by Bourne, Lena
“Did it work?” I ask, as if they’d know.
“It’s on Ace now,” Scar says. “Maybe they’ll take him in and Cross will get his rat, or maybe we’ll be back here killing them all in a couple of weeks.”
It’s not clear from his tone which option he’d prefer, and that’s a chilling thing to realize.
“Is your arm alright?” I ask Ice, as I realize that he’s actually bleeding pretty bad, the entire left sleeve of his shirt stuck to his arm and black with blood.
He nods sharply. “I’ll live. We had to make it look as real as possible.”
“Good thing that guy was there. The old one who went after you just now, I mean. He’s with them, right?” Scar adds.
I nod.
“Well, we messed him up good,” Ice says. “They’ll believe we were serious.”
He laughs and then Scar does too, and after a few seconds I join in too. It’s all done. Whatever was hanging over me is gone. I’ve proven myself to Cross and the rest of the brothers. Now I can finally give myself to Julie all the way. No more running, no more hiding—the life we start now will be free from all of that.
That’s exactly what she wanted, and the reason she made us come back to deal with all this shit. It’s all dealt with now.
Constantly looking over our shoulder and fearing we’d be found, would eventually suck the fun out of anything we did. This way will be better. She was right. She usually is. I should listen to her more often.
* * *
Cross told us well done after we returned and told him what happened, and he agreed with Scar that all there’s left to do now is wait and see if Ace manages to join the Sinners.
I asked if I can go see Julie and he said yes, but stressed that he’s expecting me to return to Pleasantville when we leave. He also said I can bring her along, if I want to. We’re leaving tomorrow afternoon. Asking him if me and Julie can take our ride into the unknown together for a while first was on the tip of my tongue the whole time, but I was able to stop myself from uttering that stupidity.
I left thinking he’ll probably say yes to that request once we find the snitch.
Three of the Devils came with me to my mom’s, to watch over the house, my girlfriend and me. I told them I can handle it, but they wouldn’t hear it. That was a huge threat we made against the Sinners tonight, and none of us can be too careful around here now, they told me, so I let it go, because it makes perfect sense. The Sinners will want revenge for what I did. My uncle and my brother will keep my mom safe after I’m gone, and I’m sure Julie’s father can keep her safe, if she wants to stay here. I hope she’ll come with me, but what if she doesn’t?
It was two AM when I arrived to my mom’s house, and it’s almost three now. I’ve been sitting on the porch, not talking to the guy watching the house, the question of, “What if she doesn’t?” looping in my brain.
Once I go in, I’ll have to wake her and ask her to come with me. I’ll get my answer then. What if it’s a no?
I can’t face that possibility, not even while it’s just hypothetical.
It’s a big thing to ask of her. We won’t be going on the ride we always planned, but to a place she doesn’t know, where she’ll be surrounded by strangers and nowhere near the ocean she loves so much. She might very well say no. Even after everything she said last night she might still say no, and I don’t want to hear it.
But I’ll listen if I must.
It’s time.
I get up and enter the house, then walk up the stairs to my old bedroom where me and her spent hours and hours getting to know each other once upon a time. I was never welcome at her house, but she was always welcome at mine. She’ll always be welcome at mine, wherever it is. We can get a home together in Pleasantville now, maybe up in the forest, a place like that cabin Doc has. She always said she likes forests as much as she likes the sea, but I know for a fact that she hasn’t seen many forests. I hope she’ll like the one that surrounds Pleasantville.
Will she be my forest nymph like she’s been my sea goddess?
The questions in my mind are going from bad to worse. It’s time for the answers.
She’s sleeping on her side, uncovered, dressed in her t-shirt and panties, her jeans in a heap by the bed, just as they were a couple of hours ago on the cliff. She was naked then. It seems like a whole lifetime ago.
I take off my jeans too, and my t-shirt, then get in bed beside her, holding her close, wishing we were touching skin to skin. She stirred as I wrapped my arms around her, but didn’t wake up completely. Just moaned softly and shifted closer to me.
I want to close my eyes and fall asleep holding her. I want to believe this closeness we’re sharing now will be a constant thing from tonight until we die. I tell myself it will be, that there can be no other way, but that’s a lie, and I can’t pretend otherwise. I can’t sleep until I know what kind of life I’ll be waking up into tomorrow. Will this still be a lie or the truth then?
“Julie,” I whisper into her ear. “Julie, wake up.”
It takes a while, but she finally rouses and twists around in my arms to look at me.
“I dreamed you came back and now you’re here,” she says, her voice thick and sleepy.
I kiss her forehead and want to do more than that. But I need it to be the truth first.
“I have to leave with my MC later today,” I say. “I want you to come with me. It won’t be the ride we planned, we won’t get to do that for a while, but we will, one day we’ll get to do all those things we always wanted to do. And we won’t have to look over our shoulders all the time. We’ll just be free.”
She kisses me lightly, and I think it was mostly to make me stop talking.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Yes, you’ll come with me? Are you sure? You won’t know anyone there, and it’s not near the ocean, and it could be months before we can leave again—”
“Shhh, Ink. Stop talking,” she says, her voice clear like she’s been awake for hours, not minutes. “Yes, to all of that. I’ll go with you, wherever, whenever. And yes to being your wife. I want to marry you as soon as possible.”
