Page 47 of Single Mom for the Bikers

She shakes her head. “It’s not a secret. You’d hear about it anyway. I’m Luca Giordano’s daughter.”

“Giordano, like… theGiordanoGiordanos?” I don’t know who Luca is specifically, but everyone’s heard whispers about the Mafia Family that controls large parts of the city. Rumor has it that some of the fancy houses we clean in Blackworth are connected to the mob.

“One and the same. Let’s just say when I hooked up with four bikers it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. It’s… mostly okay now. I still get dragged into drama sometimes but relations between the Screaming Eagles and my family are good for the moment. Here we are.”

It wasn’t a long walk, Harper's house is farther into the compound, closer to the back. It’s similar in style to Alessa's but a little smaller. It's cozy, and while there's a big couch on one side of the living room, the rest of the furniture is arranged into small sitting groups and a reading corner. Framed art in bright, warm colors hangs on the walls, adding to the coziness. I suspect that's Harper's touch, unless her bikers are way different from mine.

Not that they’re mine. I need to stop acting like I’m already a part of this world. Sure it’s fun now, but is this something that can last? I tried to avoid danger for so long and now I’ve walked right into the lion’s den and I’m thinking about how to decorate.

Alessa knocks on the door frame and walks right in. “I’m here! And I brought Shelby.”

We’re the last to arrive, and everyone introduces themselves as we all help Emily move chairs around to make it easier to talk.

“I love what you've done with the place,” Summer says as she looks around. She sits down in a chair with a tired sigh. “I haven’t had the energy to do anything with our new place. I feel like I’m on nonstop feeding and cleaning rotation with the triplets. I don’t know how anyone could do it without having at least four husbands. The only way any of us get any sleep is by outnumbering them.”

Alessa laughs. “I know what you mean. I feel the same and ours are spaced out.”

“Do all of you have kids?”

“No way, not yet.” Harper says. She’s a pretty blonde woman that’s probably about the same age as me. Apparently she’s the most recent addition to the club. “Kaylee and I are still living the free life, right Kay?”

Kaylee blushes.

“No!” Harper says with mock dismay. “Don’t say it.”

“I’m not pregnant yet, but we’re… notnottrying.”

The lights go out suddenly, though it’s early enough in the day that there's plenty of light to see by. “Happy Birthday to yoooooou…” Someone starts singing before we have time to worry.

Everyone picks up the song as Natalie comes out of the kitchen carrying a cake covered in candles. Emily and Faith look at each other and laugh.

Once the cake is cut and passed out, we fall into groups, with all the women chatting comfortably with each other. I slip a little out of it, not because anyone is shutting me out of the conversation, but I'm content just sitting here and listening. Most of the talk revolves around their kids and guys, which I guess is natural. Apparently Natalie made the cake because she runs a little bakery out of the same building where Faith has a bookstore cafe. It's obvious that all the old ladies—which if you ask me is a silly term when you look at this group—are really close.

When Alessa told me the name of the Harem Brunch Club, I have to admit I laughed, but it makes sense. I've never heard of an MC with this kind of dynamic, but it seems to work for the Eagles at least. Emily was the first so there was a little pushback for her, but as each additional group formed, the men of the Screaming Eagles have started taking it as a source of pride.

If Havoc hadn’t helped me rent Sledge’s house, would there be some other woman sitting in this chair eventually? It makes me want to scratch her eyes out, and she doesn’t even exist.

“You're being quiet,” says Natalie suddenly, shaking her long blond hair out of her eyes to look at me. She smiles softly. “I hope we're not scaring you off. I know I was pretty intimidated when I first came here. Don’t feel like you don’t belong just because the circumstances are a little tricky. Trust me, we all have stories about how we ended up here.”

“I'm fine, really. I'm just not used to… well, this. All of this. It's a little overwhelming. My life was so boring a couple weeks ago and now I’m hiding from kidnappers and figuring out how anyone would even handle three guys at once?—”

Emily looks up. “Oh, honey. You’ve come to the right place for that. Do you need diagrams? I’ll be happy to?—”

“No, no!” I hold up my hands with an embarrassed laugh. “I mean… maybe, but not yet. It's… more complicated than that, I guess.”

“Oh?” Alessa gets off the couch to pull one of the free chairs over next to me. She grins with anticipation. “Sounds like you could use some help figuring things out. Come on, dish.”

“What, no, it's nothing. I shouldn't?—”

“You absolutely should,” says Faith in a tone that brooks no argument. “If you can find a challenge that none of us has dealt with before, you deserve a reward. But most likely, it's going to be something at least some of us have run into, and we're going to help.”

I'm going to cry. God, that feels so stupid, but all of a sudden, the waterworks open up, and I don't know how to stop them. Alessa puts her arm around me.

“Hey, you okay? We’re here to support each other in the face of overwhelming testosterone, not to make things worse.”

I let out a laugh through my tears. “No, no, it's not that, it's just—I've been on my own for so long. My mother helped for a while, but I couldn’t lean on her forever. You know? She has her own life to live. I love Mia, love her so, so much, but having to do everything on my own—it's hard. I'm always on watch. I'm always the one making the hard decisions, and the little easy ones, too. And I've been fine with it—it's been over four years now, but…” I look around, convinced that everyone's already found something more interesting to pay attention to, but no, everyone's watching me, and I don't see a single judging look. Just compassion. Who'd have thought I'd have to make my way back into an MC to find that? “Suddenly Havoc is back in my life, and Sledge and Phoenix too. Even with all the scary things going on, I’m never dealing with them on my own. God, you're all so welcoming and helpful and, I mean, I don't know all of you that well yet, but seeing Mia and Dante playing together… I'm sorry. It’s a little, no, a lot overwhelming.”

Alessa squeezes me harder. “I won’t lie. It is scary here sometimes, but I've never felt so cared for anywhere as I do here. Not just because of the overprotective cavemen that draggedus back to their lairs, but everyone here. This community? It’s worth it.”

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