Page 70 of Wolf.e

Aiden takes another drag and leans back on his bike, folding his arms over his chest.

“It’s true. Just one night,” I say, wondering if he can tell I’m shaking like a leaf.

“I don’t think so,” he says, turning his eyes to mine. “Didn’t your mama teach you before she died that men like us are bad news?”

My mouth falls open as I register what he knows about me. Personal things. Like how my mother is dead.

“There a problem out here?” Dell’s voice sounds from the door.

I turn to face him. Bless his heart he’s trying so hard not to look scared shitless of the torrid biker staring him down from the edge of the sidewalk.

Aiden grins and flicks his cigarette; it lands at Dell’s feet.

“Be seeing you, Brinley,” Aiden says as he swings his leg over the large bike and fires it up with a deep rumble.

Goosebumps break out over my flesh with his words as Layla and I make our way inside Crimson. By the time we get inside, I’m shaking.

“Are you okay? What did he want?” Dell asks. “This is the kind of shit you said your husband wouldn’t bring around you?” he says to Layla.

“He has nothing to do with HOH and thanks for coming out, but… give us a minute now.”

Dell looks at me and sets his jaw, understanding I’m somehow involved with Layla’s world for the first time. He says nothing as he shakes his head and turns to head back to his office.

“You okay?” Layla asks when he’s out of earshot, rubbing her hands up and down my arms. She pulls me in for a quick hug.

“Sean will be on his way here. My guess is Wolfe will be with him. They think DOS threw warning bricks through the clubhouse windows. It’s unheard of for a DOS member, let alone their VP, to be in downtown Harmony like that. Sean says we’ll be on lockdown until they can figure this out.”

I nod, still shaken.

My phone buzzes in my pocket.

W

Don’t fucking leave the office.

As scared as I am, I’m instantly annoyed that he hasn’t contacted me at all and then, when he finally does, he thinks he’s just going to boss me around.

“I thought you said it was one night?” Layla asks, as if I must be hiding something. Thing is, I’m not.

“It was. I haven’t heard from Gabriel in a week.”

Her mouth falls open. “Gabriel?”

I look up at her. “What?” I ask, “it’s his name,”

“Nothing, just have never heard anyone refer to him by his first name. He really let you call him that?” she asks, her eyes scrutinizing.

I blink. “Yeah?”

“Hmm. From what Sean says, only his mother called him by his first name.”

Layla pulls her phone out and tries to dial a number while I turn away, unsure what to do with the idea that no one calls him by his first name but he let me, because it’s clear he’s done with me.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself but it doesn’t work. Does he know where I live? What could he want with me? I need to upgrade my security system.

The sound of Harleys coming in hot through the downtown core is impossible to miss. Before I knew Gabriel it would’ve made me uneasy. Now, it brings me a sort of comfort I can’t explain. They’re loud, even from inside the office building.

Layla and I both spin around to see them. Of course, her phone call brought Sean here and she’s right, Gabriel is in front of him. Days without seeing him has made him even more disturbingly beautiful and daunting. My breathing speeds up as he pulls up and takes his helmet off, just as Dell comes out of the back office to the sound of the bikes.

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