by Cora Black
“That one boy, the blond one, he’s gorgeous,” Mom said, smiling dreamily.
“Which one? Jax?”
“Mm-hmm.”
I grinned. “Yeah, he’s the pretty boy of the bunch.” I was glad Emma helped change the subject, since I didn’t want to have to tell her that her father had ridden home in the trunk of his car. Nobody trusted him to ride inside the car like a normal person, and they didn’t trust him on their bikes either. So we had to improvise. Dom, meanwhile, was like a man missing a limb after we left his bike on the side of the road, waiting for a tow. He gave his guys the coordinates according to his phone’s GPS, and they were probably on their way back with it by the time I sat with my mom. We’d driven home together, with Dom in the driver’s seat. I thought that was just another little dig at Eric, another man driving his precious car.
“Did he go to the hospital?” Mom asked, referring to Eric.
“I guess he had to. I don’t know. I know he wouldn’t have stepped foot in this one. I think Dom made it clear he’s not to bother us ever again.” I widened my eyes, speaking slowly to convey my point without spelling it out. Eric had been told in no uncertain terms never to come near any of us again.
“Do you think he’ll keep his promise?” Mom asked.
I shrugged. “All I can do is hope. I can’t live the rest of my life in fear of him.”
“Nor should you. I think it will all work out.”
“You seem very positive, given all that’s happened.” I eyed her cautiously. “Are you sure you don’t have more than a concussion? I’m not sure I trust anything you say.”
Mom chuckled. “I know what I’m saying, and I mean it. I trust Dom.”
“Well, alert the press.” I laughed, clapping my hands. Emma laughed with me, though she had no idea what I laughed at. “What brought this change of heart?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the way he looked when he knew you were gone. How determined he was to get you back, even though he was in terrible shape himself. Oh, Kara, I’m so glad you didn’t have to see him like that. It nearly made me sick to my stomach.”
“Oh, poor Dom.” I hated even thinking about it.
“No matter what, he was determined to get to you and Emma. I knew then that he was the real deal. He was willing to go above and beyond for you—and from what you tell me, he certainly did. Climbing through the window like that, is he insane?”
“I asked him the same thing.”
“Mama hit him,” Emma informed my mother. I shushed her, turning red.
“I did, though I know I didn’t hurt him. He wouldn’t feel a thing after what he went through. But yes, I did, because I was furious. He might have gotten himself killed, and then where would I be?”
“Yes. Where would you be?” Mom smiled drowsily. “I’m awfully tired all of a sudden.”
“We have to keep you up for a little while longer,” I said. “I promised the nurse I would. They’re waiting for another round of tests to come back before they’ll let you go to sleep. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Oh, those sadists. I could kill every one of them.” Mom folded her arms, huffing.
“Hey. Let’s not throw words like that around anymore, okay?” I held Emma a little tighter. A lot of things would be different in my life, thanks to what Eric had put us all through. Like I would never take anything for granted ever again. I was sure of that.
“Can I come in?” Dom, standing by the door. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him. My superhero.
“Dom!” He was the only person Emma would leave my lap for. She went to him, holding her arms up for him to carry her. He looked like he wanted to, but frowned.
“Sorry, kid.” He got down on one knee. “I have a bunch of broken ribs, and I’ve gotta be careful picking things up. But I’ll give you a hug down here. Is that okay?”
“Okay.” Emma put her arms around his neck, and he hugged her fiercely. My heart just about burst with love for the two of them. I didn’t know what I would do if I had lost either of them. I might not have been able to handle it.
I looked over at Mom, and her eyes were filled with tears, too. “You make a nice pair,” she said, referring to Dom and Emma. I had a feeling she wasn’t only talking about them, however.
“How are you feeling?” Dom stood, going to her bedside.
“Just a concussion. No big deal. You?”
“Besides the ribs, not much. This cut, but you did a good job cleaning that up.” He took her hand, and they exchanged some wordless thing I couldn’t make heads or tails of. Exactly how close had the two of them gotten?
Dom turned to me, grinning. “You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
I knew who he meant, naturally. “I should hope not,” I said.
“No, I know not.” He smiled at Mom and me, looking like he was ready to burst. “All right, I was gonna save it as a surprise, but I think you could both use the happy news.”
“I’m already pretty happy, but lay it on me,” Mom said.
Dom sat on the opposite side of the bed from where I sat. Emma climbed into his lap—she would never let him go after he saved her, I thought. Any man who entered her life from that day on would have impossibly big shoes to fill.
“When he went to the hospital, some friends of his met him there. Well, he might not think they’re friends, but they were very excited to see him.”
“Who were they?” I asked.
“The cops,” he mouthed.
Mom and I gasped. Emma was oblivious.
