by Ali Parker
“Surprise me,” I said.
She slipped off the bed and graced me with one more smile before slipping out of the room.
I spotted my phone on the table beside my bed. I reached for it, stretching the stitches in my wounded chest, and grunted with the effort. I managed to grab the phone and had to give myself a minute to catch my breath from the effort.
When I was recovered, I punched in a number.
“Hey,” I said when the call was answered. “This is Sabian. Do you have a few minutes?”
Chapter 28
Angela
I wrung my hands in the skirt of my powder-blue sundress. My palms were sweaty, and all I could think about was how terribly this night could potentially go. I was about to unveil the thickest web of lies I had ever told to my parents; I was going to confess that I was actually in love with a member of a motorcycle gang.
I was risking everything.
Sabian was sitting beside me in the back of the limo my parents had sent to my apartment to pick us up. He was dressed in a white linen shirt and blue jeans. He looked handsome as ever with a clean-shaven jaw and his hair styled back off his forehead.
The visible signs of his altercation with the Black Hearts were still there. He had a black eye, but the swelling had thankfully gone down. His jaw was still bruised on the righthand side, and there was a bandage over the cut on his throat. He looked far worse under his shirt, but my parents of course would not see the damage there. The purpling around his bruised ribs and the bandage over his chest were for my eyes only.
He reached over and rested his hand over both of mine, stilling my endless fidgeting. “Stop stressing,” he said. “Everything is going to be okay. I’ll be right beside you the whole time.”
I let out a shaky sigh and stared out the window as we passed luxury high rises on my parents’ street. “I know. I can’t help it. I don’t want them to hate me.”
“I promise they won’t hate you. They’re your parents. They’ll understand.”
“You don’t know them,” I whispered. “They might think I’m soiling the Cooper name. I’m supposed to marry a rich businessman who plays tennis on the weekends. I’m supposed to want to stay home and raise babies and bake cookies. I’m supposed to want to hire a house staff and—”
“Angela,” Sabian said. His voice was deep and calming as he shifted in his seat to face me. His movements were still slower than usual, due to his injuries. “They will understand.”
I blinked as hot tears started to burn the corners of my eyes.
Sabian reached out and wiped them away with his thumb. “And if they don’t understand, I can always take up tennis.”
I laughed involuntarily. “Shut up.”
Sabin shrugged. “I’m being serious. If your father needs someone to play tennis, I’m more than willing to learn how to kick his ass. Besides, you could watch courtside. You’d look so damn cute in one of those little skirts and a polo shirt.”
I rolled my eyes. Despite his inability to take this seriously, I knew he cared about how I felt. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in a polo shirt.”
“Oh, come on,” he said playfully.
I shook my head adamantly. “No way in hell.”
Sabian slid closer to me so that his hip and leg were pressed to mine. He tilted my chin up with his thumb and arched a dark eyebrow. “You’re sure you want this enough? Is it worth it?”
“You are more than enough,” I said softly. “I promise.”
I hadn’t even noticed that the car had stopped, and we were parked outside the building my parents were staying in. My stomach flipped over, and I swallowed back my nervousness. Sabian lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles.
“Good,” he said. “Then you have nothing to lose.”
He slid out of the car when the driver opened the door for him. I watched him reach instinctively for his bruised side. He offered me his hand as I got out of the car, but I didn’t take it. I knew I wouldn’t hurt him, but part of me worried he was already pushing himself too much by coming to dinner with me. I was being selfish, making him do this so soon after everything went down.
I had tried to change my mind earlier that morning and bail on dinner. Sabian had grabbed me by my shoulders and sternly told me that we were going and there was no backing out of it now.
I don’t know where the day went, but somehow, we were already slipping inside and getting on the elevator.
I stared at our reflection in the mirrored doors as we rode up. I was tanned but could tell that a lot of the color had drained from my face due to the nerves. Sabian stood beside me, straight and still, with his hands clasped in front of him. He was watching me in the reflection and cracked a crooked smile.
“Stop stressing,” he said.
“I can’t.”
“We’ll do it quick. Rip it off like a Band-Aid. Okay?”
I nodded.
The doors slid open, and we stepped out. The same butler who had welcomed us in last time opened the door to the suite and invited us inside. He brought us to the living room where my parents were sitting on plush white sofas.
They both got to their feet when we entered and came to greet us. My mother hugged me and kissed my cheeks as my father shook Sabian’s hand. Then we switched. My dad gave me a tight squeeze as my mom hugged Sabian.
When the greeting was done, we all sat down. Sabian sat close to me and took my hand in his.
“We are so happy you both managed to visit before we head back to Los Angeles,” my mother said.
“Me too.” I smiled. Sabian squeezed my hand. “But, to be honest, I came because I need to tell you both something. And you might not like what I have to say, but it’s time I start being honest.”
My parents exchanged a glance. My father called for the butler to bring us out a glass of red wine each. Then he leaned back in the couch and waved his hand in a gesture for me to speak.
You can do this. You’re a grown woman. You can handle this. You stared down Ruby Johnson for fuck’s sake. You can tell your parents the truth.
