She’s found some of her pieces.

I moved off the chair, slid my arm around her waist and pulled her close, pressing her body to mine. “You want me to keep you updated, I’m gonna need something from you, too,” I growled.

Her breathing picked up and she stared up at me through heated eyes. This was the Harlow I needed – the woman who could go from annoyed, to passionate, to turned on in one conversation. “What?” she demanded.

My eyes searched hers for a moment, appreciating the emotion radiating from them. Savouring everything I saw because it had been too long since I’d had it from her, and hoping like fuck to see it every day from here on out. “I’m gonna need you to keep talking to me about where you’re at.” I held her tight while I waited for her response.

She nodded. “I will.” Her promise fell easily from her lips and all I could do was hope she kept it, because this woman standing in front of me was the woman I’d decided to spend the rest of my life with, and I needed her whole again.

I was done marking time and waiting for her to come back to me.

I was done with a lot of things in my life.

It was time to take command and make shit happen.

The next morning, I sat at the head of the table at Church and surveyed the room. My brothers watched me through eyes that betrayed their true feelings. They knew as well as I did that seven men down meant shit could happen that we might not be able to deal with. The thing about Storm, though, was that we would fight till our dying breath to protect what was ours.

“I’ve called Rogue and Colt home, and we’re patching Gunnar in,” I announced. Rogue and Colt were nomads, and had both assured me last night they’d be here within two days, if not sooner. If we needed him, I’d also call Havoc but I knew King had work for him in Sydney at the moment.

Everyone agreed, and then Griff spoke. “I’ve got Nash and J keeping track of every move Julio makes while I investigate him. I can tell you he’s from Adelaide and has a sister there. Apart from her, I can’t find any other family members. He has a network in South Australia and from what I can work out, he controls the drugs in most of that state.”

“So he’s probably tied up with Bourne,” I mused. The President of the Adelaide Storm chapter. The asshole I’d hoped to avoid as much as possible.

“Fuck,” J muttered, looking as frustrated as I felt. “I’d hoped we were done with that prick.”

I eyed him. “You’ve got two contacts down there, right?”

“Yeah. You want me to find out what they know?”

Nodding, I said, “See what they know and let’s hope like fuck we can get what we need out of them. I want as little to do with Bourne as possible.”

“Will do,” he agreed.

Turning to Wilder, I asked, “Where are we at with Trilogy?” He was recovering from being shot so I was keeping him on light duties at the moment. Managing the reopening of the restaurant fit this bill.

“It’s on track to reopen next week. The staff are pretty much all lined up and ready to go, but we may need to borrow some from the other restaurants until we hire a few more waitresses.” The thing I appreciated about Wilder was how he moved on from shit once it was dealt with. After he’d brought the new information on Julio to the table yesterday and I’d had words with him afterwards, it was done as far as he was concerned. It was the way I preferred to operate as well.

“Good work, brother. I want you to take on the job of overseeing the restaurants and Indigo for now. You good with that?”

He gave me a nod. “Consider it done.” I had no doubt in his ability; he’d proven himself with getting Trilogy up and running again.

I turned my attention back to the table. “We’re done here for today. You’ve all got your jobs and I want to be kept updated with anything you find out, no matter how insignificant you might think it is. Understood?”

They all agreed and left to get started.

Griff held back and when we were alone, he said, “I’m gonna do some digging on Bourne. I don’t think it’s a coincidence Julio and he came up in the same conversation today. Marcus was tight with Bourne and they had plans for Brisbane, so it makes me question whether there’s any connection.”

I rubbed the back of my neck; this had unsettled me, too. “That thought had also crossed my mind.”

“I’ll let you know what I find out.”

He’d walked the few steps to the door when I asked, “You free this weekend? I need some help fixing a fence.”

“Yours?”

“The fence on Michelle’s house.” It was the house next door to mine; the house I owned and rented out to Michelle.

“How’s she going these days? Still clean?”

“As far as I know she is. I haven’t seen any signs to say otherwise and Harlow keeps an eye out, too. Fuck knows, Michelle needs it – she has no family to look out for her, and her friends are mostly junkies that she’s tried to distance herself from. I’ll give her credit – she has made a huge effort to clean herself up.”

“Good to hear. I might not be in town this weekend. I’ll have to let you know on Friday whether I can help.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Where are you going?” Griff didn’t leave town often, if ever.

“Could be heading down to Byron for the weekend.”

I frowned. “When the fuck do you go to Byron?”