He looks devastated before complete surprise washes over his face. He opens his arms second before I leap into them.
I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck as he takes a few steps back. Then I bury my face in his sweat soaked neck.
“Kentlee,” he sighs, squeezing me tightly, his hands on my ass.
“I thought I was never going to see you again,” I sob into his skin. He grunts as he holds me close.
“Let’s get the fuck outta here,” he murmurs to his men. I lift my head from his neck to look at Bates.
One night, about two years ago, Bates came home drunk off his ass and he admitted that he was a Sniper in the Marines.
He killed so many people that he had lost count. He hated it. He hated the nightmares that came with it; hated the screams of the people who watched a man drop so suddenly.
His nickname is Sniper, but he despises everything that was associated with it. He didn’t want to pick people off from trees or rooftops anymore.
He didn’t want the nightmares.
He wanted to be free.
But he just killed a man. For me, he did it. He faced his demons—to save me.
I love him like I could love no other friend. He’s my family, and now he’s my savior and hero.
“Thank you,” I mouth.
“For you? Anything,” he mouths back before he smiles and walks off.
“Burn this place to the ground,” Pierce calls out.
I hear a few people confirm before he sets me down and straddles his bike. Without a word, I crawl on behind him and wrap myself around his back.
I hold onto his middle tightly as he takes me away from what could have been a deadly situation for us.
Both of us and our love. I expect him to drive straight to the clubhouse, but he doesn’t. Instead, he drives toward our home.
“We need showers before we get our boy,” he mumbles. He turns the engine off on his bike and closes the garage door.
I follow him inside, in shock. I haven’t stopped crying, but my tears are now silent ones that just steadily stream down my face.
I’m not sad, I’m relieved. The tears are my adrenaline crashing and my relief taking over.
I follow Pierce into the house and into our bathroom. I watch him stoically as he strips his dirty, bloody clothes off and starts the shower.
He turns to me and silently strips me of my own clothes before he takes my hands and leads me into the hot, steamy shower.
“I almost lost you,” he says quietly as water streams over our bodies.
Neither of us are doing anything but staring at each other. It is as if we are frozen, afraid to move, afraid that one of us will suddenly disappear.
“I almost lost you,” I repeat his words.
I almost lost him, but I was almost lost, as well.
“I was so scared,” he admits. I watch tears fall from his eyes, now red-rimmed with his emotion.
“I was terrified,” I admit before I throw my body against his.
“Never again. I’d kill them all again if I could, baby girl,” he whispers into my neck. I feel his big hands on my thighs before he lifts my body up, pressing my back against the warm tiles.
“I need to feel you. I need to know you’re here and you’re safe,” he murmurs as his lips brush mine.
“Take me, Pierce,” I sigh, burying my hands in his long, wet hair.
Without a word, I feel his cock enter me in a slow, gentle move. His hands are on my hips and his eyes are focused on mine. He takes me slowly and carefully.
I can feel him, every single inch of him, as he glides in and out of my hot core.
We say nothing more, my gasps and his low grunts the only noises filling the room. When his lips touch mine, I sigh.
This isn’t fucking to feel alive, this is cherishing each other because we survived. One wrong move and one of us, or both of us, could have died today.
I wrench my lips away from his when I feel my pussy begin to pulse, right before I come. I moan as my eyes flutter closed, but Pierce doesn’t stop. He continues to slowly fuck me with precision and a rhythm that is perfectly wicked.
His lips touch my neck as his fingers squeeze my ass even harder. I feel the vibration of his moan in my neck before I hear it, then he fills my body with his release.
“Thank fuck I got you back, baby girl. I would die without you,” he mutters as his lips trail down my neck and then back up and over to my lips.
“I wouldn’t have survived without you either, Pierce. Without you and without our Bear,” I murmur.
He grins for a split second before he releases me.
We spend the next few minutes washing all of the blood and dirt off of our bodies and out of our hair.
Once we are finished, we dress and walk down to Tammy’s house to get our boy. I can’t wait another second to have him back in my arms.
“I know why you went with them quietly,” Pierce says as we approach Tammy’s.
“For Bear,” I say, surely confirming his suspicions.
“Thank you, baby girl. Thank you for protecting him when I couldn’t,” he says. I see the pain clearly etched in his features.
“You cannot be with us twenty-four hours a day, Pierce. This shit happens. It could happen even if you weren’t the Notorious Devils’ president,” I say, cupping his cheek.
“Yeah, but fact remains it happened because I’m the Notorious Devils’ president. You’ll always be a target,” he says. I nod.
“I may always be a target, Pierce, but it’s not worth being unhappy and lonely. I’ll take whatever life hands me as long as you’re at my side.”
FURY
“I may always be a target, Pierce, but it’s not worth being unhappy and lonely. I’ll take whatever life hands me as long as you’re at my side.”
Kentlee’s words ring in my head long after she says them. I’m lying in bed, hours after we’ve picked up Bear and spent time just loving each other, loving our family.
