She returned my smile. “Congratulations on your engagement. And I love being thrown in the deep end.”

I hardly knew Sophia, but it was easy to pick up on her warmth and friendliness. “You’re going to fit right in with us girls. Griff’s not going to know what hit him.”

“We might need to ease him into it. I do love him, but he’s taken a while to get his shit together with regards to introducing me to the club,” Sophia said.

Velvet arrived at that point, and threw her two cents in. “I think you’ve got the patience of a saint.”

“I’ve got all the patience in the world for that man. I’ve never known a man to be so good to me,” Sophia replied, and I loved her a little more for saying that.

“I think Griff’s an amazing man, too,” I said. “And I’m so glad he’s found a woman as good as you to love him.”

Roxie interrupted us. “Oh, God, enough of the love fest. I may gag soon. Let’s start thinking about your hair for the wedding.”

We headed out to the front of the shop and as I took a seat, Bobby said, “Layla just rang. She can’t make it today. Something about Blade, and him having the day off, and her knowing you girls would totally understand.”

Velvet took the seat next to me. “After two full days of Nash loving, I totally understand where that girl’s coming from.”

Bobby sighed. “I knew I should just have called in sick. Listening to your sexcapades with those Storm men may just kill me today.”

We all broke out into laughter, and happiness bubbled through me. This was what made life good – friends and family who loved you, and who shared the good and bad with you. Friends and family who held your hand and guided you when you couldn’t guide yourself. I knew I still had work to do on myself, and that the journey would never be clear of hardships, but with these girls by my side, the bumps would be a little easier to navigate.

20

Scott

“Where are we at with Julio’s guys?” I asked Nash during Church that morning. After King and I had dealt with Bourne the other day, we’d pulled everyone together and delivered a warning to Julio’s crew to leave town – the kind of warning that involved blood and not many men left standing.

“The few that were left standing have all headed back to Adelaide.”

I expelled the breath I hadn’t realised I was holding.

Thank fuck.

I nodded as I relaxed back into my chair. “And King has advised me that he’s promised hell to Adelaide Storm if they retaliate.” I looked around the room, taking in the serious expressions the guys all wore. Leaning forward again, I rested my elbows on the table and said, “This is all over. Finally. Now we rebuild our club and hope to fuck that we can have some peace for a long time.”

I watched as their serious expressions gave way to smiles and nods of relief. And all I could think was that it was about time.

Griff took over to discuss some pressing matters involving Trilogy and Indigo, and once they were all sorted, I spoke up again. “This Saturday, I’m getting married - ” Wolf whistles and cheers cut me off, and I gave them that for a moment before taking control again. “If you’re in town this weekend, I want you at the wedding.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the fucking world,” J said as he grinned at me. “Never actually thought I’d see the day that Scott Cole got married.”

“Smartass,” I muttered before calling an end to Church.

As everyone filed out of the room, I called Griff aside. “I want you to be my best man.”

He listened to my request, his expression not changing. However, his breathing picked up, and then he replied, “Means a lot to me, Scott. After everything we’ve been through over the past few months, it means a fucking lot.”

“I didn’t handle shit very well when you told me about your family, and I’m sorry, brother. You need to know that you are more family to me than some of my own blood family. I’d be honoured to have you by my side when I marry Harlow.” There wasn’t much I regretted in my life, but I wasn’t proud of the way I’d reacted when Griff shared his past with me.

He straightened and pushed his shoulders back as he said, “I’d be honoured to be your best man.”

I grinned. A load had been lifted off my shoulders now that we’d had that conversation. Slapping him on the back, I made a suggestion. “We need a beer.”

He returned my grin and nodded his agreement. “Or two.”

Some people didn’t understand the brotherhood of Storm. It was, however, what I believed in the most in my life. To trust and believe in something so much that you would lay down your life for it – that was what the brotherhood was to me.

It was family.

“Harlow tells me that you’re the one planning the wedding. So weird,” Cassie said to me that afternoon. I’d picked Harlow up from the hairdresser and planned a long afternoon in bed with her, but her best friend had arrived just as Harlow had run her tongue along my cock.

Worst fucking timing.

“Why is that weird?” I asked while grabbing a beer from the fridge.

“Well, firstly it’s just strange for the man to do the planning, but add to that fact you’re a biker…never saw that one coming, dude.”

Harlow laughed the nervous laugh she’d adopted when she was around Cassie and me. Her friend never hesitated to challenge me, and Harlow seemed hesitant about that. She needn’t have been. While I may not have always agreed with everything Cassie said, I respected the hell out of her honesty.

I took a swig of beer and sat at the table on the back deck with them. “So bikers can’t organise shit for their women?”

Cassie drank some of the wine I’d just poured her. “You’ve gotta admit it’s strange. When I think of bikers, I think of men who do manly things while their women run around after them.”

I raised my brows. “When the fuck do you see Harlow running around after me?”

Cassie laughed and nodded. “True. She doesn’t. The fact remains, though, that I think it’s weird for a club president to be taking charge of a wedding.”

I drank some more beer as I contemplated what she’d said. “I’ll concede that it’s not the norm, but I’m not about the norm. From the very beginning, I knew I’d make Harlow my wife. Watching her go through what she has over the last few months, has been hard, but as dark as some of those days were, they only reinforced to me how much I loved her. She gives me so much, the least I can do is give her a wedding she’ll always remember.”

Cassie stared at me like I had two heads. She then turned to Harlow and said, “Jeez, I need me a Scott Cole. You are one lucky bitch.”

Harlow’s eyes had misted over, but she smiled as she said, “I know. And I can help you find your Mr Perfect. I have lots of ideas of where we could look.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Please, I’ve searched high and low, there aren’t any good men out there who aren’t already taken.”

Harlow shook her head. “I don’t believe that. I’ll find you one.”

“Okay, girl, you find me a man while I find you an art gallery to show your paintings. Where are you at with those paintings I saw in your art room?”

“They’re finished,” Harlow replied, and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t hear any fear in her voice. Her standard response when it came to her art over the last six months had been a reluctance to even consider pursuing an art exhibition.

Excitement flared on Cassie’s face. “Awesome! And you still want to do this?”

Harlow took a deep breath and then nodded. “Yes. I’m scared, but if it doesn’t make you sweat, it’s not worth doing, right?”

Cassie burst into laughter. “Well, fuck me, you do listen to me!” Cassie had been saying those exact words to Harlow for a long time now, and Harlow had done her best to ignore her. I was fucking ecstatic to hear her change of heart.