by Ethan Egorov
I know all my friends are waiting outside for us, our friends. But all I can focus on is this moment. This moment where I can see a physical representation of our love, so perfect and beautiful—a boy.
“He has your nose,” I hug them both in my arms and look in awe at him. He’s been cleaned up and swaddled in a blue blanket, his eyes are still closed, and his little hands grasp and open up, I can’t believe he is actually here now.
“You think so?” She trails her finger down his face, and she’s doing skin on skin so my awe spreads even more to watching her become a mother right before my eyes.
“Of course, he’s beautiful like you.” He even has hair already, dark like mine. And then he opens his eyes for half a second, enough for us to see the color.
“See I told you. A Little Logan.”
“We can’t name him that.” She laughs. I know she is tired and has done so much, she just wants more time to enjoy this first.
“Yeah… how about Michael.”
“Too boring.” She giggles.
I look down at her and kiss her head. “We have time, the nurses don’t need it yet.” I remind her. She nods and I can tell she might doze off soon. I hold our son for a while as she lays her head against me. He’s so light and fragile, it’s hard to believe they start out this small in the first place.
“I like Cameron,” I say. We thought about it briefly in the past, had a little book we circled names on.
Chantal nods eagerly.
“Cameron,” she cradles his face and traces the smooth round of his cheek. Just like that, he has a name. My son. God this is too perfect, exactly how I dreamed it.
My family.
Epilogue: Chantal
“I don’t look like a marshmallow?” I look at myself in the mirror, checking with Jeannine.
“You look beautiful.”
I shrug at myself, looking in the mirror. The wedding dress is perfect, white and lacy, Cinderella type just like I liked. Maybe I could have waited longer, lost some of my chubs. But Logan was getting restless. Wanted me in in this big white dress as soon as possible. Four months is good enough. Cameron is thriving, doesn’t cry too much, eats on a normal schedule, he’s unproblematic like his father. Motherhood is an entirely different ball game, my body has changed so much and my emotions, but all for the better.
“Thank you. You look good too.” I smile at her. She’s my maid of honor, wearing a nice purple dress with drooping sleeves.
“Aw, thanks. But today is about you. You and Logan will finally be married.” She jumps with excitement and I join her.
We won’t have a honeymoon; I don’t really need one. Staying at home with him and our son will be good enough for me, getting to have him again.
I chose a nice event hall at my dad’s discretion; it was the least I could do. He is walking me down the aisle, beaming. And I have my sights set on Logan, looking absolutely incredible in his tux. I have never seen him in anything other than jeans. His mom is holding our son, standing next to him, and I pour with tears already.
Seeing him at the end of the aisle, waiting for me. This is what it’s all about; moving through life alone is no good, you need someone to share it with you, and I get the rest of my life to be with him.
We hold hands, and I look into his steady green eyes as our vows are being read. And as we are pronounced man and wife, I swear I can see his eyes glisten with tears, but he hides it too well, too much of a man I suppose. After putting on the rings, we hold Cameron for the photos, and I carry him as we walk down the aisle. We get a small break before the reception and I hand Cameron off to his mom again. Anna, his mom, is really nice and she loves being a grandma. And I’m still at the stage where I don’t want too many hands holding him, so it is just the three of us today. We finally get our dance, after I dance with my dad.
“You look absolutely radiant. I want to get you back home.” He leans in and whispers in my ear, kissing the lobe.
I smile and hold him closer as we sway to the soft music, he is actually a very good dancer.
“Logan, we have to at least stay for cake.”
“You are my cake.” He grips my waist and I giggle; he kisses my cheek and pulls back to look in my eyes.
“And you’re my wife.”
I nod, “I’m your wife.” I beam with all the happiness in the world.
“We should have gotten married in that bank we met in.” He chuckles. I shake my head at him.
“No, we should not have. Maybe we can take a photo there though.” I giggle. My feet are sore, and my eyes hurt, I have danced with most of his friends at the club and then my dad, now him. I do want to get out of here, but I don’t want to be rude. The place is crowded, most of the town is here because they all enjoy a good party and the club.
“Hm, good enough.” He holds me close and inhales my hair, then kisses the top of my head. Even him simply holding me like this tells me how much he loves me. How much I mean to him.
I didn’t know I was capable of all this. Of loving someone this way. Him and our son, they own my entire heart and will for the rest of my life. I smile against him, my husband, and imagine a world without them and it only hurts.
I want this. For the rest of my life, I want this. I never want to have to start over again, and I know that I will fight for this—for them, everyday.
Logan swept me off my feet when I thought I was at my worst, and he made me better. He makes me better everyday and I love him so much for it, I always will. He spun my life around, and I’m ready to dance with him for the rest of my life.
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Robin: Outlaw MC IV
Synopsis
Just for one night, we wanted each other, and that was supposed to be it.
When Emily showed up at my club, I was already thinking of all the things I could do to her.
Relationships aren’t my thing, commitment— But she changed all of that.
