Page 107 of Twisted Steel

Fury groans.“I’m an officer.”

“You’re a man who can carry potato salad,” Mama M snaps.“Now move.”

Harper laughs, and the sound goes straight through my ribs.I would let the world burn for that sound, and I should know because I almost did.

“Staring again,” Saint says, appearing beside me like a shadow with a beer.

I don’t look at him.“Are you attached to your teeth?”

“Moderately.”

“Then talk less.”

Saint watches Harper and Milo argue while Raven judges them like a queen at a particularly violent picnic.“She looks good here.”

I grunt.

“That was agreement?”

“That was a warning.”

His mouth twitches.“Sure.”

The back gate opens, and Dante walks in with two guards behind him.Conversation dips, and everyone turns in his direction.

He is thinner than the last time I saw him.Still pale.Still moving like his body has not forgiven him for almost dying.He’s not sporting a Vulture patch or any cut at all.Just a plain black shirt, jeans, and the face of a man who knows he is alive because a woman he helped endanger refused to let him bleed out on a clubhouse floor.

Harper sees him and her laughter fades.My body pushes off the garage before thought can finish forming.Saint’s hand closes briefly around my wrist, but he releases me after I shoot him a dirty look.

Dante stops ten feet from Harper with his hands visible.Harper studies him for a long second while Milo shifts closer to her, and Raven sits up straighter on the truck.Savage watches without moving.

Dante clears his throat.“Harper.”

I’m already halfway across the yard.She glances at me once, and I stop, waiting to see if she needs me to intervene.

Dante swallows.“I’m not here to bring trouble.”

Harper folds her arms across her chest.“That would be a refreshing change.”

A few men laugh under their breath and Dante almost smiles, but it dies fast.“I wanted to say thank you.”She says nothing.“For saving me,” he continues.“At the clubhouse.In the van.At County.I know I gave you every reason not to.”

“You were bleeding.”

“Yeah.”He looks at the dirt.“That was kind of hard to miss.”

Harper’s mouth twitches and my chest eases a bit.

Dante looks up again.“I told Savage everything I knew.Reaper’s remaining men are gone, and their routes are shut down.No one is coming for you because of me.”

“They better not,” Milo says.

Dante glances at him, and Milo lifts his chin like he isn’t standing in a biker compound wearing a neon pink t-shirt that saysI’m The Fun Paramedic.

Harper puts a hand on Milo’s arm.“Thank you for telling me.”

Dante nods.“And I really am sorry.”

She studies him, really studies him, before she nods once.“Stay alive long enough to make it mean something.”