Griff cut in. “Scott, you need to lock her down. Bullet will come after her now.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You’ve got Stoney watching her at the moment?”
I nodded. “I’ll head over there now and take her to the clubhouse.”
“We’ll meet this afternoon and start working on a plan to take Bullet down,” Dad said.
We wrapped things up and then I drove over to the café. This was going to be tricky. Harlow had no clue as to the shit I dealt with; getting her to realise the severity of this situation was going to take some work.
Spider was still outside the café but I ignored him. There were no customers inside and Harlow and Cheryl were nowhere in sight. I rang the bell on the front counter and waited. When Harlow appeared, I muttered, “You really need to put a bell on the door. Anyone could have robbed you by now.”
“Well hello to you too,” she came back with. “Why’d you put your cranky pants on?”
She had a way of slowing me down when I was angry. I knew I had a bad temper and most of the time I couldn’t control it, but with Harlow it was different. She’d say something like she just did, and it would surprise the shit out of me and make me stop and think.
“There’s some shit going on that I need to talk to you about. You able to leave now?”
“It’s only ten o’clock, Scott. I’m supposed to be here to help Mum for another hour.”
“Yeah, I know, babe. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important.”
She thought about it for a moment and then said, “Okay, let me go and see if she’ll be alright without me.”
She went out the back and I waited patiently until she returned with her bag. “Mum’s okay on her own so let’s go.”
Thank Christ for that.
Chapter 22
Harlow
I put my bag down on the kitchen table and then began opening windows to let some fresh air in the house. It was a warm September day and the house was stuffy. I was a little nervous about what Scott wanted to talk to me about. After last night, I didn’t know where we stood. He’d made it clear that he wasn’t looking for anything other than one night and from everything that Madison had told me about him, I’d believed that it would only ever be one night. But he’d surprised me this morning, especially when he’d promised me a ride on his bike. And I’d understood his meaning perfectly when he said I could have any kind of ride I wanted. So to say that I was a little confused by it all was an understatement.
I finished opening windows and came back into the kitchen were Scott was leaning against the kitchen bench, arms and legs crossed, a determined look on his face.
“What were you thinking last night when Nash and I cleaned up those three guys at the club?”
Okaay, didn’t see that question coming.
“That I’d hate to really piss you off.”
He chuckled and it was good to see the serious look disappear for a moment. I liked it better when he let his guard down. I wanted those crinkled eyes again. They didn’t make an appearance often enough as far as I was concerned.
“So it didn’t turn you off me?”
“Where is this coming from Scott? No, it didn’t turn me off you. I think that the fact I spent the night with you proves that.”
The serious look was back on his face and his eyes bore into mine. “I want you. I want you in my bed, on the back of my bike and in my life. But my life is a hard one and completely different to anything you’ve ever known. What you saw last night is just the tip of the iceberg and I need to know that you can handle that shit.”
The mood in the room burned with an intensity that I was fast associating with Scott. His words stunned me and I was speechless for a moment. My brain raced to process what he’d said because it was not even in the ballpark of what I’d ever expected to hear from him. If you’d told me that Scott would tell me he wanted me in his life, I would have laughed at you.
Everything I knew about Scott jostled for attention; his temper, his honesty; his compassion, his loyalty to those he loved, his fierceness, his bossiness, his protective streak, and I knew without hesitation that I wanted him too. He wasn’t perfect, and I had no idea where we’d end up but I wanted to take a chance on something that could be beautiful.
I walked over to where he was and took his face in my hands. “I can handle that shit.”
He groaned and his mouth smashed down onto mine in a rough, passionate kiss. His hands pulled my hips into his and I felt his erection. I ran my hands through his hair and inched my body as close to his as I could get. Being with Scott was thrilling and I knew that I could handle any of his shit so long as I had him in my life.
I could have stayed like that forever but Scott broke the kiss and pulled away from me. “I’m counting on it, babe, because we’re about to hit a shit storm.”
“Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”
He blew out a breath before continuing. “My club has some enemies and one of them saw me with you the other day and then again this morning. They haven’t come out and made threats against you but I take their actions alone as a threat. I can keep you safe while we deal with this but I can only do that if you drop out of sight for awhile.”
“What does all of that really mean?” Drop out of sight for a while? I wasn’t sure where he was heading with this.
“Babe, it means exactly what you think it means. The guy that’s made this threat is a nasty motherfucker and I take everything he says and does seriously. Deadly fucking seriously. What I want you to do is stay at the clubhouse until this is dealt with. You good with that?”
“How long do you think I’d be staying at the clubhouse? Because I can’t leave my mum to deal with the café by herself.”
“I don’t know how long this will take. Could be a couple of days or more.”
“Then I’m not okay with staying there. I can’t just put my life on hold like that.”
“I’m not asking you to put your life on hold; just to drop out of sight for a little while so we can keep you safe. I can organise help for your mum at the café.”
“No, Scott, she needs someone who knows the café.”
He was getting agitated. I could tell by the vein popping in his neck and the way he was rubbing the back of his neck. It was too bad though; I wasn’t bailing on my mum when she needed me.
“I know I said I wanted you, and I fuckin’ do, but Christ, you’ll be the fuckin’ death of me, woman.”
I stood my ground. “I’ve laid down and let too many men walk all over me in the past, Scott. I won’t do it again. Maybe you need to be the one to decide whether you can handle that shit.”
He didn’t even think about it; he just growled, “Babe, I can handle that shit and more.”
Butterflies took over my stomach and his growly voice set my nerves alight with excitement. I smiled at him. “Good, because there’s a lot of baggage for you to sort through.”
As we stood watching each other, we were interrupted by a knock at my front door. I moved to go and answer it but Scott put his hand on my arm and shook his head. “Wait here, I’ll get it.”
I didn’t say anything but on the inside I was rolling my eyes. Seriously, if someone was coming to get me, why would they knock on the door? I moved out of the way and let him go and be my caveman. A moment later I heard Cassie’s voice and laughed out loud. “Thanks for saving my ass, Scott. You’ve got to watch out for Cassie cause you never know when she’s going to pull her ninja moves out and try and hurt you,” I yelled out.