I had to do whatever it took to keep her, even when I had more secrets than she bargained for.
Emily changed me, took away my pain, and understood my heart.
Even though we started off as complete strangers, who only bargained for one night.
1
Kit
“I’d ask for a different brother, but I don’t think it works that way.”
“No, it doesn’t.” I laugh at Amy, my sister, who says that on a daily basis to me.
“Well if you worked at a different clinic, we wouldn’t have this problem.” I sit next to her behind the desk, even if I’m not really allowed to. I slept with her boss anyway, so it’s not like she will get in trouble. Which she never thanked me for, by the way.
“How many clinics do you think we have? I already checked, not many worth working at. Every time you come here it’s like living out a nightmare. My baby brother is a total slut.” She kicks the bottom of my chair and makes it spin but I only laugh at her because it’s not like I do this on purpose.
She only works at the community clinic for her clinical hours, plus to pay for med school. Amy is only a year older than me, yet she calls me her baby brother. Maybe cause she’s smarter, smart enough to go to med school anyway. But I get checked every three months for STDs and all that jazz because I may be a slut but I’m a clean one, and she suffers the embarrassment of all her coworkers any time that I do.
“Yeah well, you knew that. How about I tell you when I’m coming, and you can take the day off?” I flick her nose and she swats me away. Amy looks just like me; blonde curly hair and brown eyes, and I had to learn at a young age how to throw a punch cause of all the guys she had coming around in high school when she—yeah. But it was only one or two, because she has sense unlike me.
“That won�
�t work, it lasts the whole day. What are you up to anyway?” She asks me. I laugh under my breath because her turquoise scrubs are still funny to me, she looks all official and not playing doctor like when we were kids.
“Uh, about to go to the club. Same old shit.”
“And celebrate your clean bill of health?” She waves my test result before filing it in the drawer.
I chuckle, “Yeah, pretty much. But I’ll be home for dinner. Or try to be anyway.” I tell her.
I have stipulations for my hook ups, makes it easier. Sometimes I’ll dabble in the occasional two- or three-week thing but after that it gets boring. They only want the excitement of the cut, what it’s like to be in an MC, and then I get bored with the vapid hotness I tend to seek out. I don’t always go for looks, maybe just a nice ass or something, needless to say I’ve had all types. And I don’t do it to prove a point, it’s a life style choice just like hot yoga or some shit. But I never bring them to the house, if I go to theirs, I don’t sleep over, and I don’t really go out in public with them. Small towns talk, I’d never be able to have fun if the women kept telling each other to look out for me.
“Good, cause it’s your turn to cook.” Amy giggles. We live in our parents’ house, they died when we were in high school, but Amy was eighteen so I could stay with her and the house was paid off.
“Fine, I’ll take it.” I stand up and hug her over her head, the way I know she hates; “See ya.” I kiss her cheek and she yells ‘diseases’ over my shoulder as I leave, but the joke is on her since I never really kiss them, not on the lips at least--either of them.
I hitch my bike off the side of the building and head to the club, it’s a short drive off the route but I enjoy every second of it. This town hasn’t changed in all the years I’ve been here, which is my entire life. Our parents came here after they met, we don’t really know the whole story because they weren’t the talkative type. Or even all that parental, so when they died it wasn’t that much of a tragedy. Amy still handled it better though, I took to making trouble at school. I planned on going to college until my last summer here was spent hanging out with the wrong crowd. It was Tank that helped me get out of it, but back then, I just knew him as the annoying hard ass until I wasn’t a prospect anymore and joined the club. My quality as an intimidating guy, physically, set me on the path to be one of the enforcers. Which just means I fuck shit up and scare guys shitless before they can do anything to us. Which has been happening a lot since the Devil’s Princes have been up our ass. Turf wars come around every now and then but this one is sticking, Rafe has been up the wall about it so his frowning face doesn’t surprise me when I walk in the club.
“You look like an old man.” I cross the bar space to where he sits by the dart board. We shake hello and he loosens his grimace a little bit. I sit on the stool across from him and cross my arms, it’s damn hot outside in the summer and I take my cut off too.
“All this shit is making me an old man. I don’t know how Tank did it.” He turns his empty beer bottle around as he goes off in thought and then blinks it away. Rafe had to step in as president from his role as vice president, when Tank left the club abruptly. Some people thought it was because Spencer, a prospect at the time, got involved with his daughter Jeannine. Everyone in the club knew that girl was off limits, I came around when we were about the same age, even at seventeen she was a looker, but I knew better than to do anything about it. One of the other guys wasn’t so lucky and I don’t even remember what happened to him. But now her and Spencer are together, Tank didn’t kill him, it’s all really different. Even Rafe found someone, a lawyer, and I thought his uptight ass would be alone forever. That was all about two years ago though so the change in leadership isn’t really thought about anymore.
“He didn’t have clubs trying to take him down.”
“Right, so it’s my fault.” Rafe chuckles.
