by Madison Faye
The gun lowered to my side. Axe did the same.
“I was out that night,” Axe said quietly. “But then I was tailing Miles and the rest of the Savage Riders for a while.”
Stone nodded. “I heard they caught it out in New Mexico. That you who put them down?”
“That was me telling the Los Muertos crew where to find them, since I knew those guys hated them as much as I did.”
“Nice,” Stone chuckled before he turned to me. “How’d you get out, Prez?”
“I was with Kyrie that night,” I said quietly, the rage from the memory searing through me like fire. “When I heard what happened, and heard they were looking for me, I disappeared to keep her safe.” My face hardened. “Mexico for three years. Then I was out in Vegas laying low.”
Stone whistled. “Shit, man. I’m sorry. That must have been hell without Kyrie for so long.”
“Well, I got her now.”
“Good,” he growled. “That’s good—”
Axe’s phone went off, and he yanked it out of his pocket.
“Hey, Katrina, what’s—”
His face went white.
“What, now?! Fuck, okay! We’re—”
His face hardened suddenly, his eyes sliding to me.
“We’re on our way.”
“The fuck was that?” I growled.
“Larkin, she’s—” he swallowed. “Larkin’s in labor.”
“Well fuck yeah, man!” I roared, pumping my fist in the air. “Let’s—”
“Ryker.”
His face was hard as I turned back to him.
“Addison’s in some kind of trouble, man. She’s at the shop with this Michael guy.”
I was out the door and running for my bike before he could say another word, jumping on and roaring the engine to life.
“We’re coming too!” I heard Axe roar as he ran up behind me to his own bike.
“No!” I bellowed, turning to shake my head at him. “Go to your wife, man. Go be there when your children are born.”
My face hardened as I revved the engine.
“This one’s mine.”
My tires squealed as I peeled out, gunning it as I took off back towards the garage. My blood roared like thunder in my ears, my mind on one thing.
Addison.
My heart. My love. My everything.
And if he’d hurt or touched a hair on her head, I was going to tear him in two with my bare fucking hands.
15
Addison
“What do I want? Oh, Addison,” Michael sighed, shrugging his jacket off and tossing it over the file cabinet next to him. His eyes locked on me. “I want what I should have taken for myself a long time ago.”
I screamed as he suddenly charged right at me, lashing out with my knee and catching him in the gut. Michael bellowed, before suddenly his hand came up, the back of it smacking across my face and sending me reeling over the desk.
“You little bitch!” he hissed, lurching towards me again. I kicked out this time, trying to shove my booted heel into his groin. But he wrenched my foot away, yanking me from the desk and throwing me into a wall. I groaned, my head bouncing off the brick wall and stars dotting my eyes.
“Michael—”
“This could’ve been easy, Addison,” he spat. “Goddamnit, you know you were always such a fuckin tease. And now?” He chuckled lowly as he advanced on where I was slumped against the wall. “Now, I’m gonna take what—”
The office door came crashing in, splintering right off its hinges as the shape came barreling through it. The beast of a figure roared, yanking Michael up into the air and shaking him violently before suddenly throwing him across the office right through the window overlooking the garage floor.
The shape whirled, and suddenly, I blinked and realized what it was.
Who it was.
“Ryker—”
“Easy, easy sweetheart,” he said gently, suddenly swooping down and cradling me in his arms. He peered into my eyes, his so full of worry and emotion and rage all at once.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, looking up into those big dark eyes. “I’m fine, really. Just bruised.”
His jaw tightened, and he kissed me quickly before he turned. “This isn’t over yet.”
I scrambled to my feet and watched as Ryker strode out through the broken door and stalked over to Michael, who was whimpering and trying to crawl away.
“The fuck do you think you’re going?”
Michael screamed as Ryker’s foot came down hard on the back of his ankle, this horrible popping sound echoing through the empty garage.
“I know who you are,” Ryker growled, his face a mask of rage as he loomed over Michael.