I was happy when she said the first part, but then my heart just exploded when she told me the rest.
“You do? Alright, yes, good, yes, we’ll stop in Vegas on the way to—”
She interrupts me with another kiss, this one more deliberate, and far more passionate. I know it was to make me stop talking, but as it lasts, I know it was much more than that too. I have no trouble letting go of everything and surrendering to her lips, her tongue, her arms and legs tangled around me.
This is the truth. It’s clear as day in this kiss. And it’s the only truth I ever need to hear or feel. She’s mine and I’m hers and wherever we are, that will always be the only truth. We finally get to live it together now.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Julie
I heard him returning to our cabin in the redwood forest long before I saw him. Sound travels differently here than by the sea, echoing off the trees growing all around long after it, by rights, should fade away.
I love the forest just like I always knew I would. It’s just like the one I see in his eyes—our home here is the physical manifestation of that magical place. And the love we shared and deepened here in the last six months is just as real as the one I have always seen in his eyes.
I’m his wife now, and he’s my husband. We got married at sunset on the day I said yes, and even though I considered it impossible, my fear that he’ll abandon me just started fading away in the days following our Vegas wedding. By now, I’m certain that nothing will ever tear us apart again.
He rides right up to the porch where I’m sitting on the railing and waiting for him. He’s grinning, excitement plain in his eyes as he comes up the two steps to stand real close to me. I spin around to face him.
“Guess what?” he says, and I’m sure he’s about to burst with the news he came to share.
“What?”
I ask, playing along.
“We can take that ride now.” Such simple words. But so perfect.
The rumbling of his bike is still echoing over the trees, mixing with the songs of the thousands of birds that share this forest with us. It’s a beautiful melody, so perfectly in tune with the song playing in my heart.
“Cross says it’s fine, that he can miss me for a couple of months now,” he says, still grinning at me. “So how about it? You, me, the open road? Finally.”
I stand up and throw my arms around his neck, because I have no words to express what I want to say. I love it here in our cabin, but him, me, and the open road has been a dream that’s only grown more inviting in my mind in the months and years, since we started dreaming it.
“Finally,” I echo his last word. “I’ll go pack.”
He laughs and kisses me, grabbing my ass and pulling me into his hardness. I could lose myself in this kiss and his hard body right now, and stay lost for days. That would be no problem whatsoever. Anytime, anywhere, I could lose myself in him completely.
I pull away from him anyway. “Not now. We have to pack so we can go.”
He narrows his eyes at me and smiles. “I thought we’d celebrate first.”
I stand on my toes and give him a quick, fiery kiss, which is as much as I dare to do, because I know we’ll go nowhere tonight, if I let us get lost in our kisses. Now that we finally can, I want to start living our dream right away.
I slip out of his embrace and he groans in disappointment and tries to hold me back, but I’m too fast for him. I look back over my shoulder and grin at him once I’m at the door.
“We’ll celebrate on the road,” I tell him and he smiles even wider.
It takes us no time at all to pack up. We don’t need much, just the essentials and each other.
Once I’m on the back of his bike, my arms wrapped around him and the sun setting at the end of the empty road we’re riding down, I know, every fiber of my being knows, that our dream has finally come true.
I also know that it will continue coming true, every hour of every day for the rest of our lives. Him and me together forever isn’t a dream anymore. It’s our reality. Our life.
THE END
Want to read on? The next book in this series will be Ace’s story and it’s COMING SOON! Click here to receive an alert as soon as it comes out!
Also by Lena Bourne
VIPER’S BITE MC SERIES:
Outlaw’s Hope, Book 1 - A Standalone MC Romance
Outlaw’s Salvation, Book 2 - A Standalone MC Romance
Outlaw’s Redemption, Book 3 - A Standalone MC Romance
Rider’s Fall: A Viper’s Bite MC Novella - A Standalone MC Romance
DEVIL’S NIGHTMARE MC SERIES:
Cross
Tank
Rook
Scar
Ice
Hawk
Doc
HIS FOREVER - An Alpha Billionaire Romance Serial (Completed)
His Forever: The Complete Series
OF THE ARCHERS
Adam (of the Archers, Book 1) — Full-length, standalone BBW Military Romance
NOT LOOKING FOR LOVE - An NA Contemporary Romance Series (Completed)
Episode 1: amzn.to/1R2Czj1 (FREE eBook)
Episode 2: amzn.to/1c4dNiX
Episode 3: amzn.to/1FnngfK
Episode 4: amzn.to/1EiT7KF
Episode 5: amzn.to/1c4dULo
Episode 6: amzn.to/1R2Cb40
Episode 7: amzn.to/1IPa7hH (FINAL EPISODE)
About the Author
Lena Bourne writes steamy, suspenseful romantic stories, which include bad boy romances, MC romances, dark romances, military romances, sports romances, and many more. Hot bedroom scenes and fast-paced, action packed plots are Lena’s specialty. Her heroines are strong, sassy and independent, and her heroes are usually rough-around-the-edges alpha bad boys.
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Copyright © 2019 by Lena Bourne
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