I exploded.  “Yeah, he fucking did.  This shit between you and Blade had nothing to do with us but you’ve changed that.  And there’s a world of fucking hurt that comes with that.  You want to fuck with my family and with my boys, well have at it, motherfucker, because it’ll be the last time you ever try.”

“Heard you got a nice piece on the side there,” Bullet sneered.

Blood roared to my head and my muscles flexed, ready to lash out.  “Like I told Spider, you fucking touch her, I’ll kill you.”

Bullet stepped into my space, his nostrils flaring and his eyes blazing.  “Careful what you threaten there, Scott.  Empty threats still get the same response from me as real ones.”

“That wasn’t an empty threat, Bullet.  You should know by now that I don’t fuck around.”

A moment passed as we glared at each other.  The room was silent; waiting.  With one last search of my face, Bullet responded, “I’ll give you forty eight hours to get Blade to see some sense but after that, all bets are off.”  He moved back, away from me.

“The way I’m feeling it, you’ve signaled that all bets are already off.”

Dad agreed with me, “I’d agree with Scott.  I think you’ve made yourself perfectly fucking clear, Bullet.”  The anger was rolling off him too.  Bullet was fucked now; he just didn’t know it.

Bullet signaled to his men to leave.  “I’ll be in touch,” he rumbled, and then they were gone.

Fucking hell,” Griff muttered.  He was pacing the room now; his standard response when shit went down.

“They’re watching Harlow’s café now,” I said to Griff.

“Who the fuck is Harlow?” Dad demanded to know.

“She’s a fucking innocent bystander in all of this.  And she’s a good person who doesn’t deserve to be dragged into it.”

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.”