by Katie Ashley
“Fucking hell.”
I didn’t hear anything Rev said next. Instead, that eerie sixth sense feeling of dread pricked up my spine. “I have to go,” I spat. After I hung up, I sprinted back into the building. When the elevator didn’t budge, I hit the stairs to Samantha’s fifth-floor office.
When I burst out of the stairwell, I froze at the sound of Sam’s screams. Then I raced forward on a burst of speed, zigzagging my way through the maze of desks. I barreled into Sam’s office, only to find her crumpled on the floor and Eddy stabbing her.
“Over here, motherfucker!”
My outburst momentarily stunned Eddy, and it gave me the leverage I needed to tackle him. After we tumbled to the floor, I drove my fist into his jaw and then his cheek. He was the extreme opponent I needed to take down in the ring, except the stakes were so much higher here.
Eddy launched three punches back at me before I began pummeling his face with both my fists. Over and over, I beat him as I screamed in agony.
The next thing I knew I was being lifted up and dragged away. When I came to myself enough to realize what was going on, paramedics were dragging a gurney into the room. “Samantha?” I pushed away from the two men holding me and stumbled over to the desk. “Oh Jesus, Sam,” I moaned.
She lay in a pool of blood with jagged cuts along her arms and legs. The worst were the wounds in her chest and abdomen. Tears seared and burned my eyes like acid as I dropped to the floor beside her. I took her limp hand in mine and brought it to my lips. The metallic taste of blood entered my mouth, and I didn’t know if it was Sam’s or Eddy’s or mine. “Oh, Sam, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Sir, you have to move so we can work on her.”
No, I can’t leave her. I did this to her. It’s all my fucking fault. But she needed the paramedics. She needed for them to be able to save her life. Once again, they asked me to step aside. I wasn’t sure my legs would hold me, but somehow I scrambled to my feet. Jesus, I’m so sorry, Sam. I’m so fucking sorry.
After one of the paramedics checked her, he said, “She’s holding on, but we have to get her the hell out of here. She’s losing too much blood.”
I watched helplessly as they put Sam’s body on the gurney. “Sir, do you want to ride along with us?” one of the paramedics asked.
“Y-yeah. Yeah, I do,” I croaked.
“Then let’s go.”
As the wheels of the gurney rattled along the floor, I fell in step with the paramedics. All I could do on the elevator ride down was pray. I needed her to live more than I’d ever longed for anything in the world. I needed to be able to make things right between us.
Most of all, I needed to tell Sam I loved her.
TWENTY-FOUR
SAMANTHA
My eyelids fluttered as I regained consciousness. When I finally opened my eyes, I realized I wasn’t on the floor of my office. Instead, I was laid out on a hospital gurney in the ER.
The curtain opened, and a doctor stepped inside. “Miss Vargas, I’m glad to see you’ve come around. We’re just about to move you to a room.” He extended his hand, to which I brought my IV-shackled hand up to shake. “I’m Dr. Harrelson. I’m the doctor who took care of your injuries.”
“My injuries?” I rasped.
“Yes. You were admitted with multiple stab wounds.”
Everything that had happened came back at me in a rush that caused a wave of dizziness. Bishop had come and brought the depositions . . . we’d had sex . . . then Eddy had shown up in a rage and attacked me. The last thing I remembered besides the pain was Bishop and Eddy fighting. I gasped. “The man who saved me—is he okay?”
Dr. Harrelson nodded. “Yes. He’s right outside the curtain if you’d like to see him. We’ve barely been able to get him to leave your side.”
Overwhelmed with emotion, I could only nod. Dr. Harrelson dipped behind the curtain. When he reappeared, Bishop was with him. He had some cuts and bruises along his face. At what must’ve been the fear in my eyes, he held up his hands. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“You forget that I’m used to getting hit in the face when I’m boxing.”
“I’ll leave you two,” Dr. Harrelson said. When we were alone, I motioned to the chair next to the gurney.
Bishop sat down on the edge of the chair. “Doc says you have to stay in the hospital for a few days, but you’re gonna be fine.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“Are you hurting? Do you need some pain medicine or something?”
I shook my head. As he fidgeted in the chair, I realized how nervous he was. “Do you want to talk about the elephant in the room? And I don’t mean me being stabbed.”
“Eddy’s dead.”
After sucking in a harsh breath, I said, “That wasn’t what I meant, but it’s good to know.”
“It was a long time coming for that fucker.”
“Did you kill him?” I questioned in a low voice. I hated to ask it, but I had to know.
“Yeah. I did.” A look of dark pride gleamed in his eyes. “With my bare fucking hands.”
“Oh no, Bishop.”
He shook his head. “Cops talked to me a few minutes for my story and then let me go. There won’t be any charges.”
It took a moment for me to process it all. Bishop had killed a man to defend not only himself, but me as well. Just as he had taken a personal risk to his own safety to protect me in Virginia when the Diablos attacked. Given that I had sought justice in the courts my whole career, it was still a little hard to swallow the fact that Eddy had died at Bishop’s hands. On the other hand, Eddy had been responsible for Gavin’s death. In a sense, I took some comfort in the old adage of an eye for an eye.