“You called them?” I whispered. There I was, thinking he didn’t want the police involved.
“Oh, I didn’t have anything to do with it,” he said. “That’s the best part. See, he’s been a bad boy. Not just today. For a long time.”
“What are you talking about? You’d better tell me right away, or I might lose my mind,” Mom said.
“Embezzlement,” Dom announced. “And fraud. Lots of it.”
I sat back in the chair, dazed. “I don’t believe it. I mean, I sorta believe it. He’s no saint.”
Mom snorted. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“But,” I continued, “I didn’t think he was a thief.”
“Well, believe it. Once we tipped his partners off to what he was doing, they decided to look a little deeper. This was going on for years. They turned him right over. They wanna work with the SEC and the clients to make things right, and that meant sending him up the river. We might have tipped off the cops that we dropped him off at the hospital, too.”
Dom looked at me. “That’s why he was desperate today. It wasn’t just the restraining order. He knew they were on to him, that he would lose everything. So he figured, why not run away with you?”
“Yes, but what would have happened if you hadn’t shown up?” My imagination spiraled out of control. I could just picture him being desperate enough to kill Emma and me when the authorities closed in on him. It made me shiver.
“It doesn’t matter, because that’s not even an issue. You’re both safe, right? And you don’t ever have to worry about him again. Ever.” Dom smiled at Emma, who beamed back at him.
I didn’t know what to think, how to feel. Finally, I would be free of him. Finally. No more worrying about when he would show up, what he would try to do. Even though Dom had told me he’d promised to stay away forever, I didn’t believe it. I thought he’d likely get bored with his life outside the country and decided to take a chance, look me up, terrorize me a little. Knowing that it was all over, I wasn’t sure who I was anymore. I was no longer the woman on the run from her ex-husband. I was me. Just me. It felt a little too good to be true.
It wasn’t. It was very real. I saw it in Dom’s eyes, the relief there. He was deeply relieved that we’d all be safe together. I could only hope he really wanted us to be together. That was a topic for another time.
“Mrs. Vance?” A nurse entered the room. “We checked out your last scan, and everything seems to be fine. We’
ll still keep you overnight to monitor you, but you should be able to go home first thing tomorrow if all goes well overnight.”
“Great,” Mom breathed. “I already can’t wait to get back there.”
Dom didn’t look so thrilled. I knew what he was thinking—I hated to think of Mom going back to that house, where so many bad things had happened. I couldn’t imagine how much blood needed to be cleaned from the carpets. Mom didn’t seem to mind. If I’d learned anything about her through the experience we’d shared, it was how much tougher she was than I’d ever given her credit for.
***
“Will you sleep with me in bed, Mama? Can I sleep with you?”
I glanced at Dom. I needed him more than anything, but my baby needed me. “Okay, honey. I’ll stay with you tonight. You can share my bed.”
“Good.” The relief on her face told me I made the right decision, even if my body cried out for Dom. “Listen, I’ll tuck you in, and come out here to say goodnight to Dom. Then I’ll come to bed. Okay?”
“Okay. Goodnight, Dom.” She gave him another hug, and even tiptoed to kiss his cheek. I nearly melted into a pile of goo at the sweetness of it. From the look on Dom’s face, I had the feeling he felt the same way. I led her to the bed and tucked her in, promising to be back in a few minutes. I knew she would fall asleep almost instantly, though. She was already yawning with her eyes half closed when I tucked her in. I left the door open just a crack so she could see the light coming from the hall, then went back to the living room.
Dom waited there for me, smiling. “Well. Talk about a cock block,” he said.
I chuckled. “You’re in no shape anyway, mister. Not with those broken ribs.”
“I think I could’ve managed.” The naked need in his eyes was enough to curl my toes. I felt a little breathless just looking at him.
“I don’t think so.” I sat next to him, finally able to be alone and having no idea what to say. I rested my head on his shoulder closed my eyes.
“Are you okay? I mean, really okay?”
I shrugged. “I think so? I don’t know yet. I will be. It might take a little time is all. I have to be okay for her, don’t I?”
“You don’t have to be strong with me,” he said. “If there’s one person you can be exactly who you are in front of, it’s me. It’s all right. I wanna be that for you.”
I lifted my head, looking him in the eye. “You do?”
“Of course. And if you ever do anything crazy like fighting another person for a gun again, it’ll kill me. Please don’t ever do that again. I love you.”
My heart nearly burst wide open, flooding my body with indescribable love. “I love you, too,” I whispered, feeling overwhelmed, overjoyed.
He kissed me, taking my face in his hands, as tears streamed down my cheeks. His face was wet with them by the time we parted. I looked into his eyes and knew he was all I would ever want or need.
Chapter Thirty
Kara
“Mom! I can’t find my shoes!”
