by Nola Marie
“Bout’ time you showed,” Bastian calls out to us.
“My fault,” I say. “Still not moving as fast as I was before.”
Jax’s mother comes up to me with a hug. “It’s fine dear,” she tells me, pulling me into a gentle hug. “It could be a long wait anyway.”
“Long?” Zane asks as his brows fall in concern.
“Zane, sit down,” Rory grunts.
“I don’t want to sit down,” he grumbles in response then begins to pace back and forth. “Why would it take a long time?”
“Because sometimes they do, Zee,” Verity tells him softly.
I look around the large room. Uncomfortable chairs line the walls. Generic pictures hang. The bland white paint is stark. But it doesn’t matter. Every person in this room seems happy and I can’t say that I blame them.
All of the guys seem like they’re over the moon right now. It's amazing to see how invested each one of them is in this. Even Rory’s normally icy façade has melted. Laughter fills the space like no other time I can remember sharing with them.
And I’m a little overwhelmed to be sharing it with all of them. I wipe a couple of tears that managed to escape. The pacing lion wraps his arms around me. “You okay?”
“Better than okay,” I tell him with a smile. “How about you?”
He laughs then presses his lips to my forehead. “I’m a fucking mess.”
“If you’re a mess now, how in the world will you ever handle being the one on the other side of those doors,” I tease.
He pulls back slightly then tips my chin up toward him. “As long as it’s with you, I don’t give a fuck how I’ll handle it. I want it all with you.”
I wrap my arms around him with a smile. “I want everything with you too.”
“You’re not hearing me Tori. I want it all. The rings, the babies, the happily ever after all with you.”
“What are you trying to say, Zane?” I ask softly.
“I’m saying I want to marry you and I want to have babies with you.”
“I want that too someday.”
He pulls me away from the room slightly where no one else can hear us. Not that they were listening in the first place. He stops and resumes the same position we were just in. “I don’t want it someday, Baby. I want it now. I want all of it right now.”
I gasp as I realize what he’s really trying to say. “Zane, are you -?”
“Marry me. Have babies with me. Now. Not in a year or five. Right now.” I want to laugh but I can see how serious he is. He’s always been serious about what he wants when it comes to us. “Today. Next week. I don’t care when as long as it’s soon.”
Tears build in my eyes again. I am stunned and left breathless. I can see it all. I can see the two of us married. I can see us with a little girl and boy just like him and Zoey. I can see the happily ever after.
All of the things I never looked for. All of the things I never knew I wanted until Zane are right within my grasp. And I am utterly shocked to realize I want all of it right now too. With him. Only with him. I can’t speak though so I nod through tear filled eyes.
“Yeah?” he asks with a grin.
“Yeah, Zane. All of it. With you.”
He grips my face, pressing his lips against mine smiling all the while.
Then the double doors open. Jax walks out carrying two little bundles in each arm with a smile bigger than his face. Zane walks to him first smiling just as big.
“Everyone meet Hope and Faith,” Jax tells us as we look down on the tiny little bundles with masses of black curls on their head.
“Look at those girls,” his mom coos. “They are so beautiful.”
“Hope and Faith?” Bastian says with a genuine smile instead of his usual sarcastic grin. “You two couldn’t pick better names if you tried.”
A tear slips down Jax’s face. I look up to Zane to find a nearly identical expression.
“It’s what got you here,” he tells his best friend.
“How’s Zoey?” Layla asks as she reaches for the little ones.
“She’s perfect. Just like these two.”
I look up to Zane again. His eyes meet mine. “All of it,” I whisper.
“Don’t worry, Baby. I always get what I want,” he tells me with a smirk.
“Yeah, you do.”
Epilogue
Zane
Seven Months Later
“Tori come on or we’re going to be late,” I yell. In the last few months, I’ve realized it’s a regular thing with us. Me calling out to her, rushing her. She’s late for everything.
“I’m can only move so fast, Zane,” she grumbles coming down the stairs. “Whose damn idea was it to have an outdoor wedding in July?”
She appears at the top of the landing, taking my fucking breath away. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and every day she only gets more beautiful. I reach for her hand when she’s halfway down. “I’m pretty sure it was Verity’s,” I tell her pulling her close to me. “You look amazing.”
“I look like I swallowed a watermelon,” she grunts but she’s smiling too.
“It’s fucking sexy,” I tell her honestly as I kiss her.
Three days after Zoey had the twins, Tori and I went to the courthouse and got married. I would’ve married her the same day but that damn wait period put a damper on my plans. We didn’t want to wait, and we wanted it to be just us. Zoey was pissed as hell but Jax just grinned.
Didn’t take me long to knock her up either. In fact, it was already there. We just didn’t know it yet. Turns out, she'd forgotten quite a few times in all the chaos to take her birth control. Lucky us.
Looking back, it’s a miracle considering everything that happened just before that the baby survived. But I’m not surprised. Of course, our kid would be a fighter even as a little zygote.