My mother’s boyfriend whimpered pitifully, rolling over and holding his hands up. “Listen, man, this doesn’t—”
“Oh, but it does.”
Ryker grunted as he bent down and slammed his fist into Michael's face, sending blood streaming from his nose as the older man cried out in pain.
“No one fucks with what’s mine,” Ryker spat, his fist connecting with Michael’s face again. “And no one fucks with my family!”
“She’s not your fam—” Michael grunted as Ryker’s boot connected with his ribs, hard.
“Yeah,” Ryker turned, and his eyes locked with mine through the shattered office window. Slowly, a grin broke out across his face. “Yeah, she—”
“Ryker!”
I screamed as I watched Michael pull something shiny and metallic out of his pocket. Ryker whirled, stomping down and making Michael scream in agony as he crushed his hand against the pavement floor. The little snub-nosed pistol went skittering away as Michael doubled over, whimpering and crying as he clutched his broken hand.
I ran out of the office, throwing my arms around my rough, hardened biker, feeling his do the same to me.
“Hey, hey,” he purred into my hair as he kissed the top of my head and held me tight. “I gotcha, baby girl. I gotcha.”
Suddenly, the motor on the garage doors clanked on, the doors themselves rolling up. I tensed, wondering what the hell this could be now, and I could feel Ryker doing the same thing — his muscles clenching and a low growl catching in his throat.
But then, the both of us relaxed, the air blowing out through my lips as I saw who it was. Axe, Vlad, Braun, Dallas, Austin, and some handsome but seriously rough looking guy I didn’t recognize, all armed and all ducking under the slowly raising garage doors to charge inside.
“What the fuck are you doing—”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Axe grinned, shaking his head as he stepped over towards us. “She’s at the hospital, but the docs say we’ve got some time.”
My jaw dropped. “Larkin went into labor?!”
The big grizzled mountain man beamed like a little kid. “Yup.”
“And you’re here,” Ryker growled, shaking his head.
“I told you, we’ve got some time before they make an appearance. Besides—” he shrugged “—Larkin said she’d kill me herself if I didn’t come save your ass. She says I owe you one, or something.” He rolled his eyes, and Ryker chuckled.
“Anyway, I brought back up.”
Ryker grunted, reaching out and shaking Axe’s hand. “Thanks, but I handled it.”
The other man snorted, glancing at Michael. “Yeah, looks like it.” He turned back to us and frowned. “Hey, you know you ride too fast, man.”
“I did what I had to do.”
Axe sighed, glancing at me with a grin. “Will you tell this asshole to slow the fuck down on that thing? He’s got a kid to think about.”
“You’ve got a kid to think about, you know,” I said matter-of-factly as I turned to look up into Ryker’s face.
“Amongst other things,” he murmured, pulling me close. He didn’t hesitate, or pull away, or keep his distance with all the others there. He just kissed me.
Long, slow, and hard.
“I fuckin’ knew it,” Axe muttered, shak
ing his head as Ryker pulled away, leaving me breathless and red-faced.
“Good for you,” Ryker shot back with a grin.
Axe chuckled before he turned to glance at Michael, his brow furrowing. “The hell do we do with this piece of shit?”
“I can think of a few things,” Ryker growled menacingly, his jaw tightening before he glanced to me. “What do you think?”
I pulled away from him, slowly making my way over to the pathetic asshole on the ground, surrounded by the group of rough-looking men from Blackthorn. I wanted to say “do the worst.” I mean, this was my tormentor. My stalker who’d also lived with me. The reason for the wedge between my mother and me, and the reason I’d found myself out of the city I knew and here, lost on a mountain.
But then, I suddenly wondered if I should thank him. Like I said, he was the reason I was there. The reason I’d come to Blackthorn. The reason I’d found Ryker.
…Shit, maybe I should have thanked him.
