Page 53 of Hard as Stone
I pull Poppy close, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Remember how I said my family had connections?”
Poppy nods slowly, her brow furrowed. “Yeah, but I thought you didn’t talk to them anymore. Not since you joined the club.”
“I don’t, for the most part. But there are a few people who might still take my call.” I stroke my thumb across her cheek. “People who could make Summit’s life very difficult if they knew what was really going on here.”
Awareness passes over her eyes. “How dangerous is this going to get?”
“Everything’s gonna be just fine, trouble.” I tuck her closer. “I’ve got you. We’ve got you. You’re stuck with the lot of us.”
“Promise?”
Lowering my head, I press a soft kiss against her lips. “Forever.”
And looking around the garage at our mismatched family—her brothers already deep in conversation with Lee about construction logistics, Duck showing Stone the shell company paperwork, the rest of the club ready to back our play—I know it’s true.
Summit thought they could use Bennett’s betrayal to break his kids. Instead, they just gave the MC exactly what we needed to strike back.
And this time, we’re taking the fight all the way to the top.
15
POPPY
“You know, when I pictured my life at twenty-two, I never imagined I’d be eating breakfast with a bunch of bikers while waiting to hear if the feds were going to save our asses.” I take another bite of my waffle, watching the crowd of leather-clad men fill the clubhouse kitchen with cheerful chaos. “Though I have to admit, the food’s better than expected.”
“Amazing how things change,” Tank’s old lady, Ginger, says with a knowing smile. “Time was, this kitchen was just a place to store beer and microwave leftovers. Now look at us—family breakfasts, kids running around, Steel wearing that tiara while the twins get him to cut up all their food into tiny pieces.”
“They’ve got little mouths,” Steel insists, a note of defensiveness in his tone as he holds up a child-sized plastic fork with a tiny piece of waffle on the end of it. One of the twins opens her mouth like a baby bird before he feeds her, and I can’t help but smile at the gentle giant.
Ginger just laughs at the sight before turning back to me. “Oh! And going back to the food—just wait till you try my cinnamon rolls. Even the big bad bikers get into fistfights over the last one.”
“It’s true,” Andi confirms, bouncing baby Adam on her hip while he gnaws on a rusk and drools everywhere. “I once saw Steel and Cash nearly come to blows over the frosting bowl.”
“That’s because Steel’s a punk who doesn’t respect the natural order,” Cash calls from his spot at the counter. “Treasurer gets first dibs on baked goods. It’s in the bylaws.”
“Is not,” Lee argues around a mouthful of bacon.
“Is too. Right after the section where Duck’s spelling now requires someone to triple check it.”
The easy banter washes over me, soothing some of the anxiety that’s been churning in my gut since last week’s confrontation at the garage. My brothers are already working with Duck, looking over equipment and checking what we can salvage of Bennett Construction now that the club’s backing us. It still feels surreal—less than seven days ago, my whole world was imploding. Now I’m wearing Axel’s property patch and planning infrastructure repairs with a motorcycle club.
Speaking of my Road Captain...
I feel Axel before I see him, his solid warmth pressing against my back as he leans down to drop a kiss on my neck. “Morning, trouble.”
“About time you showed up,” I tease, tilting my head to give him better access. “I was starting to think you’d found another traffic girl to terrorize.”
His chuckle vibrates through me. “Nah, one’s enough. Besides—” His words cut off as his phone buzzes. The tension that suddenly radiates through his body has me sitting straighter.
“Axel?”
He steps away to take the call, his expression unreadable as he listens. I try to focus on my breakfast, but the entire kitchen has gone quiet, everyone pretending not to eavesdrop on his terse conversation.
“Understood,” he says finally. “Send it through.” A pause. “Yeah, you too.”
He ends the call and moves back over to the table, giving my shoulder a squeeze before he sits down beside me. “Check your email. Should be something interesting in there.”
My hands shake slightly as I pull out my phone. The Bennett Construction email account pings with a new message from the city planning department. I open it, scanning quickly through official language until I find...