I’ve sated my woman, hopefully exhausting her to the point where she won’t have a nightmare about her fucking horrific day. Yet, I can’t shut my brain off.
I slip out of bed, grabbing my phone and my jeans before I pull them on and go outside on the front porch.
“Can’t sleep,” the voice says on the other end.
“No, Pops, I can’t,” I admit.
I can hear a party in the background, but I don’t care that I’ve interrupted him. There’s some shuffling around and the music fades into the background.
“She’s safe, they’re safe.” He confirms what my head knows, but I can’t shake this feeling. This feeling that I’ve brought her into this shit and I should let her live a free life.
“How’d you do it?” I ask.
“Do what?” he sounds confused.
I forgot that he doesn’t know what’s been rattling around in my head all night.
“Put mom in danger like you did by making her an Old Lady? How did you knowingly make her a target?”
“It’s selfish of us, isn’t it?” he asks. I grunt my agreement. “I did it partly because I’m a selfish prick and I wanted her; but that wasn’t the only reason.
“I tried to keep her away from me when I knew she was going to be a target, when I knew I truly cared for her and she could be someone an enemy could hold over my head. She wouldn’t accept it, though.
“She told me if I truly loved her, then I would do everything in my power to make her happy. Then she laid it on me, told me that she couldn’t be happy unless she was mine. Fucked up, right?” he chuckles.
I want to agree, but I could see Kentlee saying the same damn thing.
“You made her happy, though,” I point out. He chuckles.
“Busted my ass to make her happy, son. Doesn’t mean I didn’t fuck up a lot—because I did. But I tried my damnedest to make sure she didn’t regret one minute at my side. I already told you if I could do it all over again, I’d have given her more kids and been
home more; but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t give her all that I had to give at the time. I did. I gave her everything—my heart included,” he says.
“Okay,” I whisper into the dark.
“Don’t push all that beauty and love you have away, Pierce. Hold onto it with both hands,” he says quietly before he ends the call.
I set the phone down on the banister before I feel two slim arms wrap around my waist.
“What are you doin’ up?” I ask, turning around and leaning my ass against the wood, pulling Kentlee into my arms.
She’s wearing one of my t-shirts and it looks sexy as fuck on her.
“Rolled over and the bed was empty,” she shrugs. I place my finger beneath her chin, lifting her head so that our eyes can meet.
“Truth?” I ask, searching her pretty eyes.
“I felt you get up. I was sleeping, but restlessly. I followed you out a few minutes after you left the bed,” she says.
I know she heard my side of the conversation with my dad.
“I love you, baby girl, you know that?” I watch as she bites her bottom lip.
“But you’re leaving us?” she asks.
It fucking kills me. I slide my hand around to cradle the back of her neck before I place a closed mouth kiss on her puffy lips.
“Never. I’m never leaving you, sugar. I love you so much,” I admit as I press my forehead to hers.
“It sounded like you wanted to leave,” she whispers. I hate that I have made her feel this way, this uncertain.
“I’ve shared how it scares me that you’re my weakness, that people will use you to get to me. It happened, and it was terrifying. But neither of us would survive being separated. I couldn’t imagine my life without you and Bear in it. I don’t even want to think about it. So, no, I don’t want to leave, and I’m not going to,” I say.
She wraps her arms around me a bit tighter, holding me before she whispers into the night.
“I was so lost when you were away and when I thought you didn’t want us. I never want to feel like that again, Pierce. You’re my rock. You’re my heart. You’re all rough and rowdy, and I love that about you. I love everything about you, but I want you to be as happy as I am.”
“I’m happy. I’m so fuckin’ happy, it aches inside, baby girl,” I say before I bend down and take her mouth with mine.
I kiss her—my lover, my woman, my friend, and the woman who rests her heart in the palm of my hand.
The woman who’s turned me into a complete pussy.
I can’t give a fuck about it. There’s absolutely nothing I would change about us.
I pick up my phone and then my girl and carry them both inside.
I spend the rest of the night telling and showing Kentlee how much I love and need her in my life.
I wasn’t living until she strutted that fine ass of hers in front of me on Main Street.
I was going through the motions in life—fucking, fighting and surviving—but I wasn’t living until I had something to fuckin’ live for.
My woman.
My son.
My family.
Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
KENTLEE
“The zipper isn’t going to go up,” Rosie says from behind me as she tugs on the zipper of my wedding gown.
Today is my wedding day. I’m going to officially be Mrs. Pierce Duhart.
though, I’ve been Fury’s Old Lady for months now, a title that makes me as good as a wife with his brothers and other outlaw bikers.
My script tattoo of his name on my hip permanently marks me as his in his world. I want his name, though and I want to easily change Bear’s last name to Pierce’s.
But I can’t do any of that if my dress doesn’t fit.
“I just tried it on last week and it was fine,” I grind out as I hold the sides of the dress back so that Rosie can pull the zipper up.
“Bitch, you’re knocked up. How did you not give yourself some leeway?” she asks.
I grin, thinking about the baby Pierce and I are going to welcome into the world in another six months.
“I figured a week was fine. It fit like a glove last week,” I grumble.