I knew if I said the word, Ryker would have gladly thrown him over a cliff or something. But then, I didn’t really want that. And I knew for sure I didn’t want that on Ryker’s conscience, even if I knew he’d play the tough guy and act like it was nothing for him to kill for me. But I knew the real him. I knew he wasn’t that hardened man from before. Maybe being on the run had changed him, but something told me it’d been slowing down that had. It’d been getting Kyrie back that changed him, and finding his purpose there on Blackthorn.
It’d been finding and totally excelling at the job title he’d been born to claim: Dad.
He didn’t need any more blood on his hands. He didn’t need to fight anymore. Something told me, he’d done enough of that for one lifetime.
“Let him go.”
The words whispered from my mouth. I saw the other guys murmur, scowling to themselves as I felt Ryker move behind me.
“You’re sure?”
I turned, looking up into his eyes. And slowly, I nodded. “I am. I don’t want him dead, I just want him the fuck out of my life. Send him back to my mother. They fucking deserve each other.”
“You sure about this?”
I nodded at the man who’d changed my whole world, smiling. “One hundred percent.”
Ryker smiled slowly. “Done. Hey, Stone.”
The good-looking guy with the tattoos and the piercing eyes nodded and came over.
“Addison, this is Stone. Stone, Addison.”
The big man took my hand lightly and shook it.
“Think you can make this asshole disappear?”
The guy grinned wickedly. “Absolut—”
“Not like that,” Ryker muttered. “I mean can you make sure he gets the fuck off of Blackthorn.”
“So no putting a bullet in his head?”
“If you could control yourself, that’d be great,” Ryker said with a dark chuckle.
“I’ll do my best.” He grinned at Ryker. “Fuck, are we putting the band back together?”
Ryker rolled his eyes as he turned to me. “Stone was our Sergeant at Arms, back in our Lost Devil’s days.”
“You guys don’t really die well, do you?”
Stone hooted, clapping Ryker on the shoulder as he grinned at me. “Okay, I like her.”
“Me too, so watch how long those eyes linger, fucker.”
Stone snorted, pulling his eyes from me and very purposefully looking Ryker in the eyes. “Aye aye, Prez.” He did a sarcastic salute before he turned and marched over to Michael.
“C’mon, shithead, on your feet.” He hauled a sniveling Michael up, dropping him on both his feet. Michael screamed in agony as weight went on the one Ryker had probably broken.
“Awww, poor little guy,” Stone sighed, shaking his head. “Does your footsie hurt?” He gave Michael’s wounded ankle a sharp kick, making him scream in agony. Stone grinned, glancing back at Ryker. “Oh this is gonna be fun.”
Vlad nodded at him, tossing him a set of keys. “They’re to the Land Rover out front.” He smirked. “There’s rope in the trunk.”
Stone grinned, and Michael moaned pathetically as the two of them disappeared outside.
“Of course there’s rope in his trunk. Fuckin’ Russian James Bond over there,” Ryker muttered lowly, making me giggle as he tugged me into his arms, pulling me close. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I am now.”
Suddenly, Axe’s phone went off. His face paled as he jerked his hand into the pocket of his jeans, yanking the phone out.
“Hey, baby,” he said breathlessly. His eyes went wide, and slowly, a huge grin spread across his face.
“I’m on my way.”
He was barely off the phone before the other guys started cheering, coming over to clap him on the back.
“Fuck, I gotta go!”
“Leave the bike here, I’m driving,” Braun growled, yanking his truck keys out of his pocket. “I’ll call Katrina. She’ll pick up Chloe and Stella.” He nodded at Ryker. “And Kyrie, man.”
“Vlad, you want a lift?” Austin and Dallas were already running for the door, and the Russian nodded, jumping after them before he turned to me.
“You two coming with us?”
“Nah,” Ryker grinned. “We’re riding.”
My heart raced as we ran out to the parking lot, watching as Braun’s pickup truck and then Austin’s Jeep roared out and down the road, heading of the hospital.
“Alright, let’s get go—”
“Hang on.”
Ryker frowned quizzically as I tugged on his hand, stopping him before he could swing a leg over his bike.
