The Biker's Fate Chapter 683

Razor

A WEEK LATER, I heard the key in my lock and my door open. "Gio?"

Fuck. Mom.

"Tesoro?"

I could hardly be considered anyone's treasure right now, but she had always called us hers.

"In here," I called from the place I'd been all week. My recliner.

She made her way over to me and sighed. "You look rough, cucciolo."

Okay, puppy was probably closer, maybe more accurate would be a wet dog.

"Hi, Mamma. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She set her purse on the coffee table and sat on my sofa. "Well, I stopped by Hatch and Maisie's home to see you, and how surprised was I to find out you'd left them. Against their wishes."

"I needed to be alone."

"Have you been doing your physical therapy?"

I didn't answer and she shook her head.

"Baby boy, what's on going with you?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

She glanced at the discarded beer cans at my feet and frowned. "This looks like heartbreak, bambino."

I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed the pain aside. Jesus, I missed Waverly. I missed her like I might miss a limb. And missing her brought up the pain of losing my dad all over again. It was all too much.

"Talk to me, baby."

"I saw it, Mamma."

"You saw what?"

"Papa."

"I don't understand."

"I was there the day Papa was killed," I rasped.

"What?" she whispered.

"I watched him die."

I met her eyes and told her everything. Even as the tears poured down her face, I didn't stop. I gave her all of it. And she took it. With every last breath I had, I gave her my entire day from the cereal I ate, my leg getting caught in the chain as I took off for the store, the rain starting and stopping, then watching the man stab my father, and the look on her face as she watched the breath leave his body. But even more importantly, the look on my father's face as he knew he was dying, and he still didn't hold back the love he had for my mother.

"Gio," she said on a sob. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I felt guilty that I didn't help. I could have kept pressure on his wounds, I don't know. I thought I might get in trouble, because I wasn't supposed to be there. All of those kid things."

"Baby, Papa was stabbed in both his liver and his heart, there was nothing you could have done to help him."

"I know, but as a kid…"

"And I would have never punished you, baby, you'd been through enough."

"I know, Mamma, I just didn't want to add to your stress."

"No wonder you acted out so badly," she breathed out. "If it hadn't been for Hatch…" She reached in her bag and rummaged around, pulling out tissues. "He saved your life, I think."

"Oh, I know he did."

"Is this why you left his home? And why you're drinking so much?"

I shook my head.

"A woman?"

I nodded.

She sighed. "Tell me."

And I did. All of it.

Again.

Because, unlike my sisters, she could get me to tell her anything. It's part of the reason I avoided her like the plague when I wasn't ready to talk. She should work for the CIA or FBI or something because she'd be able to get anyone to spill any kind of secret, no matter the hardened criminal or spy.

"Oh, you young ones don't understand context yet," she said once I was done.

I frowned. "I do."

She held her hand, palm down, and waved it from side-to-side. "Eh."

I rolled my eyes.

"It sounds like Waverly has suffered great trauma and she's shut herself off to protect herself. She hasn't figured out that by doing that, she is missing out on the best man I know. Alive, that is."

"I'm sorry I've been a dick, Mamma."

"Don't call my son a dick," she bossed. "And I forgive you."

I smirked.

"You need to take a shower, honey."

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Do you need help?"

"I just need help getting the cast guard on," I said.

"Okay, you get where you need to be and I'll help you do that, then I'm going to make you dinner."

"I don't have much to cook," I warned.

"I'll manage."

Once I was naked, I wrapped a towel around my waist and my mother came in and helped me with the plastic cast guard, then she left me to do my thing.

I was able to (mostly) get dressed, and when I came out of the bathroom, I found all of my sisters sitting in my now freshly cleaned apartment, the smell of my mother's homemade garlic bread wafting through the room.

"Nice panties," Angelica teased as she wound the cord back up to the vacuum.

"Oh my god, Angel," Frankie snapped. "He's standing there with an old lady walker, in his boxer briefs because he can't fully function like a normal person, and you tease him? You're a monster!"

She winked at me as she walked the ten feet to help me put on my pants.

"Thanks, sissy."

"No problem." She grinned. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"Um, what's everyone doing here?" I asked.

"Mom called in the troops," Azzura said as she tied off a garbage bag. "You had nothing in your fridge."

"So, we stocked you up," Bianca called out from the kitchen.

"I changed your sheets, for what looks like, maybe the first time? Ever?" Frankie said, then shuddered. "I wore gloves."

"We're doing laundry now," Angelica said. "I kind of took all the machines downstairs. Hopefully, no one freaks."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." I smiled. "Love you guys."

"Aww," a chorus of female voices sounded, and then all four of my sisters were surrounding me and gently wrapping their arms around me.

Mom watched from the kitchen, tears once again slipping down her face.