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“I’m saying that this is none of my fucking business. I’m not happy, and I hope you both come to your senses and put a stop to this. But this clubhouse is a safe haven, forallits members. Including you, Luke. This is your home. You and Gabriella are welcome here whenever you like, and you’ll hear no arguments from me.”

“What about the rest of them?” Luke asked.

“I’ll deal with them. We’ve all lost our minds over a girl one time or another,” he said, chuckling softly. “There will be some arguments. And prepare yourselves for some relentless teasing. But we’ll keep your secrets. All of us. I just hope you both know what the fuck you’re doing.”

“Well, before we all hold hands and start singing Kumbaya, I think we need to address the elephant in the room,” Dante said grimly, looking at each and every one of us.

“And that is?” I asked. Surely if we had the support of the president, there were no further arguments to be had?

“Kitty,” Luke muttered, looking at Crash.

“Don’t fucking look at me, boy. I said I’d deal with the lads. You’re on your own with that one. Let’s hope you catch her in a good mood.”

We all continued to stare at him until he hissed under his breath and pushed his chair back. “Fine! Fucking fine! I’ll go speak to the dragon. I need a bastard drink,” he muttered to himself, walking towards the door. He stopped in the doorframe, shuddering slightly, as though he were giving himself a pep talk, and then continued.

“Is she really that bad?” I asked, suddenly feeling nervous all over again.

“Her bark is worse than her bite,” Luke reassured me.

“Yeah, but her right hook is worse than a fucking sledgehammer. Believe me,” he said, giving me a small wink. “I’m kidding, Gabriella. She’ll be fine. Crash might let her havea lot of freedom with this club, but she knows her place. The worst you’ll get is some dirty looks and more froth on your pint than you wanted. Speaking of difficult old ladies, I’d best go see where mine has got to. I’ll leave you both to it,” he said, nodding his head respectfully at me, and pulling Luke in for one of those ridiculous man hugs, slapping each other on the shoulders.

He murmured in Luke’s ear, something too low for me to catch, and then he left the room without another word.

“Well,” Luke said once we were alone, pulling me into his arms. “That went better than expected.”

“You can say that again,” I laughed.

“So now that we no longer need to sneak around, I suggest you get your ass back up those stairs so we can finish what we started.”

“I—”

“No arguments. I’m also very much looking forward to punishing you for calling Crash sir,” he warned with a vaguely threatening grin.

My stomach lurched, and the next thing I knew, I was racing up the clubhouse stairs, and back naked under the sheets before I could think straight.

Chapter 28

Vienna

Now

Poker night, in theory, was supposed to be civilised. Well, as civilised as a bunch of drunken bikers were able to be. At least, that was how Dante liked to frame it. History was against him, but still he insisted on the weekly relaxing sessions. He said it was a chance for the brothers to unwind, have a few drinks, and a few games of cards.

He said all the shit talk was good for morale.

In reality, poker night was never civilised. Things had improved slightly since Macbeth had kicked the bucket and we were no longer separating him and Dante every five minutes, but they were far from fucking civilised.

It was loud, sweaty, competitive, and usually ended with at least one person accusing another of cheating, someone else threatening to flip the table, and Sunshine trying to convince everyone to do shots every time somebody folded.

And that was on a good night.

Tonight, however, was already shaping up to be one of the worst in recent memory.

Mostly because Shark wasn’t here.

And if there was one thing that Shark had been good at, it was maintaining the beast mode known as “hangry”.

“Why does no one appreciate what Pivot actually does for this club?” Chris muttered, whilst he eyed the state of the table with visible disgust. “Is this it? Shark would be disappointed. We should have taken Pivot up on his offer.”