Page 31 of My Veteran Biker

"Yeah."

"Clint wants everyone at the clubhouse at seven. We're discussing next moves."

"I'll be there."

"Bringing someone?"

Word travels fast. I shouldn't be surprised.

"Yeah."

"Good. About time."

He hangs up before I can respond.

I spend the next few hours doing maintenance I don't need to do. Clean my guns, check the ammunition count, organize tools in the garage.

Anything to keep my hands busy while my brain runs through everything that could go wrong tonight.

Francis could meet the brothers and decide this life isn't for her. Could see the clubhouse and the women and the reality of what being with me means and walk away. Could realize that loving me at twenty-six in theory is different from loving me at forty-seven in practice.

Or she could stay. Could look at all of it and choose it anyway.

I don't know which scares me more.

At six she knocks on my door. When I open it she's wearing dark jeans and a deep red shirt that hugs her curves, her hair loose around her shoulders.

She looks nervous but determined, jaw set in that way I remember from every difficult conversation we've ever had.

"Ready?" I ask.

"No. But let's go anyway."

I take her in my truck instead of on the bike. The ride is short but I want time to prepare her, to explain what she's walking into without having to shout over wind and engine noise.

She's quiet for the first few miles, looking out the window at fields turning gold in the late afternoon light.

"You're nervous," I say.

"Of course I'm nervous. I'm about to walk into a motorcycle clubhouse and be claimed in front of people I've never met. That's terrifying."

"They're not going to eat you."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. Clint's solid. The brothers are good men. Their women will take care of you."

She turns to look at me. "What if they don't like me?"

"They'll like you."

"How do you know?"

"Because I like you. That's enough."

She makes a sound that's half laugh, half disbelief. "That's not how it works."

"That's exactly how it works. You're mine. They respect that."