by Jessica Ames
The uncertainty in his gaze as he approaches me guts me. “Kitten?”
“I’m sorry.”
His brow unfurrows and I see the relief cross his face. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. I should have told you.”
“You should have, but my reaction was over the top. We barely know each other, of course we’re going to have aspects of each other’s lives we don’t know.”
He steps into my space and my heart stutters in my chest, my eyes heating as I take him in.
Then his mouth is on mine. I should care that I’m at work, that Tim will fire my ass for inappropriate behavior, but all I can think about is him and me and this moment.
His tongue slides along the slip of my mouth and I open instantly to let him in. His taste explodes in my mouth and I relish it. I’ve missed him so much. I claw at his back, trying to get closer to him.
He pulls back, separating our mouths, his breath panting out of him as he touches his forehead to mine.
“I love you, Kitten.”
“I love you too, Finn.”
The doors of the bar open and I’m so distracted by the man in front of me that I don’t see the danger until it’s too late. I hear a shriek from one of the other patrons. I turn in time to see the metal of a gun barrel pointed in our direction.
I hear a loud popping sound as Finn drags us to the floor. There’s a beat of silence once the popping stops. Then the screaming starts up again.
I wiggle out from under Finn’s body, my heart hammering in my chest. The shooter is gone, so my heart starts to slow its frantic beating. As I get free of Finn, I notice he isn’t moving off the floor, where he’s still lying face down.
“Finn?”
I move to him and as soon as I touch his back, I feel warmth soak into my palm. I glance at it and that’s when I see the blood.
“Finn…” I swallow bile and glance around the bar. “Someone call nine-one-one. He’s been shot!”
Twenty-Five
Rooster
I wake to the sound of beeping and the smell of bleach stinging my nostrils. My eyes focus on the white ceiling tiles overhead and the softness of the mattress I’m lying on, thick blankets pulled up to my hips.
I turn my head and that’s when I see Carla. She’s sitting in the chair at the side of the bed, her hair braided down the side of her head, her feet tucked up underneath her. Her eyes are closed, and I can see the black shadowing beneath them.
I try to move but pain lances through my back. Fuck. I suck air between my teeth and try to control my breathing.
I was shot.
The memories come flooding back. I’d seen the flash of metal and registered immediately what it was. Without thinking, I’d pulled Carla in front of me as pain exploded in my back. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before, white hot agony that rips through my skin.
I remember Carla and I went down in a heap on the floor, and I’d twisted to see the shooter disappearing out of the doors. I just about caught his face and I recognized him. He was a member of the Filthy Reapers—a guy called Half-Pipe.
Fuck.
Did he follow me to Temecula?
Had he been waiting, biding his time? Was his target me or Carla?
My thoughts collide as I try to focus on anything but the pain traveling through my back.
“Finn,” she breathes my name and scrambles up from the chair. “You’re awake.”
“Are we safe?” I bark out.
She frowns at my tone, then nods. “Dad and Bullet are here. They’re outside the room.”
I grab her hand and squeeze it. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine.” Tears well in her eyes. “You put me down on the ground. You saved my life. Finn, you took a bullet to protect me. I’ll never forget that.”
I smile despite the pain I’m in. “What do I get for saving your life?”
She hits my bicep. “Be serious for a moment. You could have died.”
“But I didn’t. I’m still here, breathing and thinking I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet.”
“I love you,” she tells me.
“I love you too, baby.”
“Don’t ever get shot again.”
“I’ll make a note to avoid any shootings in future.”
Her lips twitch at my words. “You’re incapable of being serious, aren’t you? Even with a hole in your back, you’re still joking.”
“It’s who I am, Carla.”
“I’m getting that.”
She dips low over the bed and presses her lips to mine. “I thought I’d lost you, that you were going to leave me.”
The fear in her voice is like an axe to my heart. I shake my head.
“I’m not that easy to get rid of.”
“You saved my life.”
“You saved mine, so I wasn’t letting anything happen to you. Before you, I was living, but that’s all I was doing. I was breathing, eating, sleeping, working, but you reminded me there’s more to life than that. You reminded me how good it feels to have someone on your team again. I can’t ever thank you for that, Carla.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” she whispers. “You have done the same for me. I’ve always felt like something was missing from my life until I met you. You complete me in a way I didn’t know I needed completing. Please, try not to get shot again.”
“I have no intention of getting shot ever again, Kitten. That shit hurts.”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course it does. Bullets are designed to hurt.”
“Don’t give me logic.” I kiss her again. “I need to talk to your dad and Bullet.”
Her expression is stern. “You’re in hospital. Club business can wait.”
“Please, get them for me,” I press, not backing down here. I need to talk to them and I need to do it quickly.
Carla sighs, but she moves to the door and tugs it open. After a moment, Gunner and Bullet step into the room.
“Give us a minute, yeah?”
“Fine.” As she reaches for the door, I speak again.
“Don’t go far, baby.”
I have no idea if it’s safe out there or if the Filthy Reapers are still hanging around. What I do know is if anything happens to Carla, I’ll tear the world down.
As soon as the door is closed, I glance up at Gunner.
“It was the Reapers.”
“We know.”
“He must have followed me here. Not sure why he didn’t attack straight away.”
Gunner glances at Bullet and I don’t like the look that passes between them.
“What?” I demand.
“The Reapers attacked the clubhouse at the same time that asshole took a potshot at you.”
My heart twitches before it starts to gallop in my chest. “Casualties?”
“Grim’s in the hospital. Glass in his arm from one of the windows shattering. Everyone else is okay.”
