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“Mam usually stays up late,” he interrupted. “But I’ve already heard my dad saying he’s giving her an extra sleeping tablet tonight. She’ll be crashed out by ten at the latest.”

“Okay…” I drawled, not really understanding why he was telling me this.

“Crash wants to have a talk with me and Macbeth about our roles in this club. So that’s where we’ll all be. Mam in bed, Crash lecturing me and that silly bastard, and the rest of the club drinking and celebrating your mum’s life at the wake.”

“And where will I be?” I asked, frowning at him.

Dante stopped then and looked at me. “You’ll be wherever it is you need to be. Because I’ve got a feeling that’s not with us.”

“Don’t be daft. I’m not arsed about the wake, but I want to be with you and Macbeth.”

“No, you don’t,” he replied, a wry smile tugging at one corner of his lips. “I don’t understand it, Luke. And I wouldn’t be caught dead sniffing around one of theirs. But I also know that’s where you want to be.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

But I definitely had my suspicions, and dread wrapped an icy fist around me.

“Yeah, you do. I didn’t think we were the type of friends to keep secrets. So I’m choosing to believe this isn’t one, and it’s simply you delaying telling me the truth. I’m choosing to believe that one of my brothers trusts me enough to not betray him, and that he was just waiting for the right time.”

“Dante…”

“Because I wouldn’t betray a brother, Luke. And I certainly wouldn’t betrayyou. Stay at home tonight, or go be where you need to be. Withwhoeveryou need to be with. And when Crash asks, I’ll be telling him you’re in bed. And I’ll be making this meeting as difficult asyouneed me to make it. If you’re planning on going somewhere that is…”

He gave me a pointed look, and that’s when I knew for certain I had been rumbled.

He knew.

“It was pretty obvious,” he smirked at me. “And one day soon, I’ll kick your ass for keeping me in the dark and trying to act like you can hide things from me, as though I’m just another member of the club and not your best mate. But that day is not today. After what happened with Anna—your mum… I’m not begrudging you being with someone who makes you happy.”

“She’s just a friend,” I muttered, making him bark with laughter. Four little words and I had just given him everything he needed—revealed my biggest secret.

But damn… He really didn’t give a fuck if the look on his face was anything to go by.

“That would definitely make life easier. But it’s also bullshit, and we both know it. Get gone,” he said, nodding towards the bikes. “I doubt Crash will kick up too much of a fuss if you take one of the smaller ones. Avoid town, stay away from the police, and be back before morning. As far as I’m concerned, you’re in bed, and that’s where you’ll be staying if anyone asks.”

He walked away then, not leaving me any room to argue.

I watched him leaving for a second, and then looked at the bikes myself, feeling like I was standing at the edge of something that couldn’t be undone. A decision that would lead to the point of no return.

And then I took off in the opposite direction to Dante, sneaking to the box we had hidden behind the bushes and taking out a set of keys.

We had been taught to ride bikes since we could walk. I could ride before I could run. And Dante and I had been stealing Warrior’s keys since before we were teenagers.

Swinging my leg over the bike and taking the helmet from the handlebars before placing it over my head, I drove off, leaving behind the club, the grief, and the images of my mother… and instead, I went to her.

Gabriella

I was freezing.

No… no… freezing didn’t even begin to cover it. I was frozen to the bone. An icicle that would never thaw.

I’m pretty sure if I looked down, I’d see my fingers were blue.

Every breath I took puffed out in clouds of white against the night air as I jogged on the spot, determined to keep my body temperature up and warm blood flowing through me.

He hadn’t spoken to me. Not since the very brief text of “My Mum’s dead.”

I hadn’t expected him to call, or to even text. But every day I sent him a message and let him know I was thinking of him. That I was here if he needed me. That I would always be here.