“Um, Gio? Hi. It’s Waverly.”
“Hey. You okay?”
I sighed. “Honestly? Not really.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
“I just feel a little unsettled. It’s dumb. I should feel great after this guy got arrested, but I don’t.”
“Okay, what changed?”
I filled him in on my conversation with the DA, and Gio let out a quiet hum.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“The guy sounds like a typical overworked, underpaid government employee,” he said.
I sighed. “Well, there is that.”
“It’s good he’s got you on his radar now, though, right?” he said. “He’ll make sure to keep you updated if shit goes down.”
I nodded.
“You’re still tweaked though, huh?”
“Yes,” I rasped. “I wish every biker in every one of these gangs could be eliminated.”
“Not every biker’s like them,” Gio said.
“Please don’t start spouting that crap,” I breathed out. “My best friend fell in love with some biker in Colorado, and I nearly cut ties with her. I’m just hoping she’ll dump him eventually, because I’ll never, ever meet him or have anything to do with him and his stupid Howlers.” I huffed. “What a dumb name for a club. Primal Howlers. God! So original.”
Gio started to cough, and I frowned. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. Water down the wrong pipe,” he said.
“Oh, okay.”
“You want me to come over?”
I let out a snort. “Even if you could walk, I’d sayno.”
He chuckled. “Liar.”
“Well, I’d want to say no.”
“Lying again, beautiful.”
“Okay, Ishouldwant to say no.”
“Why?”
“I’m not going down that rabbit hole again.” I smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Pretty good. Maisie made me take some pain meds, so it’s helping with the pain.”