“You don’t have to worry about the Filthy Reapers anymore,” Bullet tells me, fire in his voice. “We paid them a visit after the attack.”
Meaning they wiped those fuckers out. It’s what we should have done in the first place, the moment they threatened the club, but I understood Gunner and Grim’s reluctance to take us into a war we might not win. Attacking the clubhouse and shooting a member had forced their hand. They’d had no choice but to act.
I let myself relax into the pillows. “Thank fuck for that.”
“You saved my daughter’s life,” Gunner tells me.
“She saved mine first.”
He holds out a hand and I shake it. “Welcome to the family, son.”
I grin. “Can I call you dad?”
“You do and see what happens.”
“Can we at least hug?”
“If you want to die.”
My grin turns into a smile and I chuckle. “You love me really, Pops.”
Bullet smirks as Gunner scowls. “If my kid didn’t love you so much, I’d put another damned bullet in you, although wh
at she sees in your ugly mug, I don’t know.”
Hearing him say those words has my smile growing. Carla loves me. She loves me and I love her, and nothing is going to change that.
“Soon as we get home, I’m officially claiming her. She’s mine and that ain’t changing.”
“You’d better claim her,” Gunner grumbles. “I need to know she’s going to be taken care of.”
“I’ll take care of her.”
“You should also divorce Janie,” Bullet says. “Ain’t nothing good going to come from staying with her.”
“My boys…”
“We’ll get you the best lawyer the club can afford, kid,” Gunner tells me.
And this is why I love my club. They’re family.
“I love your daughter, Gunner, and you never have to worry about her. I’ll love her to my last breath.”
“Know that. It’s the only reason I’m okay with this shit. I can tell you love her, and you already proved you’ll protect her with your life. Couldn’t have asked for a better man for her.”
Coming from him, that means a lot. Now, I just have to get my woman back to Jersey and get my property patch on her back.
Epilogue
Carla
A year later…
“What the hell are you doing up there?” Finn’s voice snaps through the silence. I nearly jump a foot and the chair wobbles beneath me. His hands quickly come up to steady my hips and then he’s lifting me down.
“Woman, are you crazy? You can’t be climbing on chairs when you’re pregnant.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m barely pregnant.”
And I’m not. I only found out we were expecting last night. I did a test in the clubhouse bathroom before the monthly club cookout. Seeing that ‘Pregnant’ in the window of the test had unlocked something in me I didn’t realize needed unlocking.
“I needed the jar off the top shelf.”
He reaches up and grabs it, handing it to me.
“Thanks.”
After Finn was shot, I knew I couldn’t be without him, so I moved back to Jersey. It was a three-day journey, going the same route as we had the first time, but this time in a car with a U-Haul towed behind it.
Moving wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. My need to be with Finn made the nearly three-thousand-mile journey easier to handle. After nearly losing him, I never want to be without him again.
Now, we’re having a baby together and I can’t wait.
“I have to pick up the boys. Can I trust you not to do acrobatics while I’m gone?”
He got joint custody of Joey and Mikey, thanks to the club. In the end they didn’t need a lawyer to get involved. They just needed the weight of the club to make Janie see sense. She gave him the divorce too. Finn wanted us to get married as soon as the papers were finalized, but I didn’t want to rush into things. I don’t need a ring on my finger to prove he’s mine. He claimed me in the eyes of the club, and that’s as good as married in our world, but if he asked, I’d say yes. I want him in every way imaginable.
“I’ll behave,” I tell him.
He dips his head and takes my mouth, kissing me like I’m his reason for breathing. I’m sure I am. He’s my reason.
“I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you.” He rests his forehead against mine and takes a steadying breath. My heart soars. He loves me and he shows me every day how much. I couldn’t ask for a better man or a better father for my child.
“Are we telling the boys about the baby tonight?”
“Do you want to? Or do you want to wait?”
“I want to tell them.”
Since his two sons have been in our life, I’ve seen a change in Finn. He’s more relaxed, at ease knowing he won’t lose access to them. Janie has been great about things really. I’m glad she finally saw sense and calmed her ass down.
He kisses my nose. “Okay, baby.” His hand goes to my flat stomach. “I can’t wait to meet our kid.”
I can’t wait for that either. “If we’re telling the boys we’ll need to tell everyone else.”
They’re too young to keep secrets.
“Your dad might de-ball me for deflowering his precious girl.”
I snort. “We’ve been living together for twelve months. I’m sure he knows you’ve deflowered me before now, honey.”
“Are you happy?” he asks me.
I nod. “Happier than I thought possible. Are you?”
“I have you, my boys and a new baby on the way. I’m happy, Kitten.” He peers down at me. “You complete me.”
“You complete me too, Finn Reilly.”
He pulls something from his back pocket. I suck air through my teeth when I see it’s a ring box. When he opens it, I’m staring at a silver square cut diamond ring. I swallow hard, tears stinging the back of my throat as he gets down on one knee.
“Been trying to find the right time to do this, but I realize the perfect time is any time I make it. I want you to be my wife, Carla. I want you to have my last name. I want you to be mine.”
“I’m yours,” I say between a sob.
He slips the ring onto my finger and it fits perfectly. I peer down at it, my heart full.
“Be my wife.”
I nod even as I struggle to get the words out. “Y-yes.”
He gets to his feet and pulls me against his chest, his arms wrapping around my back.
“I love you, Kitten.”
“And I love you too.”
And I do. He might be a cocky asshole, but he’s my cocky asshole. I never thought I would fall for a brazen biker, but I love Finn and I can’t wait to make him my husband.
The End
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Also by Jessica Ames
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