Page 10 of Diary of a Biker Queen

I wasn’t supposed to like him.

Care about him.

Yet at some point, I’d started to like and care about him way more than I should.

And now I’d blown the whole thing up and put him at war with his family. I’d put his sister in danger.

I’d put all of us in danger.

Dax’s fingers threaded through mine. “Hey. You okay?”

There was bruising on his face. One of his eyes was so swollen the air hostess had taken one look at him and asked if he required medical assistance before the plane took off. He assured her he was a fighter and he was fine, but we were drawing more than a couple of curious glances.

That felt like my fault too.

Guilt crushed in on me, and I couldn’t bear the soft gentleness he touched me with. I pulled my hand away from his. “I’m fine.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not. Is it the baby?”

He reached for me again, but I flinched, and he stopped his hand in midair. “Nyah?” His expression was so full of confusion. There was hurt there too. But mostly concern. “Talk to me.”

I battled back the tears that threatened to spill over. “I’m sorry.”

“If you don’t want me touching you, just tell me. I know we aren’t where we once were.”

I shook my head and grabbed his hand, dragging it to my belly. “I do. I so badly do. It’s just…”

I glanced over at Luca, still pretending to be asleep.

But I was sure he wasn’t. And I was sure he could hear everything through the flimsy airline headphones.

I didn’t know how to put into words what he and I were to each other.

The way he’d touched me on the plane, the way he’d kissed me, was impossible to forget. And yet I knew with all my heart I still loved Dax. And that I was carrying his baby.

Dax’s whole expression lit up in wonder as his palm pressed against the slight swell of my stomach. He inched his fingers beneath my shirt and stroked my skin, his head bowed.

When he eventually lifted his head and met my gaze, his eyes were so full of love it broke my heart. “Why didn’t you tell me you were still pregnant?”

All I could do was be honest. “I didn’t know at first. I really did think I’d lost it. I didn’t find out otherwise until my father had already dragged me home and promised me to Carlos.”

Dax’s eyes darkened. “He had no right.”

His argument was valid. In normal society, he would have been correct. I would have been free to choose my own husband and none of this would have ever happened.

But Dax hadn’t grown up in the same world Luca and I had. He didn’t know what it was to be trapped by family loyalty. Or to have parents who thought nothing of blackmailing you to get what they wanted. It had been like this for generations, and no amount of rebellion would change it.

Blood meant family. And family was everything.

At least, those were the lies my father told. Really, all he cared about was what he wanted. He didn’t care who he destroyed in the process.

But maybe now I had a chance to break the cycle. I’d thought the only way to keep this baby was to turn them into a Guerra heir, but maybe now, with Luca standing up against his father, there could be another way. For all of us.

With Dax’s hand covering the baby growing inside me, I glanced over at Luca and prayed he’d look at me. Silently begged for him to open his eyes and really see me for who I was.

But he didn’t.

I fell asleep with my head on Dax’s shoulder. Safe and warm and content with his arm around me.