by Franca Storm
“All right,” Slade said. “Mason. Tank. Go with the girls. Help them with Cole and Liam.” He eyed Van, telling him, “You and me will follow when this shitshow’s taken care of.”
“Go it, boss man,” Van said.
“Yeah, Prez,” Mason agreed.
Tank nodded.
As they led us over to Lucy’s truck, I shot a glance back at Nik.
So many years of so much pain, forcing me to do things I would always regret, making me run, having me always looking over my shoulder… and now it was over.
Just like that.
Nik Stone was gone. His club was decimated.
It was surreal.
And it was going to take a hell of a lot of getting used to.
I was free.
25
~Cole~
TALK ABOUT A HANGOVER FOR THE AGES.
That shit Nik had shot me up with had been intense.
I’d passed out shortly after I’d thought I’d seen Tasha show up at the truck stop, then for a few hours afterward. It turned out I hadn’t been hallucinating and she had actually shown up.
First Mason rigging the Sedan without anyone’s knowledge and blowing it to hell along with several Strikers too, then her putting herself and our kid in jeopardy by showing up in the middle of a fucking bloodbath. Jesus Christ. And I was known as the wild one?
I scrubbed my hand over my face. My head was killing me, I was fucking nauseous, my body was aching and battered from Nik’s beating, and my throat was as dry as sandpaper. According to our doctor, the nausea and rough throat were normal, given the heft of the dose and the fast-track way he’d gotten it out of my system.
Earlier, he’d come by to check on me again and he’d given me the all-clear to get up and about as long as I took it easy. Hell, even without the okay, I’d still planned on getting back to it today.
There was a shitload I needed to deal with.
Thankfully, I’d gotten the worst over and done with about ten minutes ago.
I’d met with Prez, a discussion that’d ended up taking close to two hours as we’d hashed everything out and finally gotten back to a good place with each other after all the bullshit of the Nik situation that’d come between us. He’d also informed me that the club had managed to cover their tracks with the shitshow that’d gone down at the truck stop. It turned out that, not only had Rick made it out, but Slade had actually made him an ally. The Strikers MC was decimated, their Prez put to ground, and Rick was apparently seeing to it that the prospects and a couple of fully-patched members left back at their compound dispersed and didn’t try to resurrect the fucked-up club.
The members in question would be monitored by Steel Titans for a good long while until we were sure they weren’t a threat of any kind or planning any sort of retribution.
Slade had already issued a warning to all the boys, ordering us all to lay low for the foreseeable future until things blew over fully. Dropped bodies and an explosion didn’t come without consequences and we needed to do everything we could to protect ourselves. Given that Slade had been planning this for a hell of a long time, he’d thought of everything, had safeguards in place to protect his brothers and the club as a whole from the law and any reprisals. Honestly, the guy had connections all over, in high places, considering what he was able to do.
Still, good fortune eventually ran out on everyone so we weren’t going to take any of it for granted and we were going to play it safe.
But, all in all, it was really good news.
It was still too fresh for it to have settled. I knew it’d take a long time before I reconciled the fact that Nik Stone and our long-time rival club was actually gone, that we’d actually won.
I drew in a breath and made my way back upstairs, heading to my next call.
As I made it to the door at the far end of the second-floor corridor where most of our rooms were located, I stopped outside Liam’s room.
When Mason had come by to check on me earlier, he’d told me it’d been a through-and-through, that the bullet had missed everything vital. Our doctor had sorted him out and he’d recover just fine as long as he took it easy.
I rapped on the door and I heard his footsteps heading over a moment later.
The door swung open and he filled the doorway, shirtless, his arm in a sling and struggling to do up his jeans. His hair was wild and he looked majorly out of sorts.
“You all right?” I asked.
He blinked. “What? Yeah. Yeah, I’m all good. Why?”
Frowning at how weird he was being, I answered with the obvious. “You were shot, for one thing. Mason said you were doing all right, but it’s not looking like it.”
He laughed it off, telling me, “The pain meds they gave me are strong fucking things. Guess it’s got me a bit outta it 'til I get used to them.” He shot a nervous glance down the hall, then sucked in a breath and shifted his weight, clearly trying to get himself together. Then his gaze snapped back to mine as he asked, “You? How you doing after that shit that fucker shot you up with?”
“All good.”
He nodded.
An awkward silence fell between us. It had time stretching like a bitch. He stared at me, I stared at him.
Finally, I cut through the weirdness, saying, “Well, I just wanted to make sure you were doing all right. I guess I’ll go.”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks for coming by,” he said, starting to shut the door before I’d even stepped back, way too eager to get rid of me.
I was about to get gone like he clearly wanted when the bathroom door flew open, a familiar voice calling out, “Are you coming, sexy?”
In the next second, vibrant red hair filled my vision, as none other than Abi sauntered into the main room wearing what was no doubt Liam’s shirt.
She let out a squeak as she saw me. She pulled at the hem of the t-shirt, unsuccessfully trying to hide some skin.