I sighed with relief. “Thank God.”
Bishop rubbed his palms together. “You scared the hell out of me tonight.”
“I did?”
He nodded. “When I busted in your office and saw what Eddy was doing . . .” He closed his eyes with a pained expression. “I thought you were going to die. I didn’t want to lose you, and I especially didn’t want you to die with things still strained between us.”
“You didn’t want to lose me to death . . . or in your life?” My heartbeat accelerated so fast I was sure the heart monitor I was attached to was going to go off.
“Both,” Bishop said, and his voice cracked.
“I’d give anything if you meant that—if you wanted to give us another try.”
“I do, Sam. After what happened tonight, I realized that I don’t want to live a life without you in it.”
Tears stung my eyes at his words. “Oh, Bishop. I love you.”
He smiled. “Even after the way I’ve treated you?”
Regardless of what had gone down between us, I did love him, and I had for some time. But he did ask a valid question. One he probably needed assurance from more than I did. I had already made the sacrifices necessary to prove to myself I loved him. It had been a tough road, considering that through association with him, I’d lost my very best friend. I missed Gavin so much, and some days it was hard to get out of bed. But in his gentle yet strong way, Bishop had been such a comfort to me. He had given my life purpose . . . and it was a life I wanted him to be a part of.
“Yes, yes, I love you.”
Bishop took my hand in his. “I promise I’ll make it up to you all the times I was such an asshole.”
I laughed. “Okay. I’ll let you.”
He rose out of his chair to lean over and kiss me. “I love you, too,” he murmured against my lips.
Once again, I fought the tears as I felt as if my heart would explode from happiness. Surprisingly, it didn’t set off any alarms. As Bishop sat back down, he frowned slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking that I love you so much that I wish we could start over. Like we could forget the past of you being an agent and all that bullshit.”
“All we can do is try.
” When I pulled my hand from his, he stared at me in surprise. I then held it out for him to shake. “I’m Samantha Vargas. I’m an agent with the ATF.”
“Bishop Malloy—sergeant at arms of the Hells Raiders.”
As we shook, I smiled. “That’s a start.”
EPILOGUE
SAMANTHA
My fingers flew furiously over the keys as I typed up my latest debriefing. As I relived the takedown, I couldn’t help smiling. After all, it wasn’t every day that you apprehended a gun trafficker who carried his shipment in a clown-decorated ice cream truck.
It also made me think of Gavin and how he would have hated the case. The one thing he was afraid of was clowns. A year might’ve passed since his murder, but I still thought of him and missed him every day.
A knock came at my door, but I didn’t look up. “Yeah?”
“Are you still here?” Peterson asked.
“Just finishing up.”
“You should have left an hour ago.”
I glanced up at him. “Since when do bosses encourage their employees to be slackers?”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he countered, “When that employee has a wedding rehearsal in less than two hours.”
After hitting save on the file, I held my hands up in defeat. “Fine, fine. I’m leaving now.”
“Good. If I had to see one more text from your future sister-in-law about where you were, I was going to scream.” At my laugh, he narrowed his eyes. “Just exactly how did she get my number?”
“You’re in the wedding party, and as the wedding planner, Alexandra needed your contact number.”
“I see.” He motioned me with his hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you out.”
I had to smile at his overprotectiveness. Even though it had been close to a year since Eddy attacked me, Peterson still insisted on walking me out if he was in the building when I left at night. He would also be walking me down the aisle tomorrow at Bishop’s and my wedding. Although I could have asked my older brother, Steven, or my stepfather, Peterson had really been a father figure to me over the years.
We took the elevator down to the parking garage, and then Peterson walked me over to my car. “See you in two hours.”
“Drive safe.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
Peterson gave me a wry grin. “You better watch that. I might just get a kick out of it in a dirty-old-man way.”
I laughed. “Get out of here.”
He waved and then headed down the row to his car. Just as I started the car, my phone rang. I smiled at the ID. “Hello, Future Husband.”
A chuckle came from the other end. “Hello, Future Wife. You leaving work?”
“Yep. On my way to the clubhouse now.”
“Good. I’ve had Alexandra and Annabel on my ass most of the afternoon.”
“Oh man, double trouble there.”
“Damn straight.”
Since I lacked the girly girl gene for interest in wedding planning, Alexandra and Annabel had taken over the details. Whenever they tried to make it too much, Bishop and I would veto them. In the end, we decided to get married in the same place that Annabel and Rev had. It made sense to do it at Tohi Ama. It was where we had spent our first night together. The place where we started our relationship. It made sense that we would become man and wife there as well.
“So I picked up your mom and stepdad at the airport. Your brother and sister and their families won’t get in until later tonight, which will be better for you to make the introductions.”
“Thanks for doing that. How are they?” What I meant to ask was how they were adjusting to being at an MC clubhouse surrounded by bikers. My mom, who still harbored a lot of prejudice against bikers, had had a hard time when I told her about Bishop. She hadn’t wanted to accept our relationship for a long time, and I think she hoped I was just sowing some wild oats or something rebellious like that. She couldn’t understand how someone with my history could ever trust, least of all love, a biker.
