I smiled up at her. “I’ll try not to,” I promised, my glance shifting to catch Kick leaning against the door, arms folded over his chest and a contemplative look on his face. We held each other’s gazes for a moment and then I gave mine back to Julie.

“Good,” she said.

“The police said there were a few witnesses to the accident but none of them can remember the number plates of the car who caused it. One witness even said the car didn’t have any. I don’t think they’re confident they can solve this,” Mum told me, seemingly upset with this information.

“Well, I guess whoever it was will get theirs in the end; karma and all,” I said, keen to change the topic of conversation. “Have either of you heard from Dad lately?” I hadn’t heard from him or seen him since the day he told me he didn’t want Kick in my life.

Mum smiled, and that stunned me. She and Dad hadn’t been close since he left after she cheated on him. “He and I have been in contact after he called and asked me to lunch the other week. Evie, he told me what you and Kick did for him and how awful he was to you about Kick. He regrets it, and he also regrets not following up on the counselling.”

I wanted to believe everything she had said but after years of being let down by him, I struggled to buy it. “And?” I asked, my voice hard and guarding. I had to guard my heart from more disappointment.

Julie stepped in. “He’s doing good with the counsellor . . . I’ve seen him a few times, and I’m proud of what he’s doing.”

My eyes widened.

Shit, if Julie was impressed, it meant Dad really was making progress.

“Okay, good,” I said softly.

Mum looked hopeful as she asked the next question. “He wants to see you. Would you be up for that? He’s worried about you.”

Kick pushed off from the door he was leaning against and came towards me, concern etched on his face. “Is that a good idea?” he asked me.

I loved his concern, but I thought it might actually be good to see Dad. “It’s alright, Kick, I want to see him. Maybe this will be the fresh start we all need.”

As the afternoon progressed and we all loosened up with one another, I thought back to that conversation and hoped it really would be a fresh start for all of us.

An opportunity to put the pain of the last eighteen years behind us once and for all.

Chapter Twenty

Kick

A few days later, King called Church. He’d put it off, giving me time to be with Evie, but he was right – we needed to take stock of where the club was at. I left Evie with her Mum and headed into the clubhouse.

Hyde greeted me with a slap on the back. “How’s everything going, man?” he asked, his beef with me completely gone. Jekyll and Hyde.

“All good, but not holding out hope that Gambarro was bluffing the other night,” I expressed my concern that Gambarro had indeed made plans for his crew to avenge his death if it ever were to happen.

His face darkened. “Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past the motherfucker to have organised something.”

We took our seats around the table and King began. “Has anyone heard anything from the Gambarro camp?” he asked, looking around the table. The resounding ‘no’ gave me only a tiny sliver of hope, and it appeared King thought the same way I did. “Well, keep your ears to ground and let me know the minute you hear something. We need to be prepared for this.”

Everyone agreed to that, and then I raised my concern from the other night. “Gambarro said he’d only sent one message to us – the car accident. But my girlfriend’s house was broken into the other night and trashed. Nothing was stolen. Now call me a paranoid bastard, but this feels odd. Have any of you had shit happen recently?”

I looked around the table and from the expressions on everyone’s faces, I knew deep in my gut something was definitely odd with this. Nitro was the first to speak. “My sister’s place was ransacked three nights ago.”

Devil’s vein in his neck twitched as he said, “Fuck, my brother was broken into a couple of nights ago.”

Hyde was murderous. “Fuck!” he roared, standing. He looked like he was about to explode from his anger. “My sister owns a convenience store and it was held up two nights ago.” His gaze zeroed in on King. “This is Silver Hell, isn’t it? Those motherfuckers!”

If I thought Hyde was murderous, King was positively insane. He slammed his fist down on the table and looked around the table. “Those motherfucking cunts!” Giving his attention to Devil, he said, “I want you to look into this, you and Kick, and report back ASAP, yeah?”

Devil’s eyes met mine, and we nodded. “Yeah, boss, will do,” he agreed.

“Any other business to discuss?” King demanded, his wild eyes searching the room. When no one spoke up, the gavel came down and Church was done.

Fuck.

Shit just got real.

***

I gazed at Evie sitting in the bed. She’d progressed from lying down all the time to sitting for a while each day. I knew from experience how painful broken ribs were, and I also knew how long they took to recover from.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, keeping her eyes on mine.

I smirked and pushed off from the wall to walk to the bed. Sitting next to her, I said, “I was thinking that my dick could shrivel up from lack of use over the next month or so.”

“Really? Such deep thoughts you have, Kick,” she said with a wink.