Liam cringed and muttered, “Fuck.”
“Uh… hi, Cole,” Abi eked out. “I was just here to… uh…” Her face went bright red and she turned tail and ran back into the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind her.
I cocked an eyebrow at Liam.
“She’s just helping me out. You know, gunshot recovery and all that?”
“Yeah, it looked like she’d definitely been helping you out.”
He rolled his eyes. “Nobody knows, all right? We wanna keep it that way 'til we know if it’s gonna stick.”
“No one’s gonna hear anything from me.”
“Good. Thanks, brother.”
I nodded. “I’ll let you get back to it.” I couldn’t help adding, “Enjoy yourself.”
“Get outta here,” he said, laughing.
I stepped back as he shut the door then headed down to my room.
As I approached, I frowned when I saw the door was open. Had Tasha left? She’d been asleep when I’d slipped out to meet with Slade earlier. Or, maybe, pretending to be asleep, to avoid what she had to know was coming.
The lecture of a goddamn lifetime.
I hadn’t been cognizant enough to get into it with her when I’d woken up for a bit last night before crashing hard again. But she was going to hear it now that I was wide fucking awake. What she’d done had been so reckless and unbelievably stupid. I still couldn’t actually believe she’d done it, showing up in the middle of a brutal battle between two notorious clubs. Putting herself in danger was bad enough, but to risk our baby too? What the fuck had she been thinking?
I took a beat to remind myself to check my anger at the door. Me losing it would just have her shutting down when I really needed to drive it home to her, to make her understand just how dangerous and unacceptable her actions were. Just thinking about her being there right smack damn in the middle of that much danger… fuck… I hadn’t been able to get it out of my head. It’d actually managed to do what no one had been able to do for a hell of a long time. Terrify me. What I could’ve lost if things hadn’t gone our way… shit… I could
n’t even go there. I couldn’t stand thinking about it. It was… too much.
I strode on into my room.
What I saw pulled me up short.
What the hell?
Just like several years back when I’d burst on in here, there Tasha and Mason were.
But it was a far cry from what I’d walked in on that day.
So fucking different.
He was sitting on the windowsill, all calm and chilling.
She was slumped in a chair in the corner rubbing her baby bump.
I couldn’t help it, I smiled to myself. Everything was different now. And, after our victory last night, it always would be.
Mason shot to his feet when he spotted me. “Hey,” he said, uneasily. “Everything go okay with Prez? You feeling okay?”
I looked from his nervous expression to Tasha, seeing the same thing all over her face.
And that was when I knew.
I couldn’t lay into her, or him.
We needed to move forward, not keep dwelling on the past.
It’d already cost us all too much.
I wasn’t about to let it keep doing that.
So, instead, I merely commented, “And I’m meant to be the crazy, reckless one?”
Soberly, Mason told me, “Desperate times, brother.”
“Cole, I—” Tasha started, trying to get to her feet and struggling in her pregnant state.
I held up my hand. “Stay there. Relax. Never do anything like that again, yeah? Make me that deal right now and I’ll let it go.”
She frowned. “You will?”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. “You did what you thought you had to do, just like all of us did. But we’re about to become parents and I won’t ever risk my kid ending up the way me, Mason and Luce did, all right? No more reckless shit. Swear it to me.”
I saw my words hit home, emotion playing on her face. She swallowed hard and eked out, “I swear.”
Smiling as I made my way over and dropped to a crouch in front of her, I told her, “Good girl.” I took her hands and kissed them. “We’re free, baby.”
Her whole face lit up in a way I hadn’t seen in a hell of a long time. “We’re free.”
26
~Natasha~
“YES, COLE! FUCK! DON’T STOP!”
I writhed beneath him, unable to keep still. He had me so worked up, right on the edge.
He tightened his grip on my thighs as the rapid-fire flicks of his tongue to my bare pussy had me bucking up off the bed in ecstasy.
“No moving,” he growled, lifting his head from my pussy, his lips glistening with my juices.
He held my gaze and made an erotic show of slowly licking my taste from his lips.
A jolt of pleasure shot through me at the dirtiness of it and the carnal look in his eye. It amplified my need to a state I hadn’t known existed and I grasped his shoulders, pulling him to me as I told him, “No more teasing now.”
He grinned slyly, then lowered his head back to my waiting pussy.
He switched to slow, slathering circles, his tongue ever so slightly avoiding my clit.
God. He was making me crazy.
I knew what he was doing. He was trying to draw it out, to push me, so it’d be all the more explosive when he finally took me over the edge. We were finally together without any bullshit hanging over our heads, which meant we had time, time to take it easy, to get lost in one another.
And we were making the most of it, re-cementing our relationship so we were in the best place possible before the baby came along.
I was ripped out of my thoughts as my body went haywire.
He was sucking my clit into his mouth.
Ah! Yes! He was done teasing me.
“Oh, fuck! Yes, Cole! I’m gonna come! I’m gonna come so hard! Yes!”