But as the months went on, Bishop and I remained serious. When we got engaged, she tried through numerous phone calls to talk me out of it. Over and over again, I tried explaining to her that the Raiders had gone legitimate, and while Bishop and his brothers had killed in the past, they were nothing like that anymore, least of all like the man who had killed my father.
It had taken a face-to-face meeting for her to actually start to warm to Bishop. We had gone down after Christmas and spent New Year’s with my mom and stepdad. Bishop was extremely patient with her and kept his temper when she was openly hostile. Finally, it all came to a head over dinner one night at my mother’s favorite restaurant.
After Bishop picked up the check, he turned to my mother. “Mrs. Bennett, there’s something I need to say to you.”
My mother pursed her lips at him as she reached for the last of her wine. “What is it?”
Bishop drew in a deep breath as my stepfather and I leaned forward anxiously in our chairs. “I’ve spent most of my life dealing with people thinking I’m the scum of the earth because I wear a cut and ride a Harley. I’ve learned to accept that. And while my brothers and I weren’t always model citizens, I can swear to you on my life that we are decent, law-abiding men now.”
My mother waved her hand dismissively. “Yes, yes, Samantha has told me that a hundred times. But it still doesn’t change anything for me.”
“I hate to hear you say that. I want you to be able to be happy that your daughter is in love and that she is loved in return. I will work until my fingers bleed to provide for her a safe and stable life. I will always put her life before mine.”
I reached over and squeezed Bishop’s hand. “Just like he has done not once, but twice.”
“Twice?” my mother questioned in surprise.
While she knew what had happened with Eddy, she had no idea what Bishop had done during the Diablos’ attack. Her hardened expression relaxed when I told her about Bishop throwing himself on top of me. “I see,” she murmured.
“More than anything in the world, we would like your blessing,” Bishop said.
My mother played with a piece of lint on the tablecloth. “I can’t say that I’m ever going to feel completely comfortable with Samantha being a biker’s wife and being involved with outlaws—”
“Former outlaws, ma’am,” Bishop argued with a grin.
She nodded. “But at the same time, I don’t think she could find a man who would love her more than you do.”
Although I was never one to cry, tears pooled in my eyes. “No. I couldn’t.”
“So all I can say is I’ll try.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Bennett.” With a wink, he added, “Just you wait. I’ll win you over before you know it!”
And he did. By the time we left to go home, my mother had made huge strides in coming to accept Bishop. Of course, he was only one biker. Now she was about to face a roomful of men in cuts.
“I’d say it’s going okay. I steered them down to Mama Beth’s, since I thought it was a safer bet than keeping them out of the roadhouse.”
“Good thinking. I’ll go straight there when I leave. I’ll have Peterson with me. He’s still a little skeptical about this whole marrying-in-the-woods thing.”
Bishop laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me.” At the sound of voices in the background, Bishop sighed. “Look, I gotta go. I’ll see you in a little while.”
“Okay. Bye. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
No matter how many times he said it, I never got tired of hearing Bishop say he loved me. There was a time I thought I’d never get to hear the words, so that made them even sweeter. I was thankful he wasn’t the type of man to shy away from saying how he felt.
As we started into the clearing at Tohi Ama, the sun sat low on the horizon, sending streaks of pink, orange, and purple across the sky. I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful evening, and furthermore a more beautiful location to have my wedding ceremony tomorrow. “Okay, once t
he bridesmaids are in place, then we’ll cue the wedding march, and, Samantha, you’ll come down the aisle.”
“Now?”
Alexandra waved her hands wildly. “No, no, no! It’s bad luck to walk down the aisle during the rehearsal. Mr. Peterson can walk down the aisle, but you need to come around the chairs.”
“I stand corrected,” I replied with a grin. Alexandra was taking this wedding stuff way too seriously. But the last thing Bishop and I needed was more bad luck, so I decided to humor her for the both of us. After bypassing the aisle, I rejoined Peterson at the altar, where Bishop waited. Both Rev and Deacon were his best men, and Mac, Boone, and Breakneck evened out the groomsmen.
Besides my sister, Sophie, my bridesmaids represented the world I was entering, and there was no one from my past before Bishop. Alexandra, Annabel, Kim, and Annie filled the spots. It was a no-brainer that Willow would be the flower girl, and Wyatt was going to try his best at being the ring bearer. Since he wasn’t quite two, it was going to be interesting seeing how he did.
“Now we’ll practice the vows.”
The minister, who was a Raider from out of town named Fuzz, went over the parts of the service with us without our actually saying the vows. That would be reserved for tomorrow. “And then it’ll be the ‘by the power vested in me’ jazz, and you may now kiss the bride.”
Bishop drew me into his arms and brought his lips to mine. I melted into his embrace, letting my hands run up and down his back.
At Fuzz’s whistle, we pulled apart. “Now, that’s enough of that. You weren’t supposed to practice that part,” he said.
Bishop grinned. “But I needed to make sure I get it just right for tomorrow.”
“Like you need practice,” I mused.
Alexandra stepped forward again. “After the kiss is the processional and the service is done. Once we do some pictures, we’ll move on to the reception.”