I sucked in a sharp breath and began.
“Sabian and I are not engaged. We never were. In fact, when I moved out here, I barely knew him. We met through Axel. He’s a member of the Lost Breed motorcycle club.” I spilled the beans and told them everything. Every word made me feel lighter. Once I got going, it was hard for me to stop. I explained everything that had happened within the last few weeks, including everything with Ruby. When I was done, I ran my palms down my thighs. “I guess I wanted you to know because I do actually care about Sabian. I care about him a lot.” I shot him a smile, and he smiled back. “I’m in love with him.”
“In love?” my mother asked. Her question suggested she doubted me, but her tone was not accusing as I expected it to be.
I nodded. “Yes. And I think I’ve known it for a while now. I just… I just couldn’t see my way out of this stupid lie I crafted. I wanted to move here so badly, and I knew you would stop me if I didn’t convince you that there was more here for me than a job.”
“A career,” Sabian corrected beside me.
“A career,” I amended sheepishly before trying to hide behind the rim of my wineglass as I took a sip.
My father’s eyes slid from me to Sabian. He stared at him for a moment, and I tightened my grip on Sabian’s hand. I didn’t want him to be the subject of my father’s anger. It wasn’t his fault. I had chosen this life. I had chosen him.
And I knew I would continue to choose him over everything else, no matter what life threw at me.
My father cleared his throat. “And what do you have to say for yourself, Sabian?”
Sabian glanced at me. His expression was not nearly as serious as I would have expected. His eyes were soft, gentle, and his lips were pursed in a kind smile as he ran his thumb over the back of my hand. “I have a lot to say,” he said.
“Then let’s hear it,” my father urged.
Sabian never took his ey
es off of me as he spoke. “I’m in love with your daughter. I have been for a long time now. I tried to trick myself into thinking that life would be fine without her. Surely, there were other pretty girls out there who could make my heart race the way she did. Who could make me feel the way she did. When she was in Los Angeles, it was easier to forget about her. Easier to spend my time and energy working on cars and bikes to keep myself distracted. But when she came back here, I knew all bets were off.”
Sabian chuckled and looked down at our hands. Then he slid off the couch and sank to one knee in front of me.
“Angela Cooper, you’ve saved me from damnation more than once. You’ve been a very bright light in a dark world, and I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. You are everything to me, and I would be honored if you would become my wife.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small box. He held it out to me and popped it open.
I gasped as the rose gold ring inside caught the light of the chandelier above the coffee table. It was a beautiful piece of work, with a halo cut and a winding band encrusted with diamonds.
I looked from the ring into Sabian’s eyes.
He was still smiling at me. The moment felt so surreal. I glanced up at my parents. My father had his phone out and was snapping pictures. My mother was dabbing at tears in the corners of her eyes. This confused me.
“What?” I asked slowly, looking back down at Sabian.
“I called your dad. He already knew everything. I told him the whole thing. And I got his permission to propose. And Axel’s.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. The first sob escaped, and I covered my mouth.
Sabian nodded. “Dead serious. Will you marry me?”
I nodded furiously as the tears ran freely down my cheeks. Sabian plucked the ring from the box and took my left hand. He slid it onto my ring finger and looked up at me, a grin stretching across his handsome face. “Welcome to the family, Angela Delgado.”
Chapter 29
Sabian
Angela was staring at the ring on her finger when I pulled up in front of the New York Times building. She didn’t realize that we had arrived, and I let her stare at the diamond for a solid two minutes before leaning over and kissing her cheek. She looked up at me, her eyelashes fluttering, and smiled.
“Sorry, I can’t stop staring at it. I still can’t believe this is real.”
I grinned. “It’s real, baby. And today is a big day. So get that perfect ass of yours out of my car and get in there. You don’t want to be late for your first day as a real journalist.”
Angela grabbed her briefcase from the floor between her feet and gave me a joking scowl. “I’ve been a real journalist the whole time. But now, my boss knows it.”
Angela’s article had been published in the paper on Friday morning, and today was her first day back at work since everything went down—and that included our engagement. I knew she was both nervous and excited to confront all her coworkers. She was especially eager to see her boss and tell him that she would be choosing her own stories from here on out.
We’d done a bit of role playing in the morning while we sipped coffees on her terrace, and she somehow managed to use the phrase, “and stick it up your ass”, in each and every scenario. So I was certain she’d be saying that to John at some point over the course of the day, and I looked forward to hearing how it all went.
“I’ll pick you up at five?”
“Four,” Angela said as she popped her door open.
“Aren’t you supposed to be off at five?”
“Yeah, but John won’t make me stay. I’m going to milk the shit out of this while I can.” She leaned over the console to give me a goodbye kiss. Then she hopped out of the car and closed the door. She bent over and rested her elbows in the open window. “Have a good first day back at work. Don’t do anything too strenuous.”
“Strenuous?” I laughed. “I’m going to lounge around the shop all day. I got stabbed. I don’t need to work.”
