Chapter 62
Vienna
I woke the next morning with my old lady snuggled into my side.
I looked down at her and smiled, feeling another layer of my rage simmer away.
Everything felt right with the world. I didn’t miraculously expect us to suddenly live a stress-free life—that was almost impossible with the type of MC we lived in.
But right now, in this moment, everything felt enough.
And it turns out, Dante was right—though I’d never admit it to him. He was far too smug as it was.
I still believed Nico should have suffered more. And I still wasn’t finished making the Riders suffer for their part in his cruelty. But it was okay.
Mainly because, for the first time since she had arrived—and I suspected the first time in a long time—Gabriella had slept through the night. There hadn’t been any terrors, nightmares, or calling out in her sleep, thrashing around in panic.
She slept blissfully and peacefully, knowing she was safe and secure in my arms.
If that wasn’t enough, nothing ever would be. This was all I had ever wanted.
Slipping out from next to her, I went to the bathroom to get ready and looked in the mirror.
“Well, old friend,” I said, rubbing my hand along my jaw. “It’s been nice, but…” I picked up the razor and grinned to myself.
“Stop looking at me, Gabriella.”
“I can’t!” she laughed, covering her mouth as she spluttered. “You look… I can’t even describe it.”
Shaking my head at her, I went downstairs and into the kitchen.
“Good morning, campers!” I called out, ruffling Bee’s hair. She looked at me like I was a stranger. “You okay, Bumblebee? What’s your problem?”
“Mummy,” she called, climbing off her seat and rushing over to Rachel, clinging to the back of her legs.
“Wow. That was rude.”
Gabriella spluttered again behind me.
“What’s wrong, darling?” Rachel asked, her back still to me.
Bee pulled on her trouser leg and she looked down, stroking her hair.
When she noticed how pale Bee was, her back stiffened.
Then Bee pointed her skinny, traitorous fingers in my direction.
As Rachel turned around, a scream ripped from her lips.
“Jesus ever-loving Christ, what in the actual fuck?!”
She shoved Bee to the side and grabbed a frying pan, brandishing it at me. I just about managed to duck as she threw it at me.
“This is not the welcome I expected,” I huffed. Gabriella chuckled and took her seat at the kitchen table, pinching a slice of Axel’s toast with a small wink.
“Well what did you fucking expect?” Rachel said, pressing her palm to her chest. “I thought you were an intruder.”
“And you were going to hit them with a frying pan, were you?”
“I’ve done more damage with less,” she shrugged. “Why on earth have you shaved?”
“I think it looks good.”
“You think wrongly. You look like a… I’m not going to say the word in front of my children, but it rhymes with ‘ponce.’”
Gabriella spat out her toast with a barking laugh. One she tried to cover with a cough.
I shot her a nasty look anyway, and she had the decency to shrink down in her seat slightly.
Though I had a suspicion she was doing that just to hide her laughter from me.
“What’s up?” Dante asked, pushing past me into the kitchen whilst I stood horrified in the doorway.
“Mummy says Uncle Vienna looks like a ponce,” Bee said.
Dante turned around to look at me and burst into laughter as well. “I think she means no—”
“Never mind what I meant!” Rachel interrupted. “Vienna, I’ll ask again—why the fuck did you shave your beard?”
“Still looks like Vienna,” Dante muttered around a mouthful of toast—toast that he had stolen from Gabriella’s hands.
Usually I might have said something, defended her honour and all that. But she was on her own this morning.
“You’re welcome,” she muttered, kicking at his ankles. He slapped her with the remaining toast before shoving it in his mouth.
“I don’t know what all the fuss is about,” Gabriella said. “I think he looks—”
“Oh, I’ve heard what you think I look like. Don’t you try getting in my good graces now.”
“Well, come on,” Rachel said. “To be fair to Gabriella, you went from bearded weirdo to a plain-faced weirdo. It was a lot to take in!”
“Oh, that’s it. Take her side.”
“I told you this would happen,” Gabriella shrugged.
“And I told the lot of you I would shave when Gabriella returned to me. I told you all. I told you specifically,” I said, snatching the last bit of toast from Axel.
The little devil had clearly decided he was against me, just like everyone else. He grabbed hold of my hand and bit down on the fleshy part of my thumb. I dropped the toast with a hiss, only to see Dante teaching his son how to fist-bump.
“This place sucks,” I sulked, flopping down into the seat furthest away from all of them.
“Don’t sulk, Vienna,” Rachel smirked. “We just thought you would trim it. We didn’t expect. Well…” she gestured at me, her lip curling. “This.”
“This feels like body shaming,” I said.
“Good. Because it is. We don’t like it.”
“Cheers, Rachel. Real supportive.”
She just shrugged at me.
“Does that mean it’s official then?” Dante asked, pouring coffee into his cup. “She said yes?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I mumbled.
“Ignore him. I did,” Gabriella replied.
“Well, you know it’s not official until the ceremony.”
“Ceremony?” she repeated.
“Don’t worry,” Rachel replied with a wink. “It’s a lot of fun.”
“Yeah. That’s if I turn up.”
“Oh, you’ll turn up,” Gabriella said confidently.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. You’re a turncoat.”
“Yeah, but I’m your turncoat.”
Now that brought a smile to my lips.