“Ah, don’t pout kitten head.” I kick his shoe. “And you know how those clubs are, they think the change makes us weak or something, when it’s the opposite. You handled it fine, though, I thought it was all good.” I swallow. Suddenly I’m thirsty as hell and need a beer or something, but I told myself to cut back on the day drinking. But still, it’s almost six and I’m starting to let that reasoning go.
“I’m not pouting. Where have you been anyway?” He asks me.
I usually hang around the club most days, working in the garage. The car repair business is my thing, probably because it’s one of the only things I know how to do. But really, it’s just another way to hide our money, the tee shirt shop and the bar here do that too. Either way, we get real business there. But today was also my day off, technically, the club is home, so I don’t really need a day off either way.
“I was at the clinic.” I grin. He makes a face at me and shakes his head in mock disapproval.
“Hey, not everyone is blessed with monogamy. Gotta protect myself.” I defend. He only shakes his head again and laughs.
“I get it. How’s Amy?” He asks.
“Enjoying her last year of med school, so to speak. Not much is new with her I don’t think.”
“She isn’t seeing anyone still?” He asks me.
I frown because the thought of it makes me sick. I mean, I’m a man, I know how much they can suck.
“Nope. I like to pride myself on that, I keep running them off.” I laugh. The one or two that have come to the house, I’ve personally interacted with and then never saw them again. If I’m enough to scare them off, they shouldn’t be involved with her anyway.
“Well you don’t want her ending up alone, gotta be careful with that.”
I wave him off. “Anyway, how is Paige?” I ask him. His lawyer turned girlfriend comes around the club every once in a while, but I know he tries to keep her removed just because of the illegal stuff we have going on. I don’t know the specifics but I’m pretty sure if lawyers know about crime, they have to report it, or maybe I just watch too much television. And it’s not like we hurt anyone or do anything to put people in danger.
“She’s good. Talking about kids.” He half smiles.
“Oh yeah? She’s pregnant?” I ask him.
“No, at least I don’t think. I keep telling her I don’t know if I’m ready yet.”
“You married her on a whim in front of the court house.” I laugh at him.
He shrugs, “That’s different than being responsible for someone. Logan is a lot more mature than me I guess; I can’t really deal with surprises.” He laughs. I nod in agreement. Logan was only with Chantal for a few months before she got knocked up by accident, he literally picked her up off the side of the road all damsel in distress style. But he handled it well, now their little guy is the talk of the town. Not that they gossip all that much, but our club is often talked about around town anyway. He doesn’t come around that much since he’s running an actual household now.
“No, you can’t. All I know is that you gotta keep her happy, I even know that from just having a sister.”
“You’ve never even been in a long-term relationship.” He laughs at me, and just as he does, Darius walks in the club and heads straight for us.
He’s been in and out of town a lot since the stuff with the Devil’s Princes has been going on, and we haven’t really devised a plan of dealing with it yet.
“What are you two going on about?” Darius shakes us hello and sits on the other stool. He’s a big guy, about as big as me, but the dark hair makes him look scary. At least I look nice until I’m not, he just looks mean as hell. But he really isn’t either. None of us are.
“Rafe hates kids.” I joke. He frowns at me but then we all laugh.
“That he does.”
Darius fills us in on what happened when he was out of town. The Devil’s Princes and their president have been pushing back on everything, saying he can’t control what his guys do outside of the club but that’s bullshit. Our cuts determine everything we do, and going after another club, whether i
t is an act of war or not, is a no go. That’s why this shit has been so difficult. No one wants to be at war with another club, especially since we have done so well to avoid it. Tank was responsible for that, but Rafe is killing himself to do the same thing. We agree to have another exec meeting soon and come to a vote about it, figure a way to get rid of the rival club once and for all. The three of us chat up until the club gets half full of the weekend crowd, and I let myself have a drink since the sun is going down. I spend a lot of time here, but it never really gets old, this is my family, and when I manage to drag Amy down here, we’re all a family. At first, she didn’t want me in the club, but when I started getting in less trouble because of the club, she supported it a little more.
“Another beer?” Spencer asks me. He usually works the bar every other night, there are other prospects now to do it, but I think he just likes it. The tips aren’t bad either, we all started there so I know.
“Yeah, a bottle.” I lean over the bar and wait for him to grab one, the two of us don’t talk all that much, just exchange pleasantries. I take my beer and decide to go out to the garage; I like doing it at night sometimes because then I can hear how the gears are running when I get it fixed better than I can see it.
We get the same manner of stuff around here, broken transmissions or oil changes, I like doing restorations too but those are every once in a while. I’m in the middle of one of the oil changes on a truck when a gangly sound runs up behind me, like an engine running in a body of water.
I stop and stand up, looking out to the entrance. I shield my eyes from the headlights pulling up.
“Garage is closed, come back tomorrow.” I shout. This was an on the whim thing, I planned to do this and close the place for the night.