep your mouth shut, bitch. Or else’. My heart pounded at the clear but unspoken warning and the effort they put in just to threaten me.

Gio sighed and his grip softened along with his voice. “They will come back, Harper. You can’t stay here. Whatever it is that you saw or heard, they can’t risk you telling anyone.”

“Who would I tell?”

“Me? Cole?” He shrugged. “They don’t even know your connection to the Steel Demons yet and they’re this worried.” He shook his head and rubbed his palm over his cropped hair. “So what’s this all about?”

I shook my head and closed my eyes. “It was at the hotel, I’d gotten lost and was trying to get back out and I overheard a conversation between Carl, who oversees events at the hotel, and some guy. They were talking about a delivery of guns. I made a ton of noise so they would think I’d just walked into the corridor, but the person talking to Carl didn’t seem to buy it.”

Gio’s eyes narrowed, “Do you remember anything about the other man?”

“His name was Viper, and his vest said something Reapers.”

“Shit,” he growled, and his grip subtly tightened. “Blood Reapers.” He spat the word out like it was acid. “They don’t fuck around, Harper.”

I snorted. “I kind of figured.”

Gio’s gaze never left my face, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Look, I’m not going to tell anyone, I only heard a snippet of a conversation. Who the fuck would I tell and about what?”

Gio let out a harsh breath, and his gaze hardened and turned serious. “This must be something big. You’re not safe here Harper. I want you to come with me because you know it’s right but I’m happy to do things the hard way.”

Shit. Fuck. Reasonable Gio was even hotter than cocky Gio. “Fine, I’ll go with you.”

To his credit, Gio didn’t gloat or even smile, he just nodded with a stern expression on his face. “Okay. Let’s go.”

***

Minutes later I was on the back of his motorcycle with my arms wrapped around his waist and a helmet protecting my head. For the first minute or two, or maybe it was only a few seconds, I kept my eyes clamped shut. But the breeze felt nice, cool but not chilly. Comforting. Relaxing. And then one by one my eyelids cracked open, and I watched as the world whizzed by. It was magnificent. It was beautiful.

I was intoxicated by the ride that was—unfortunately—over too damn soon. “That was nicer than I thought it would be.”

Gio flashed a smile as he dismounted the motorcycle, drawing my attention to his long, thickly muscled legs. “Wait ‘til I take you on a longer ride, you’ll be cruising down California highways on two wheels.” He took my helmet and set it on the seat. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

I paused. “That’s not necessary.”

“It is. You’ll be staying here for a while, and they need to know. We don’t keep secrets here.”

I nodded and let Gio lead me inside the clubhouse. My first impression was that it was like a sports bar, but a bit rough around the edges. There were worn leather couches, a dart board in the corner and a couple of pool tables. The bar area was filled with numerous men all in varying states of drunkenness and a haze of smoke hung in the air. I did spot a few women, mostly scantily dressed, and out the corner of my eye I could see one woman on her knees in front of a man. Her back blocked the view, but from the expression on his face it was clear what was going on. I quickly looked away.

Gio introduced me to dozens of people and I must have said, “It’s nice to meet you,” a thousand times. I knew I wouldn’t remember half the faces tomorrow because I was too focused on the threat.

Finally, I saw a familiar face, Rocky, Gio’s older brother, and he wrapped me in a big bear hug that lifted me off the ground, “Thank you all for letting me stay,” I said.

“You’re family, Harp. No thanks necessary.”

I hugged him back. “It’s good to see you, Rocky. You look happy.”

“I am,” he replied with a big ass smile. “You’ll meet the reasons why soon enough.”

I wanted to ask about Nolan, but Gio but a hand on my back and guided me away. “Let me show you where we’ll be staying.” My feet stuttered but he gave me a gentle push forward.

“What about Cole?”

He shrugged. “He’ll be gone for a week, possibly more depending on how things shape up, so you’re stuck with me.”

Lucky me.

The room where I would be staying was bigger than I expected, fitted with a bed, a sofa, a desk, and there was another door that led to a private bathroom. “Are you sure this is necessary?”

“Positive.” He nodded, again there was no playfulness or teasing in his tone, which scared me more.

And turned me on. “And what the hell am I supposed to do here, Gio? I have a gala to finish planning. And attend to make sure it goes off without any problems.”

His dark brows shot up. “Staying alive would be a good start.” He muttered the words unhappily as if they were like glass in his mouth.

“I have to work tomorrow. It’s important.”

“So is your life.”

There was no reason those words gave my heart a little flutter, but they did. “I have to do last minute setup and check in with all the vendors tomorrow so you can either go with me or stay the hell out of my way. Understood?” My chest heaved and I readied my next argument.

Gio stared at me intently for a long damn time, his chest also heaved to the point his eyes darkened to a rich, molten chocolate color. “Don’t leave the clubhouse,” he growled, turned away and slammed the door behind him.

My response was nothing more than a smile.