In the next second as he exerted more pressure, I exploded around him, screaming his name as I came apart.
“Sexy as all fuck,” he said, rising up on me and kissing my forehead.
He settled himself beside me and pulled me against him. He tugged the covers up over us and held me, one hand stroking my hair and the other stroking my mammoth belly.
“Thank you,” I whispered to him.
“Good, huh?”
“Mmm… so good.” I shifted my weight, which had me grunting from the effort.
“Baby, relax,” Cole cautioned me. “What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to look at you.”
“Oh,” he said, smiling.
I laid my hand on his arm. “Thank you for bringing us here.”
We were taking a mini-vacation at a luxurious five-star hotel, just relaxing and enjoying one another. We were basically in our own little bubble, away from the club, work, everything and everyone.
“I figured we deserved some downtime after everything that’d been happening.”
I relaxed back against the mountain of pillows behind me. “Understatement.”
He sidled closer to me and wrapped me up in his arms. “Now all of that’s behind us. It’s all uphill from here, Tasha.” He ran his fingers over my engagement ring. “We’re together now with absolutely nothing standing in our way.”
“I know,” I responded. “It all seems so surreal.”
“Well, for the longest time, it was something we didn’t think we could have.”
“Nobody saw it, but us. They all thought we were so wrong together.”
“Now they’ve wised up,” he said, reaching out and stroking my cheek. “I always knew you were the right one, the only one, Tasha.”
“Me too.”
“So many wasted years,” he mused bittersweetly.
“We’ve got many more to make up for it,” I assured him.
“You’re my world, Tasha.” His hand drifted down to my bump. “You and this little baby girl.”
“I love you,” I told him, smiling up at him.
“I love you.”
I sank into him.
But it was short-lived, as a violent pain tore through my belly. “Ah!” I exclaimed, jolting.
“What? Tasha? Are you okay?” he asked worriedly, his eyes darting over me erratically.
I cringed as the pain intensified, only just managing to choke out, “I think it’s time.”
His eyes widened and he sat bolt upright, his relaxed state gone completely and the commanding, take-charge, action-bound side of him taking its place. “The baby’s coming?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s on her way.”
“Pretty sure?”
“I’ve never done this before, Cole. They say first births can take a long time, so we might as well just—”
“No. We’re calling your midwife right now,” he cut in, snatching up his phone from the bedside table and dialing right away.
As he spoke to the midwife, he ran around the hotel room packing up our belongings.
I couldn’t hold back a laugh as I watched him. He was so cute, so excited. So amazing.
My nervousness of the painful intensity of labor ahead of me took a backseat for a few moments as my enthusiasm and desperation to meet our daughter settled within me.
I couldn’t wait.
I couldn’t wait to meet my daughter.
I couldn’t wait for our family to come into being.
After so long spent in the dark and danger, I was now surrounded by love, warmth and hope.
I was finally happy.
EPILOGUE
~Cole~
Three Months Later.
“DON’T YOU THINK this is a little overkill?” Tasha called, a hint of amusement in her voice.
“No,” I grunted, as I finished prepping the security cameras for installation on the exterior and the interior of our new home.
We’d bought the raised bungalow with a fully-finished basement on the outskirts of town. It was out of the way of everyone and any other houses, concealed nicely down a private driveway. Easy to fortify and run good quality security on. Once I put my final s
tep into place—the security cameras—I’d be satisfied it was all good to go, that my family was protected with the best of everything.
Turning from the kitchen counter where I had all my equipment laid out, I smiled at the sight of Tasha lounging on the couch in the living room, breastfeeding our baby daughter.
We’d made it back from the hotel in time and she’d had the homebirth she’d wanted in our bedroom suite in the basement. The two midwives that’d been involved had been great and Tasha had been a fucking goddess. The strength of that woman… it was immeasurable.
She’d given me a beautiful baby daughter.
Ella.
Ella Louise Taylor.
I smiled at her fuzzy blonde hair, her face mashed against Tasha’s breast as she fed.
Both of us were pretty much walking zombies at the moment. The stories were true about the sleeplessness that parents of a newborn suffered. Fortunately, we were both also pumped with our excitement that this had actually happened for us.
That we’d brought a child into the world.
That our worst enemies were gone.
That we were finally free.
I watched Ella finish breastfeeding, then dose off.
Tasha eased her down into the bassinet, then sank back against the pillows propped up on the couch, her weary eyes watching our daughter nap.
I walked over and joined her, gathering her into my arms and holding her tightly.
She turned her head and kissed my cheek.
As we settled in together, the sound from the TV and some sort of trucker reality show that Tasha had gotten into lately played quietly in the background, I took all of it in.
Talk about taking time to count my blessings.
After everything we’d been through, how could I not?
There’d been so many times when I’d seriously doubted we’d have this, that we’d win out against everything that’d stood in our way.
Yet, we had.
Together.
Against all odds, it’d actually worked out.
Now I finally had the love of my life with me.
I had a baby daughter.
I had my own family.
I had everything.