For the first time in years – maybe ever – I feel like everything is perfect. Like there is absolutely nothing that could make my life more complete.
She pushes me away with a huff. Pregnancy has made her a little cranky, but I like it. My wife is a badass and being pregnant hasn’t changed that. “You just told me we’re going to be late. So, let’s go.”
We arrive right on time for Bastian and Verity’s wedding. Rory, Jax and I stand behind Bastian as he waits for his bride. I look over to Rory and Jax's parents trying to wrestle three babies not even a year old yet into being still. It’s not really working and before you know it, Jax, Rory and I are all holding the three little girls.
Arabella looks adorable in her dress. She’s growing up fast as fuck. In a couple of years, the four of us will be scaring off every pre-pubescent boy within a hundred miles. When she gets to the end of the aisle, she, too, breaks tradition running up to hug Bastian.
The girls – and women – have us all wrapped around their fingers.
Then all eyes turn as Verity makes her way down the aisle. Bastian’s smile couldn’t get bigger if he tried as she makes her way to him.
She’s beautiful of course but my eyes are only on one person.
Tori has made me happier than I ever thought I could possibly be. I never knew it was possible to love someone more than I loved Jax and Zoey or the rest of my extended family, but here I am. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else with anyone else and being as happy as I am now.
The three women are all sniffling as Bastian and Verity exchange vows while Sophie, Hope, and Faith squirm in our arms. I can practically hear Rory rolling his eyes, but I know he feels the same way about Layla. They’d probably be married by now too if their lives weren’t so chaotic. They don’t need a piece of paper telling them they belong together anyway.
I glance toward Jax for a moment. His eyes haven’t left Zoey’s.
It feels like a lifetime ago that everything that could come against us did. So much heartbreak and tragedy followed each of us for so long. But here we all stand, better in spite of it all. Each of us so fucking in love it probably disgusts
anyone who hasn’t experienced it for themselves.
My brothers are happy. Our loves are happy. Our family is growing together. And I can’t wait until another addition comes any day now.
I’ve always envisioned this for all of us but seeing it now, I don’t think I could’ve pictured it in a million years just how it would really be. The dark, black heart of Bastian has been lit like a flame. Rory’s icy one has melted. Jax and Zoey were always meant to be.
But I think I’m the luckiest of them all. I knew there was someone out there for me. The perfect girl to complete and fulfill me. Never thought in a million years I’d find her in New York after so much tragedy. It’s strange to realize how circumstances and events led to this. To her.
If I could go back and change things, I’m not sure I would. I’m not sure I would change a goddamn thing if it meant never finding her.
I grin at her as she fidgets uncomfortably standing behind Layla. Once in a while, her face scrunches. The priest tells Bastian to kiss the bride. “Son of a bitch,” Tori says at the same time, drawing every eye to her. “I’m sorry,” she says with a huff, “but my fucking water just broke.”
The entire wedding forgotten; all three girls go rushing to her side. The guys look beside themselves. Me? I’m grinning ear to ear. I’ve waited forever to meet my son and it looks like today is the day.
I walk to her, cool as James Dean and lead her out of the church to the truck outside. I’m not surprised that everyone is following us. Not surprised in the slightest.
Just like I’m not surprised that she swears like a sailor with every contraction. I’m not surprised when she is screaming how much she hates me with every push hours later.
I’m definitely not surprised the way she smiles and looks at our son like he’s the entire world. He’s perfect. The perfect mixture of me and Tori, but I am surprised when he opens his eyes and Zoey’s ice blue eyes stare back at me. My sister and the reason I met the love of my life right there in my son’s eyes.
I know Tori never expected any of this. She never saw herself as a wife or mother. She was perfectly content living her life just as she was.
She never saw me coming. Never knew the determination I would have. But I always get what I want no matter how hard I have to fight. I will fight until the end. I will always win because she – and now our little boy - are everything worth fighting for, and a victory I’ll take any day.
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Sons of Sin
Coming 2021
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Thank you
To each one of you that have read The Men of River City series, I am so appreciative and grateful. You have each stuck it out with my typos (I know there were many) and waited paitently for each book.
I look forward to bring you more sexy, fun characters and hope you won't be disappointed.
XOXO
Nola Marie
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The Men of River City
Fighting for His Life
Protecting His Night
Preserving His Truth
Taking His Victory
About The Author
Nola Marie
Nola Marie has been writing her entire life but has authored nine books in the last year, four of which are published as her steamy mafia romance series, The Men of River City. Currently she is working on her Sons of Sin series which promises to be just as bold and exciting.
She also holds a bachelors degree in IT Management and an MBA in Leadership and Strategy.
She has spent her entire life in Louisiana, and absolutely loves everything about it from the crawfish to the swamps. She has a hard-working, completely devoted husband that encourages her to do what makes her happy, three smart, kind, intelligent children that are her best friends, and an assortment of pets.
When not spending time with her family, she reads, writes, listens to music, doing amatuer graphic design, and plays video games.
