I fell asleep with my cheek pressed to his chest, with the sound of his heartbeat loud in my ears. He held me tightly to himself and I felt safe there, just like I was supposed to feel.
I wasn’t sure how long we had been lying there on the kitchen floor, but at some point, Abe had lifted me up and brought me with him to bed. I’d slept through that too. It was only the next morning, when I was the first to wake up and I saw him sleeping beside me, that reality struck me hard.
He was breathing gently, his strong muscular chest was rising and falling and I stared at him…for what could have been hours. This was my reality now, waking up next to this man who had declared his love for me.
I knew I loved him too. I had never fallen in love like this before, with a man who deserved it. Now, I would just have to wait for him to wake up so I could tell him.
Epilogue
One year Later
Abe
“And get the boys out to the training track by two, make sure that they all get off their lazy asses for it,” I said while walking. Oz and I had both ridden our bikes back to T-Bone from the warehouse and he was walking alongside me as I pushed the doors open.
“Will do, boss,” Oz declared. He had fallen in the habit of calling me that in the last few months and nothing I said to him could change his mind on it.
Girth and I were training the new recruits together. Other than the Romano boys, we had recruited another street gang to our MC, which meant that in the span of a year, the Marked Skulls had more than tripled in number.
These days, the scene at T-Bone looked a hell of a lot different.
When Oz and I walked in, the bar was already in full swing; even though it was just the middle of the day. It was full of our new brothers who had recently been patched in and everyone was drinking.
We had just successfully distributed another shipment of weapons from the Garcia brothers, which had filled our coffers even more. We were rich, we were richer than we had ever been before and by the looks of it, nothing was stopping us from getting even richer.
I walked through the bar and heard the voice of a baby.
“Who brought a baby in here?” I shouted and I looked over heads towards where a crowd had gathered near the counter.
Rodeo had his newborn son in his arms and the others were fretting over the child. The first-born of the new generation.
I strode up to Rodeo who was beaming like a proud gushing father. The kid looked like his father, that much I had to hand it to him.
“We decided on a name,” it was Jordan’s voice beside me. She was watching her son and the father of her child proudly.
“We’ve named him Fred,” she said and I smiled at her. Fred was her father she never knew, and a father-figure to Rodeo. I knew how much the name meant to both of them. I hugged Jordan before I went up to Rodeo and lifted the baby into my arms. I was alarmed at how heavy this kid was.
“Have you checked his diapers lately?” I asked, holding the baby at arm’s length while a laugh rang out.
“It’s a baby, Rodeo, not a hand grenade!” Lila had appeared in the crowd around the kid now and she lifted Fred out of my arms and pressed him to her chest.
She was glowing too, she had started showing. A few more months and we would have a second addition to the family. Marked Skulls thoroughbreds.
Girth was standing beside her and together they cooed at little Fred like the soon-to-be-parents that they were.
“Where’s my woman?” I shouted, looking around. Alexis was usually always at the bar around this time because she knew I’d be back from the warehouse.
“She hasn’t come in yet, Abe,” one of the Romano boys called out.
“Oz! Heard from your sister yet?” I shouted at Oz, who was already cracking open cans of beer with his friends at a table.
“Nope. Should be at the supermarket,” he said.
It was high time that Alexis quit her job at the supermarket. I’d been nagging her for months about it, but she insisted that it was what she wanted to do and where she was comfortable working. I was sure that I could get her a better job at any other business in town, but Alexis turned down every offer.
I wanted to get that jerk, Joshua or whatever his name was, fired too because he had dared to ask my woman out on a date, but Alexis put her foot down about that too. That woman had a big heart. Anyway, there was no other person I trusted more than Alexis. I wasn’t worried about him.
“Someone bring me a phone so I can call my woman!” I growled, sitting down at a stool by the bar. A can of beer had already been passed to me but I needed to see Alexis. I had to go out to handle some business in twenty minutes and I felt like I was losing time now. I wouldn’t get a chance to see her before dinner next.
“I’m here! God! Don’t bring the house down!” Alexis burst in through the doors and came rushing towards me. I jumped off my stool and pulled her into my arms.
“Did someone give you trouble about taking lunch hour?” I asked as she nuzzled her face into my shoulder.
