Page 5 of Royal's Reign
“I heard voices,” she goes on to explain, shaking her hands out, making me wonder if she felt the sensation too. “Then what sounded like a hurt animal. I should have just kept on walking.” She shakes her head at this point; it’s like she’s reprimanding herself. “But I couldn’t ignore it, so I walked a little further into the alley, and that’s when I saw them.”
“Them?” I question. “How many were they?”
“Two, I think. Plus, the man kneeling on the ground; his hands were clasped together as if in prayer.”
“What exactly did you stumble across, Gio?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but it escalated fast. Before I knew it, they were punching and kicking him, his cries…” her eyes wide, meet mine and once again they are glazed with fear. “I wanted to stop them; I did. Instead, I turned to leave. I kicked a bottle, the noise of it smashing alerted them of my presence.” Deep heaving sobs spill from between her lips as she tries to continue. “I’ll never forget the fear in that poor man’s eyes.” She cries.
“Hey, hey,” I coo, dropping onto my knees in front of her, bringing her against my chest. I cup the back ofher head with one hand while with the other I wrap around her shoulders, holding her close to me.
“They saw me,” she cries into my chest. “One of them looked me in the eye. He recognized me, Noah.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Just before the gunshot, he called out my name,” she whimpers. “They killed him.”
“Fuck,” I hiss out between my teeth. “Did you recognize the man who called out to you?”
She stiffens, pushes against my chest with both hands, forcing me to loosen my hold on her, and she falls back into the chair.
“Gio? Do you know who it was?” Avoiding my gaze, now firmly focused on a random spot on the far wall, she mumbles out an unconvincing no. “Giorgia?”
I get the feeling that she’s holding back from me, but why? I’m not sure. I take hold of her chin and tilt it until she has no alternative but to look me in the eye.
“Why would you protect him, Gio?” I ask. “They committed a murder.” Still, I get nothing. She just glares at me tight-lipped. “Giorgia,” I growl at her, circling her wrist with my tattooed hand. “Tell me now why you won’t give this asshole up, or I swear to God…”
“I’m not protecting anyone,” she spits out at me, “don’t know who it was.” Shaking her hand free from my hold. The heavy knock at the door disrupts us from talking further as Grinder pushes open the door and enters the room.
If Grinder noticed the tension between Gio and mewhen he walked back in, he sure as hell mentioned nothing. We both move outside the room and out of earshot of Gio so we can talk in private.
“No sign of anyone outside, but we’ve got a couple of images that Forger is working on.” Grinder brings me up to speed. “He’s pretty sure that with what he does have, if he hacks into the police database and the dude has any kind of criminal record, he’ll have a name within the next hour.”
“Good,” I nod. I want a name so I can find this fucker and make sure he’s no longer a threat. I fill him in on what Gio has witnessed and that they know who she is.
“Royal,” he pleads. “She can’t go home, not until I’m sure she’s going to be safe.”
“I agree. What if she moves back to your ma’s for a while?”
“I was thinking the same, but if they know who she is, then it won’t be hard for them to trace her back to where my ma lives, will it?”
“Fuck, you’re right. Is there anywhere your ma can hang out, just until we know more about this fucker?” I ask. Keeping Grinders ma safe is paramount too. She’s been like a second mom to me, and I don’t even want to comprehend how devastating losing her would be for Grinder and Giorgia, so I’m damn sure going to do everything I can to prevent that.
“Her sister, Aunt Maria, lives in Philly. She’s been talking about going to visit.”
“Perfect. Now, what about Gio?”
“The only place we can ensure her safety is here, but the only rooms we have free are the rutting rooms, and there’s no fucking way I’m letting her stay in one of those. Not with what’s gone on in them.” He looks at me, I can see exactly what’s going on in his head and can predict exactly what’s coming next. “The only place she’d be safe and away from the rest of the brothers that I’d give my life for, but I’ll be fucked if I’ll trust them around my sister, is your quarters.”
“And where the fuck am I supposed to stay?” I snigger. “You gonna give up your gaff?”
“Shit no. She’ll have to move in with you. The couch will be perfect for her to crash on, or we could squeeze a cot in there somewhere. It’s not like you haven’t got plenty of floor space.” Grinder continues in his attempt to convince me. “You do have the biggest living quarters.”
“Are you serious?” I choke out. I can’t deny that his points to the argument aren’t correct in a lot of ways. The president’s quarters are the most protected part of the clubhouse, because none of them would enter my private space unless given permission. They would also guard it, and me as their leader, with their lives. Yet the thought of having Gio in such proximity is going to test my resilience to the max. Temptation that I’m not wholly convinced I’m going to be able to resist. Especially after what nearly went down not more than a few minutes ago.
“Who else can I trust her with, Royal? When you look at Gio, all you see is the kid who was a pain in theass when we were growing up. Hell, you’ve always been like family to us, looked on her like a sister,” Grinder continued to put forward his reasoning. “Those assholes just see a young pussy ripe for fucking. I can’t be sure they’d heed my warnings, and I’d hate to kill a brother because they couldn’t keep their dick in their pants.”
Damn it! What could I possibly say to him that could get me out of this situation, without admitting that I’m far from innocent when it comes to inappropriate thoughts about Giorgia?