Angela rolled her eyes and gave me a wide grin before straightening up and making her way into the building. I watched her go and indulged by staring at her ass the whole way.
I was a lucky man.
The shop lot was packed full of cars, and I recognized each and every one of them. I got out of my car and made my way to the open bay doors. I could hear voices as I approached, and when I stepped out from behind Jax’s black pickup truck, I was greeted with shouts and applause from a crowd of faces that made me smile.
Ellie and Jamie came to me first and gave me gentle hugs so as not to hurt me. I didn’t like how fragile they seemed to think I was, based on the very light pressure they embraced me with, but I forwent my pride as Dani greeted me next. Her hug was a little firmer, and she patted my cheek in a way my mother used to when I was just a boy.
“It’s good to see you on your feet,” she said. Then she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Thanks for talking to him this weekend. It helped big time.”
I squeezed her shoulder. “No problem, Dani. Sometimes that man of yours just can’t get out of his own head.”
I had spoken to Ryder on Saturday morning. I stopped by his house and found him on the sofa, cracking open his third beer of the day. It was only nine o’clock. I’d swiped it out of his hand and scolded him before sitting down and enduring the most torturous conversation of my life.
I forced him to talk to me about his guilt over what happened to Hyde. I also expressed shame of my own. I should have spoken up sooner. I should have pressed Ryder harder that something was wrong. But everything was hindsight, and neither of us ever could have known how crazy Ruby actually was. After talking for hours, Ryder seemed to adjust back to his old self. We were able to think back on fond memories of Hyde and share a couple of laughs before Dani got home from work and let me go home to rest. She and Ryder both knew I had plans to propose that night, and Dani suggested I get some sleep in the afternoon. Apparently, I had looked like shit.
A stab wound would do that to a guy apparently.
Ryder stepped around Dani and clapped me on the shoulder. “Good to see you. And as an engaged man. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” I grinned.
Soon, I was being swarmed by the others. Axel pulled me in for a hug and told me not to be a pussy when I groaned about my ribs. Jax slapped me on the back and congratulated me on selling my soul and hitching my wagon to Axel’s crazy family.
Caleb and Derek were there, too.
I shook their hands. “Thanks for coming back for our dumb asses.”
Derek gave me a broad smile as he crossed his arms over his thick chest. “We should have left you lot for dead. We would have inherited a whole MC. And this shop. And Ryder’s car.”
“Watch it,” Ryder scoffed.
“For the record,” Dani piped up, “I’d get his car.
We all laughed, and I basked in the sound of it. Even though we had suffered a great loss, we were still us. We were still a brotherhood capable of laughing together. If we didn’t have that, we didn’t have anything.
Axel cleared his throat and called for our attention. He met my eye briefly before speaking. “I want to invite you all over for a barbeque this evening at my place. Kids are welcome, but let’s try to get them to bed early. Let’s celebrate Sabian and Angela’s engagement right. And we’ll have a drink for Hyde.”
“Or ten,” Caleb suggested.
We all chuckled.
“Ten sounds better,” Axel agreed. He looked over at Jamie, who was tucked under Ellie’s arm. Her eyes were a little glossy. I knew losing Hyde had been hard on her. Unbeknownst to the rest of the MC, they had been getting close. Axel nodded at her. “Make sure you come tonight, Jamie. We all want you there.”
She smiled and nodded once. She had a long road ahead of her, but we’d all be there to hold her up if she needed someone to lean on. That was what we did for one another. That was what Hyde would have wanted us to do.
The rest of the day
was spent much like the first twenty minutes. We all stood around shooting the shit and talking about things that didn’t matter. Every now and then, conversation would drift back to Hyde, and someone would share a funny story or memory of him. It felt good to be able to talk about him without having to swallow a lump in my throat. It felt good to remember him.
I picked Angela up at four from her work as she requested. On the drive home, she told me about how her boss had avoided her all day. The other journalists flocked to her, and she was now on a first name basis with almost everyone she worked with.
She also got a call from a local news station and was asked to go on live TV for an interview about what happened between the two motorcycle clubs.
“What did you say?” I asked as I pulled into my newly designated stall in the underground parking lot of the Kent building.
“I said no,” Angela said as she took off her seatbelt and got out of the car. I got out too, and we looked at each other over the roof of the car. “I’m not interested in reliving that day over and over. I wrote my story. I shared what happened. And that’s all there is to it. It’s time to move on.”
“Fucking hell, I love you,” I breathed.
She giggled and met me in front of the car. We got into the elevator and made our way into her apartment.
“Get changed,” I told her. “I think your brother is throwing an impromptu engagement party for us tonight.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” I went to her massive closet and began rifling through her dresses. I loved how she looked in summer dresses. “He invited everyone over to celebrate and have a barbeque. Ellie always brings her camera out at these things, so I figured you’d want the chance to wear one of your summer dresses.”
“I’d want the chance, or you want me to wear one?” Angela teased as she swung around in front of me. She took the front of my shirt in her hands and held on to me. “I know how much you like it when I wear a dress.”