Gio (Steel Demons MC #6)

Chapter 31

Harper

“A re you sure you have to go?” It’s a silly question born of nothing but my own fear that I’ll lose Gio forever. “There are a lot of bikers in this MC.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “There are, but that’s exactly why I need to be there. We always have each other’s back. Plus these fuckers have to pay for what they did to you.”

My heart swelled at his words, the possessive nature of his tone. “I know. You’ll be safe?”

He nodded and pressed his forehead against mine, his warm breath fanned over my face. “All I want is to come back to you, Harp.”

“Good because I love you and I just found you, Gio. I’m not ready to lose you yet. Or ever.” My heart pounded as I waited for him to say something. Anything.

He let out a soft laugh. “There’s no fucking way I’m going anywhere, Harp. You, having you here with me is the best fucking thing that’s happened to me and I’m not ready to give it up. Or you.” He kissed me gently, a soft chaste kiss. “I might be a little banged up, babe.” He deepened the kiss and held the back of my head in his firm grasp before his tongue slicked across my lips. His tongue moved seductively, and I moaned into the kiss, following when he pulled back. “But I’ll be back for you Harp. I fucking swear it.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” I whispered and then watched him walk away.

His head was down the way it was when he was deep in thought. Rocky joined him on one side and then Cole, three brothers headed into battle.

Together.

***

The moment I no longer heard the roar of their motorcycles, worry kicked in. Hard. I sat at a table as the background noise of the clubhouse swirled around me. Everyone here was worried about someone specific, or all the men combined. This was their family and here I was sulking like I was the only person with someone at risk.

Still I couldn’t help biting my nails and nibbling my bottom lip as my mind raced with worst case scenarios. Would Viper take it out on Gio that he no longer had his only bargaining chip? Would tonight end up in a bloodbath? Would Gio really come back to me?

“Okay ladies,” Peyton stood up with a wide smile on her face, her red hair in a messy topknot. Even though Ellie had been around the longest and was married to the president, Peyton seemed to be the de facto leader of the old ladies. “We can’t sit around and worry or else the next few hours will be hella hellish, see what I did there?” She laughed. “Shots for everybody who isn’t pregnant, because our kids are either at school or daycare and times like these call for tequila.”

“Make mine a double.” I refused to even pretend that I was okay. “And ice cold.”

“Oh, I like the way you think!” Peyton’s grin widened as she pointed at me and then went around the room, pointing at the other girlfriends and wives. “Come on Harp, give me a hand.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Anything to distract me.

“How are you holding up so far?”

“Terrible,” I admitted. “I’m not used to this, the waiting and the worrying. The fear. How do you do it?”

“Lots of tequila and being together. Usually when something like this goes down, we’re on lockdown here at the clubhouse so we’re all together. The strong ones help the less strong ones, the loud ones keep the quiet ones from getting too lost in their heads.”

“Yeah, okay. That makes sense actually.”

For the next few hours we sat around chatting and drinking, we even managed a few laughs while we waited.

Still, no matter how much we talked and laughed, the minute there was a moment of quiet my mind went back to Gio and Cole. I couldn’t stop the thought that something would go wrong, that one or the both of them would die on the battlefield.

It made me sick to my stomach.