He glared at Dad.  “I’ll say it one last time, I’m not giving in to that scum.  I can’t believe you’re worried about him.  Storm’s positioned well; your club can take him if need be.”

Dad stepped forcefully towards Blade, his heavy boot thudding with the impact.  “What you don’t get, son, is that there are times to invite a war, and times to do every fucking thing you can to avoid it.  We don’t want a war with Black Deeds.  You go ahead with your plan, it’ll be inviting problems between you and me.”

Again, Blade flinched.  Interesting; he hadn’t been expecting that.

“I’d say our meeting is done,” Blade declared, moving to leave.  Tension clung to everything in the room and silence filled the space while we watched him go.

“Fuck!” I muttered, running my fingers through my hair.

“Fuck is about right,” Dad agreed, looking at me.  His face was a picture of stress; the lines of age etched deeply in his skin, and the worry barely hidden.  “We’ll just have to wait and see how Bullet takes this news.”

“You do know where this is headed, don’t you?” I asked him.

“Of course, I fucking do.  Any fool can see that,” he snapped.

“Good, because we’re going to have to be ready to strike Blade’s crew when the time comes.”

He scowled at me.  “Hold on one second.  Who said that would be the plan?”

“Well, I’m not fucking taking on Black Deeds.  You said it, now’s not the time to go to war with them.  And certainly not over this for fucks sake.”

“Scott’s right,” Griff interjected.

Dad was quiet for a moment, assessing what had been said.  “Well, nothing’s settled now and if it comes to it, we’ll take a meeting.”

I nodded.  “Agreed.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dad said, and then left Griff and I alone.

“This isn’t going to end well,” Griff murmured as he watched Dad go.

“I hear you, brother.  I fucking hear you.”

Chapter 16

Harlow

Looking around the room, I tried to get my bearings.  I wasn’t in my bed but I hadn’t woken up enough to instantly remember where I was.  Mornings weren’t my best time; I needed coffee to function properly before nine o’clock.  I took in the grey feature wall to my left, the black and grey colour scheme, and the Harley Davidson print on the wall, and realised I was in Scott’s bedroom.  It came back to me; after Lisa had gone to sleep in Scott’s spare room, I’d decided to lie down until he got home.  He must have come home late because I’d fallen asleep, and now it was morning.  The early morning light was filtering through his grey curtains; my watch said six thirty.

The bathroom called so I dragged myself out of bed and went in search of it.  Scott’s home had surprised me.  I’d expected messy and undecorated.  In reality, it was clean, homely and had some decoration in the form of bike prints, rugs on the wood floor, and I’d even noticed a plant in the kitchen.  His house was a Queenslander; I loved the wood and the wrap around verandahs.  He’d obviously spent time and money looking after it too because it was in immaculate condition inside and out.

As I walked down the hallway, I glanced at the photos he’d hung on the wall.  There was one of an older couple that I suspected could be his parents; looked like his dad was a biker too.  The woman in the photo looked like the kind of woman you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of; tough, and the way she was holding the man was very territorial and protective.  In the next photo, I recognised Nash and J.  There were some other men in this photo that I didn’t know.  I really liked this photo, Scott looked happy in it and I bet if I could zoom in on it, I’d see his crinkled eyes.  Moving my gaze along the wall, I came to a photo of a gorgeous, blonde standing next to Scott who had his arm around her.  And this photo had been taken close so I could definitely make out crinkled eyes.

I lingered over that photo.  She was beautiful, and they looked so happy and carefree together.  I was overcome with a strong desire to know who she was and what she meant to Scott.

“That’s Summer; my cousin,” a soft voice breathed into my ear.

I was startled and jumped a little.  Scott had come up behind me without me even realising.  His body was pressed against my back and his breath tickled my ear and neck when he spoke.  My skin tingled and butterflies took over my stomach.

I turned and sucked in my breath at the sight of his naked chest that glistened with drops of water.  His hair was also wet.  I desperately wanted to trail my eyes down his body to see the rest of him but I maintained eye contact instead.  And oh, holy mother of God, his eyes were crinkled as he watched me.  The butterflies whooshed out of me and desire took hold.

“She’s beautiful,” I finally managed to get out; his closeness was affecting my ability to think straight.

He took a step back and I caught a glimpse of the towel he was wearing.  Pointing at the photos he said, “That’s my parents and those are the boys from my club.”

“I guessed that was your parents.  They look like they’re still happy together.”  Although Madison had told their story, the photo told a different story and I wanted to hear what Scott had to say about it.