I rolled my eyes. “Emma Fiarelli, how many times do I have to tell you to put them away when you take them off?” I was tired of yelling at her about it, but no matter what I said, she always managed to lose them. And she always managed to make me late for things.
We couldn’t be late for this. Dom would forgive me, but I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.
“Okay, okay, I found them.” I couldn’t believe how old Emma looked, and she was only eight. A beautiful girl, I thought with her curly dark hair and eyes just like mine. She would grow up to be a stunning woman, too. If she lived long enough—sometimes her attitude made me want to strangle her.
“You look great,” I said, kissing the top of her head.
“Oh, Mom. Gross.” She smoothed her hair down. Already I was gross, and she was only eight. I couldn’t wait to see what the tween years would bring. I grimaced at the thought, shooing her out the door and locking it behind us.
“Is Daddy gonna be at this thing tonight?” Emma asked, climbing into the passenger seat of my BMW. I waited for her to buckle her seatbelt before I pulled out of the driveway.
“Of course he will. This is Uncle Chase’s retirement party.”
Emma wrinkled her nose. “Retirement party. This is just the nice party, right? For the families. And when we’re gone…”
“Hush, young lady.” She giggled in spite of me, and I bit my tongue to hold back a giggle of my own. She was way too smart for a kid her age. Then again, she always had been. She kept me on my toes with the questions she asked, for sure.
She was right, too. The club would have its nice, PG-rated “family” party for Chase, where all the kids and wives would show up and give him hugs and toast to him. Then the kids would leave—and most of the wives—and the party would really start. According to my husband, the only thing that topped a retirement party was a new patch party. I had already seen the results of three of those over the years, and wasn’t sure I wanted to know what a retirement party would end up being.
“So this means Daddy is the real president. Like, Uncle Chase is out for good.”
“I guess so, sweetie.” Chase hadn’t run things for a long time, but he stayed around to counsel Dom over the years. Dom had wrestled with his conscience, wanting to be a strong president and a wise one at the same time.
I could still remember the conversation we had when Chase first approached him with the idea of retiring full-stop. We had only been married for around six months at that time, and I had just started my grad school program. He wasn’t sure he was ready to take full responsibility for the club, and I told him I understood that—after all, he was young, and the Blood Bandits had known only one president for over twenty years. Besides, he’d had a new family to adjust to.
Chase didn’t want to leave, of course—it was Trisha who had been on his case about it. They arrived at a compromise after Chase spent more than a few nights sleeping at the clubhouse when Trisha refused to so much as speak to him, let alone share a bed with him. When she calmed down, everyone decided it would be for the best that Chase stay around to advise and keep his hand in the game. I felt more secure that way, too, knowing that my husband wasn’t walking into something he felt unprepared for.
It was time for him to fully step up, though, without his training wheels. I knew he was ready. He’d managed to step up and be the family man I needed him to be. If he could manage that, there was nothing he couldn’t do.
Emma tried to hide her excitement, but she couldn’t fool me. She had a crush on Jax’s stepson, who had first come into the club along with his mother around the same time Dom and I got married. Emma had just recently started taking an interest in boys, growing up too fast as always, and even though she and Grant were practically brother and sister, those things tended to change as kids got older.
When we got to the hall where the family party was scheduled, there were already dozens of bikes in the parking lot, along with a lot of cars that looked like mine. The club had experienced record profits after Dom stepped up, and the amount of money in the parking lot alone attested to that.
Stepping out of the car and walking toward the front door, I had the strangest feeling of being the queen of the party. Even though it was Chase’s night, I was the one at the head of the club—next to my husband, of course. I was the incoming queen, the first lady, the boss. The amount of deference the club members already showed toward Emma and me seemed to double.
“Are you still smoking?” I asked Rat, shaking my head. Emma went inside—looking for Grant, I guessed—but I stuck around to give Rat some hell.
“I tried that vaping thing you set me up with, but I don’t know. It’s not the same.”
“Listen, it’s for the best. You want to be around for that new baby, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I smirked, then stepped inside. I felt that way toward all the guys, especially the single ones. I didn’t know that Rat would ever get married, even if on
e of his usual hookups had ended up pregnant. I felt as though I had to take care of him, the way I took care of all the other misguided, lost souls who banded together in the MC.
I spotted Theresa, Jax’s wife, by the buffet and went over to help her. She looked relieved to find me there. “Oh, thank God. These guys won’t shut up about being hungry, but they won’t do a damn thing to help me.” Her perfectly curled blonde hair looked about ready to drop thanks to the steam coming from the chafing dishes. I put on an apron, thinking back to my days as a waitress, and jumped in to help.
“Come on. When’s the food gonna be ready?” Spike hovered near the table, a plate already in hand.