“I was, uh…” I swallowed, biting my lip and feeling the heat thunder through me. I could lie and say I’d given it “a lot of thought.” But I hadn’t. I’d given it a little thought though, and the idea had stuck, and taken root in my mind. And maybe it was him rescuing me, or maybe it was that Larkin was about to give birth to twins. Or maybe it was just that all of it finally sunk in, and that for all sorts of reasons, here just suddenly felt like exactly where I should be.
Blackthorn Mountain suddenly felt like home to this city girl.
Whatever it was though, I decided right there not to overthink it, or hem and haw about it in my mind, or even to question it. I just decided to go for it.
…I think he’d shown me that anyway.
“What’s goin’ through that head of yours, sweetheart?”
I took a deep breath, and slowly, I just let go.
“You think Becca would ever try and get custody of Kyrie back?”
A shadow fell over his face.
“Shit, Addison,” he sighed, rubbing his temples. “I don’t know. Fuck, I don’t even know what I’d do if she—”
“You think she’d tried to come at you with Kyrie not being in a stable house? You know, you just being a single dad and all?”
He groaned, looking at his feet. “Fuck, Addison.” He sighed. “Is this really the time to—”
“What if you were married?”
Ryker went still, and my heart started to thunder louder in my chest. Slowly, he raised his eyes to look right into mine.
“What?”
I swallowed, feeling my chest rising and falling as my fingers crept up the front of his t-shirt, holding onto him.
“What if you were married? I mean you own your own business, you’ve got a clean house. I think being a married guy would probably seal the deal with keeping Kyrie, right?”
Ryker slowly shook his head, peering into my face. “Addison, what are you—”
I dropped to my knee in front of him, and suddenly, Ryker’s eyes went wide.
“You’re not seriously doing what I think you are… are you?”
“Ryker James?”
He grinned, slowly shaking his head.
“Would you marry me?”
The grin broke across his face, and suddenly, I was shrieking as he scooped me up, yanked me into him and spun me around right there in the parking lot of the bike shop as he kis
sed me fiercely.
And that right there is how the rough, wild, untamed biker got proposed to by the city girl he never saw coming.
…He said yes, by the way. I mean, obviously, right?
Epilogue
Addison
“They’re beautiful, man,” Ryker says quietly. He pulls Axe into him, hugging him fiercely, like two brothers.
It’s been two hours since Larkin gave birth to two beautiful, healthy baby girls. They’ve both got their mom’s hair and their daddy’s eyes, and they’re just… wow. They’re incredible.
“I’m so fucking proud of you, brother,” Ryker says fiercely, still hugging Axe. “You’re gonna be a great father.”
“Like I said, I just watched you, you asshole,” Axe chuckles back.
“And did the opposite?”
Axe shakes his head. “Nah, man. I watch you and I know that’s fucking exactly what I should do.”
Ugh, my heart melts. Just a little bit though, I swear.
We’re only going in a few at a time, so we don’t overwhelm the new parents, so it’s just me and Ryker in the room with Axe, Larkin, and the new to the world Savannah and Magnolia.
“They’re so perfect,” I whisper to Larkin, squeezing her hand as she beams at the two little ones in her arms.
“Best surprise of my life,” she says quietly, still staring like she’s in awe of the two little babies nestled against her.
“So, think you two will—”
“Axe!” Larkin glares at him, shaking her head. “Rude? C’mon, you can’t ask—”
“Maybe?”
Ryker’s the first one to swivel his head around to stare at me as the word leaves my lips. And slowly, he grins, widely.
“Hey, make sure you get this asshole to marry you first and make an honest woman of you,” Axe grins, elbowing Ryker in the ribs.
“Uh, actually.”
The smile drops from Axe’s face as he whirls to his fiend. “Hold the fuck on, what? When the hell did you—”
“I didn’t.” Ryker shrugs, grinning. “She did.”
Axe lets out a hoot, and even totally exhausted Larkin giggles, beaming up at me with a huge grin on her face. “Are you serious?”
