Reverence: MC Romance (The Davis Chapter Book 3) by Davida Lynn Page A

not trying to scare you, but I don’t want you to think that everything is just hunky-dory. I know you’re caught in the middle. Anyone hurt could very well be someone you care deeply about. I’d like to tell you that my boys will go up there and have a UN conference with your father in his club, but I think we both know that’s not the case.”

    I bit my bottom lip and stared out into the backyard. Everything fell silent. Everything felt gray. Those thoughts were in the back of my head, but I guess I had worked hard keep them there. Maybe she was right to bring those thoughts up.  

    “I know things are going to get messy.”

    “Messy?” Faith shook her head. “I’ve lived this life for nearly thirty years. Messy doesn’t begin to describe it.” She was forcing me to confront a very real possibility.

    “If I can’t go back to Davis, Romero and I will start over somewhere else. That was our plan until Ty got killed anyway.”

    “Not unlike Bear and myself.” Faith leaned over the table but didn’t reach for what remained in the pitcher. Instead, she extended a hand across the table. “I understand about not returning to Davis, but what if Romero doesn’t come back to you?”

    For a few seconds, I just stared at her hand. I knew she was trying to help, but it certainly didn’t feel that way at the time. It felt like she was slowly sliding a knife inside my heart while twisting and tilting the blade.

    Emotion washed over me, and before I knew it, I reached out and took her hand. Maybe it was the alcohol or the delusion that had me feeling good. The real answer was that I would have no idea what to do with my life if Romero didn’t come back from Davis to get me. I’d start over, for sure, but I wouldn’t be living. Without Romero, I would only be surviving.

    Faith squeezed my hand. “I’m not trying to hurt you, but I’m also not bullshitting you, Julie. I’m only trying to be realistic.”

    “I don’t know what I would do without him. I really don’t. He came along when I thought I didn’t need anybody, and he made me realize that the opposite was true. I needed somebody like him more than ever before.”

    “Look at me.” Faith’s voice was hard. “Look at me, Julie.”

    I had to blink away the tears to see her clearly.

      “You are safe here in Bakersfield. No matter what happens up north, we’ll keep you safe. I know I can’t promise the same for Romero. I can’t promise the same for Raven’s beau, my husband, or even my son, but I can make you that promise. Until we hear otherwise, you are going to stay here with me.”

    I knew that Faith was trying to help, but goddamn, that sounded ominous.

I would’ve killed for some music or a TV playing in the background. Anything to shatter the heavy silence. There was nothing to distract me from the ever slowing tick of the clock. Every moment that went by, I tried to imagine what was happening up in Davis.  

    I tried to think of Romero walking away without a scratch. The problem was that it was just as easy to imagine him not walking away at all. It was easy to imagine him suffering a fate worse than Ty or any of the bikers that had died when the Rising Sons fought against a rogue ex-member in Las Vegas.

    Ty’s death ate at me, but I’d done everything I could to try and stop the fight. I think in the end, it was his own hubris that got him killed. Was it really worth it to die for a club? The question made my skin crawl, especially considering what was probably happening a few hours north at that very moment.

    When would the phone call come? An hour? A day? Longer? Maybe not at all.

    Maybe the call would come from my father, telling that Romero and every one of his compatriots was dead. That thought clawed its way deep into the recesses of my mind as I sat on the bed in Faith’s guest room. I checked my phone again and again, watching the battery drain to nothing with no news.

    I wanted to stay in the guest room and be