Page 33 of My Wild Biker

My door opens and Chuck slips in, closing it softly behind him. He looks exhausted.

"Meeting done?" I ask.

"Yeah. We've got a plan." He sits on the edge of the bed and pulls off his boots. "They're at a rental property two counties over. Three total, Crane and two loyal members. We go in at dawn, end this fast and clean."

"What if something goes wrong?"

"Then we handle it. But it won't go wrong." He looks at me. "I need you to promise me something."

"What?"

"If I don't come back—"

"Chuck, don't—"

"If I don't come back," he continues, "you go to Millbrook tomorrow like you planned. You live your life. You don't let this world destroy you. You promise me that."

My throat is tight. "I can't promise that."

"Yes, you can. Because I need to know you'll be okay."

"And I need you to come back."

He's quiet for a long moment. Then he lies down beside me and pulls me close, his body warm and solid against mine. "I'll come back. I promise."

"You can't promise that."

"Yeah, I can. Because you're here and I'm not done with you yet."

I press my face against his chest and breathe him in. Leather and sweat and something underneath that's just him. We lie there in the dark and I try not to think about dawn coming.

Eventually his breathing evens out and I think he's asleep but then he says quietly, "Have you decided? About leaving tomorrow?"

The question I've been avoiding all night.

"I don't know yet."

"Isla…"

"I need to see you come back first. Then I'll decide."

He's silent for a moment. Then, "Fair enough."

We lie there and I don't sleep. Just listen to his breathing and watch the window start to go gray with dawn.

Around five-thirty I hear movement in the clubhouse. Brothers arriving, engines starting, voices low and serious.

Chuck stirs beside me and checks his phone. "Time to go."

We get up and he pulls on his boots. I watch him check his weapon, settle his cut over his shoulders, transform from the man who held me all night into something harder and more dangerous.

In the main room all the brothers are gathering. Six of them total: Clint, Chuck, Tate, Cain, Roan, Diesel. Armed and ready and silent.

The women are there too, gathered at the edges. Everyone says quiet goodbyes. Promises to be careful. Kisses that might be the last ones.

Chuck comes to me and cups my face. "I'm coming back."

"Promise me."