Page 184 of Romeo

“Yeah.” I lowered my voice. “I was just... who are they?”

His jaw tightened slightly before his expression smoothed again. “Club business. You should probably head out.”

I’d known him long enough to recognize the answer for what it was. Not exactly none of your business, but close enough that asking again would get me nowhere.

“Right. I’ll see you later.”

Nash squeezed my shoulder as I turned toward the door, but before I reached it, the younger man’s gaze landed on me. He didn’t move or say anything. His attention simply settled there, cold and direct enough that the back of my neck prickled. Maybe I was imagining the threat because of everything else happening around me, but every instinct I had told me I didn’t want to stay around long enough to find out.

I pushed through the door onto the porch and sucked in a lungful of cool mountain air. The faint unease followed me outside, stubborn enough that I pulled my phone from my pocket before I even made it to the steps.

Me: Are you there?

I watched the screen, expecting the familiar three dots.

Nothing appeared.

The message showed delivered but unread.

Jasper could’ve been riding. He could’ve been in church. He could’ve been doing any one of a hundred things that didn’t involve staring at his phone waiting for me to text him. None of those possibilities stopped the disappointment from settling beneath the unease already there.

I was sliding the phone into my pocket when the sound of motorcycles rolled up the mountain.

Several of them.

I turned toward the road. The low rumble grew louder until four bikes appeared around the final curve, riding close together as they climbed toward the clubhouse. My hands closed around the porch railing before I even saw the riders clearly.

I knew one of those bikes.

I knew the man on it.

They rolled into the lot and parked almost in formation. A woman with platinum hair pulled into a tight braid climbed off first, a prospect patch visible on her cut as she headed toward the clubhouse. A younger man with sharp features moved beside her, while an older, weathered man followed close behind. The three of them acknowledged me as they came up the steps, but none stopped.

I barely noticed.

Jasper had taken off his helmet.

For months, I’d seen him through pictures and video calls. I’d heard his voice late at night until keeping my eyes open became impossible. None of that prepared me for what happened when he looked across the parking lot and found me standing there.

His entire attention locked onto me as he climbed the porch steps slowly, and every conversation I’d imagined having with him disappeared.

“Is that how you say hello, Cher?”

His voice sounded different in person. Deeper somehow, although I knew that made no sense. Maybe it was simply the fact that there was no phone between us this time.

I didn’t answer.

I went straight into his arms.

Jasper caught me easily, one arm coming around my waist while the other hand cradled the back of my head. The first breath I took against his chest brought leather, the faint scent of smoke and the road, and something underneath both that belonged entirely to him.

Months of missing him condensed into one painful little ache beneath my ribs.

“There she is,” he murmured before pressing a kiss to my temple.

I closed my eyes and held on tighter. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“Didn’t want to disappoint you if something changed.” His arms tightened briefly around me. “Plans have a way of falling apart.”