The Biker's Fate Chapter 696

Waverly

I ESCAPED DOWNSTAIRS and hid like the coward I was. The look of pure hatred on Gio's face was hard, but the pain I saw in his eyes was more than I could take.

I could tell his leg was bothering him, but there was nothing I could do about it. He needed to get a cast back on it or he could do far more damage than what had already been done.

A quiet knock sounded on my door.

"Come in," I called, and Katie peeked her head in.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said.

"Did you notice the idiot took off his cast?" she asked.

I nodded, flopping onto the bed and pulling a pillow to my chest.

She moved further into the room and sat on the edge of the mattress. "You're not the only one who self-sabotages, you know."

"I guess we really are two pig-headed peas in a pod."

Katie chuckled. "Truer words have never been spoken."

"Can I have a few minutes?" Gio asked from the doorway.

"I don't know," Katie sassed. "Can you?"

"It's fine, Katie," I said.

She wagged a finger at him as she passed. "Don't be a dick."

Gio limped inside and closed the door.

"Get off that leg," I demanded, sliding off the mattress, and pointing to the chair.

He made his way to the chair and practically fell into it.

"How bad's the pain?" I asked.

"I'm not here to talk about that."

"How bad, Gio?"

"Using medical terms? About a twelve."

"Shit," I hissed. "Do you have anything left?"

"Yeah, I have a few Vicodin left over."

"Did you take one?"

He shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Because I was ridin'."

"Idiot," I snapped. "Are they here?"

"Yeah. Upstairs. Cabinet above the dishwasher."

"Don't move," I ordered, and rushed upstairs to grab his painkillers, returning quickly with them and some water. I thrust the pill at him. "Take it."

He did, setting the water on the bureau next to him. "You doin' okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you going to talk to me about all of this?"

"I don't know," I said. "It's a lot to process. I'm working it out."

"You understand we're trying to end this right? Jesus, woman, you don't convict a coroner for murder just because he called the time of death."

"Gio, just over two months ago, I was a girl living her life, trying her best to cope with what happened to her and now I'm in someone's basement because I happened to fall in love with the one person I swore I'd never have anything to do with. You need to give me some time to wrap my mind around that."

He grinned. "Love you too, baby."

"Stop it."

He leaned forward, settling his elbows on his knees. "You feel alive?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Do you feel alive?" he repeated. "When you're with me, are you scared?"

"No."

"What about when you're with Hatch?"

I squared my shoulders. "No."

"Any of my brothers?"

"Buzz is a little scary," I admitted.

"Buzz is supposed to be. But he'd die for you, beautiful. They all would." He cocked his head. "So, I'll ask again. Do you feel alive? Because what you were doin' before wasn't living. It was existing. It was shoving what happened to you down deep, so you didn't have to face it. Now you're facing it and it's freaking you out, but you're safe and you know it. You're also enjoying the fuck outta life and I'll bet that's scaring you, too."

I wrinkled my nose. "You don't actually know that."

"Of course I do." He slid back in the chair. "Because I feel the same way."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. You're makin' me face shit I wasn't ready to, and I've been reactin' badly to that. Not my finest hour, and I'm gonna need to make amends. But I can't do that until you forgive me first."

"I'm the one who walked out on you," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but I pushed you to do that, honey."

"I think we've been pushing each other to do things that probably aren't healthy," I conceded.

"Probably."

"But I didn't push you to do that." I pointed to his leg. "And you really need to get back in and get it re-casted."

He dragged his hands down his face. "I need to ride."

"If you don't get a cast back on that leg, you might lose it and then you'll never ride again, so how about you don't be an idiot and take care of it?"

"Come here," he said, holding his hand out to me.

"Gio, you need—"

"Baby, come here."

I crossed my arms. "Not until you promise me you're going to get your leg back in a cast."

He smirked. "Fizzy. Come. Here."

"Promise me," I demanded.

"Waverly," he bit out.

"I will go there when you promise me you'll get that leg back in a cast."

He stared me down for a few seconds before letting out a long, dramatic, albeit manly, sigh. "Yeah, baby, I'll go get my leg back in the cast."

I closed the distance between us, and he tugged me onto his lap, sliding his hand to my neck. "Missed you."

"Missed you too," I rasped, leaning down to kiss him. "I'm sorry I bailed."

"Sorry I didn't tell you everything." He stroked my pulse. "Are you in now?"

"Yeah, honey, I'm in," I said. "Like, in, in."

"Fuckin' finally." He grinned, kissing me again. "Love you, baby."

"Love you too."

"Am I sleeping in here with you?"

"Is that an option?"

He frowned. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know." I dropped my head to his shoulder and snuggled close. "I feel a bit like I'm staying with your parents or something."

Gio laughed. "Baby, we could strip down naked in front of them and fuck on their kitchen table. Hatch wouldn't give a shit. He and Maisie'd give us our privacy and let us do our thing."