“Even if they did, don’t expect me to breathe a word to you. They’ll be turning up with a black-eye to work the next day,” she rolled her eyes at me.
“Oh my God! Fred!” she squealed, when her eyes fell on the baby. I was going to ask her how she knew his name already but then I didn’t. These women told each other everything, it was like they were glued to the phone and to each other.
Alexis took Fred into her arms from Lila and the three women crowded around the baby, cooing and coddling it.
Rodeo and Girth joined me at the counter with their own beers.
“The boys will be ready for training?” Girth asked.
“And on time. Oz is making sure of it,” I told Girth. Rodeo had brought a plate of french fries with him, which we all shared from. Jordan had been trying to get him to eat healthy these days, which meant that he had cut down from four beers in the afternoon to three, and from a steak sandwich to just steak and fries.
We watched the women throwing a fuss around the kid and Rodeo shook his head.
“Just a year ago, none of us would have imagined any of this,” he said. I laughed.
“Yeah, you’re a dad and you’re drinking less. It’s a miracle!” I exclaimed and Girth grunted beside me.
“It’s not just that man…like look at Lila, she’s so happy. She’s pregnant. Our little Lila is going to have a baby and it’s all Girth’s doing!” he said and thumped Girth’s back.
“And you…you’ve found yourself a woman too!” he added.
“Yeah, I had to tie her down and threaten her, but I got her in the end,” I said and the three of us laughed.
“Look at this place,” Girth said and we looked around the bar which was teeming with people now.
Just a year ago, T-Bone had no more than a handful of people at a time. The MC made enough money to sustain a comfortable living for all it’s members and the garage was just a hobby. Now, the bar was always full of men who we trusted, men who fought with us and helped keep this neighborhood safe and free of weapons. Whatever weapons we sold, we did it outside our territory.
We were bigger than the Dark Legion now and the Hell’s Drifters had no interest in messing with us. We had fought and won our own territory and we were making enough money for all of us to live like kings.
“Abe, I have to go babe. I’m sorry,” Alexis came over to kiss me.
“Where are you going and why are you taking the girls with you?” I asked as I saw Jordan and Lila following her with the baby in tow.
“We have to go get fitted, Lila needs special measurements,” Alexis said and the three of them giggled.
They were going to a designer who Alexis had selected and flown in from New York. I wanted her to have the most beautiful dress, one that would remind her every day of how beautiful she was.
“Can’t believe you’re getting married, man,” Rodeo said and I watched Alexis walking out of the bar. She was blowing kisses at me and I couldn’t st
op looking at her.
I couldn’t believe I was getting married either. That a woman like Alexis had said yes to a thug like me.
In exactly six weeks, I was going to be the happiest man alive.
THE END
The next book in the series, Oz releases on July 16th!
More Books by Savannah Rylan
Series
Girth (Marked Skulls MC #1)
Rodeo (Marked Skulls MC #2)
Abe (Marked Skulls MC #3)
Hawk (The Road Rebels MC #1)
Talon (The Road Rebels MC #2)
Snake (The Road Rebels MC #3)
Fox (The Road Rebels MC #4)
The Road Rebels MC Box Set
Gunner (The Bad Disciples MC #1)
Hunter (The Bad Disciples MC #2)
Tank (The Bad Disciples MC #3)
Glock (The Bad Disciples MC #4)
The Bad Disciples MC Box Set
Fallen Idols MC
Warrant (A Righteous Outlaws Novel #1)
Bulletproof (A Righteous Outlaws Novel #2)
Dice (A Righteous Outlaws Novel #3)
Beast (A Righteous Outlaws Novel #4)
Bending All The Rules
Breaking All The Rules
Banishing All The Rules
Shattering All The Rules
The A List Complete Series
Standalones
Protected by the Biker
Taken by the Mob Boss
Nico (The Rossi Mafia)
Baby and the Biker
Bought by the Biker
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Savannah Rylan is a romance writer that spends most of her time writing and reading with her cat, Gris. When not penning the next great American novel, (HA), you can find her on the beach with a drink in her hand or at the gym testing out some strange new position. Yoga, obviously. She lives in Southern California with her husband and Gris, the true love of her life.
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Abe (Marked Skulls MC Book 3) Page 15