She curses as she finally yanks the zipper up.
It’s tight.
I let out a shaky breath and look at myself in the mirror. The dress is a blush color—because white was just ridiculous—and it has a sweetheart neckline.
The bodice tight all the way to my knees, where it flares just a bit. It's mermaid style that hugs every single curve I have, which is way more than I had six months ago.
Pierce has been feeding me, trying to get me to gain weight. Apparently, he missed the body I sported when we met.
Tits and ass is what he missed, but he claims he just wants me to be healthy and I looked hungry.
I smile as I slide my feet into my pale blue high heels.
My dreams come true today.
Completely and totally fulfilled.
“Did your brother make it?” Rosie asks hesitantly. I shake my head.
My brother has been more and more distant lately. I don’t know if it’s because I accepted Pierce back into my life so easily or if it’s because he’s tired of the family drama and the shit he gets from our parents by keeping our lines of communication open.
I asked him to walk me down the aisle about four months ago, and he told me he would let me know.
I haven’t heard from him since, and I am letting things lie. I love Connellee, but I’m not going to push him. If I did, then I would be no better than my parents.
I’m not happy with him. In fact, I’m angry. I’m angry at him for being verbally supportive and then just disappearing.
“I’m sure he’s busy being a fancy doctor,” I say, trying to hold back my tears.
I’m an emotional mess with the pregnancy, not to mention my family and a wedding on top of it.
“You have all of us, though, so you’re good,” Rosie says with a grin before she wraps me in a hug.
Rosie and I have become extremely close since my abduction. We spend several days a week together with our children, just enjoy each other’s company.
She doesn’t have contact with her family either, so it’s a way for us to bond. We've become each other’s support system.
“You ready?” she asks as she gathers her purse and slips on her own shoes.
“I am,” I say with a nod. And I am. I am so ready. I am so excited to be Mrs. Pierce Duhart, I can hardly breathe.
Our wedding isn’t a huge affair. The only guests are the club members and their Old Ladies or girlfriends.
Pierce’s father, Max, and his men came, as well. There are only about seventy guests, and the only people I invited were my neighbor, Tammy, and Candy from the club.
That’s okay, though. I don’t mind. This group of men, and a few women, truly are my family now.
Tammy knocks on the door to the bedroom, where I am getting dressed, and ushers Bear inside.
“You look lovely,” she whispers as she wraps her arms around me.
I thank her before she leaves and then I look at my little man. He’s wearing a mini suit and he looks adorable.
“Are you ready?” I ask him. He nods, shifting from foot to foot.
When my brother didn’t return my phone call, I decided that I would have Bear walk me down the aisle to his daddy. It seemed fitting. We are finally becoming a family, legally, and in the eyes of God.
When I said this to Pierce, he rolled his eyes and told me we were already a family. I know that we are, that we’re a perfect family, but I want to be one in all aspects, not just in our hearts. So this wedding, it’s important to me.
I let Pierce pick the venue, and I prayed that it wouldn’t be a bar. I really did think that he would make it at the clubhouse, but he surprised me.
Shocked me, really.
Our wedding is at an old barn out in the country. The barn is rustic and beautiful. Inside, there's a dance floor,
along with a bar, and old lighting across the big beams that hold it together.
Outside, there are chairs set up, making an aisle and tables off to the side for dinner. It’s quiet and peaceful and breathtaking. I love that he truly thought of me while picking the venue.
I take Bear’s hand and together we walk out of the old farm house and toward Pierce. I almost made Pierce wear a suit, and I’m sure he would have had I asked, but I wouldn’t ask that of him. That’s simply not his style.
He’s standing at the end of the aisle, waiting for us; his hair in my favorite man-bun style, with his beard covered cheeks and chin.
He’s wearing dark black pants that I picked out, along with his black riding boots and a crisp, black, button up shirt.
His cut is firmly in place and he looks so rugged and so tough, yet so incredibly gorgeous and handsome all rolled into one.
Once Bear and I make our way down the aisle, he runs over to Rosie, who is in the front row with her daughter.
I take Pierce’s offered hands and we begin our ceremony.
FURY
Kentlee has been mine since the moment I saw her, but today, she’s officially mine—legally.
I look around at all of our friends dancing, laughing, and drinking.
This is the life.
Our friends and family, celebrating our newest milestone. I watch as Kentlee kisses Bear goodnight and Tammy takes him away.
It’s getting late, and the kids are all leaving. I wish I were leaving too, so that I could start in on fucking my wife for the entire night; but it’s a party, and she’s having a good time, so I won’t make her leave just yet.
I watch as she walks my way. Her dress is so fucking beautiful on her, showcasing those curves that I’ve been working overtime to add to her small frame.
Then of course, that sweet little baby bump she’s suddenly sporting. I would be lying if I said that bump wasn’t the best thing about her body right now.
I never saw her grow with Bear, so I’m enjoying everything about it this time.
Honestly, I can’t wait to knock her up again.
The Notorious Devils MC: Complete Collection BoxSet Page 27