Page 13 of Playful Summer

“MC is a motorcycle club.” Celestino smiles.

“Like the ones in the movies?”

“Some clubs are. We used to run guns and drugs. Never dealt in human trafficking. But now we run legal businesses and no more gun and drug running. Our sister clubs are transitioning too,” he explains.

“Sister clubs?” she asks.

“Clubs that we recognize as part of ours. They have different names and patches, but they’re part of our family. ‘The Cimaruta MC, Chicago’ is what we call the mother chapter. We’re the original chapter of our club.”

“Oh wow. There’s so much more to your club than what they show on TV.” I chuckle.

“Wait till you meet thewholefamily.” Isabella laughs.

We spend a few minutes talking and I can see that she’s loving them already.

“We did want to talk to you about Marc. Do you know anything about him?” Francesco asks.

Not really. We talked sometimes, but not about anything personal. He worked at a financial office, the coffee shop jobwas his ‘for fun’ job. And he drove an expensive car. But I never went out with him or really anywhere with him. I only talked to him at the coffee shop. Which is why when I started seeing him everywhere I went, it started to worry me.”

“That’s understandable. So you went to the police and asked them to help?”

I nod. “I did and they told me my options. They were limited because he never threatened me. But because he was everywhere I was. The the police officer said they could help me. And when we went to court, they were able to show pictures of Marc following me.”

Listening to Piper tell her story makes me angry that she had to go through that alone.

“Did you tell your family about it?” Giacomo asks.

“After I took the restraining order out, I told my parents. I had to, in case something happened to me,” she says softly.

I hold her in my arms and I can feel her shaking.

“We’re going to do everything we can to help you. The main thing right now is, you need to remember not to go anywhere alone. And to never be alone,” Enea says to her.

Piper nods.

“We plan on staying for a while. So make sure if you need to go somewhere, you take one of us.”

“You can also stay with me at the store,” I say to her.

We spend another hour discussing what we can do to make sure Piper is safe. When it’s time for bed, Piper chooses to stay with me. I love that I get to hold her all night.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Piper

It’s been a week and I haven’t seen or heard from Marc. I spend most of my time at the general store with Paxton. I feel so bad that everyone is still here. Especially the ones with families back in Lake Renegade. I keep expecting to see Marc somewhere, but I don’t.

This weekend is Rhett and Emiko’s wedding. We were planning to do a girl's night out since Giovanna, Isabella and Artemis are here. But Enea and Giacomo said no to that. So now we’re going to stay in and have a girl’s night here. We’re also waiting until Friday, since all the women will be here from Lake Renegade. It feels like our little town is going to be overrun with family. Some of them will be staying at Emiko’s rental and the rest will be here. I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty loud.

“How are you doing?” Giovanna asks as she sits next to me.

“I’m okay. I hate that I keep looking over my shoulder.”

“Yeah, I understand that. It’ll fade away in time.”

“And I feel so bad that all of you are here, away from your spouses and kids.”

“It’s really okay. My mam is taking care of my babies. And my husband is on a week of away games. So I wouldn’t be seeing him anyway.”

---