by A. M. Myers
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I whisper, kissing her hand and willing her to open her eyes. Apart of the bandages covering her left arm, she doesn’t look too worse for wear but from all the work I’ve done with the club, I know all the hard work is still in front of us. I will stand by her through it all, though. “Eyes on me, gorgeous. You don’t get to leave me anytime soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tatum
“Where are you at, baby?” a familiar voice says, pulling me toward the light as darkness clings to me, trying to pull me back under its warm embrace. My entire body aches and I try to remember why. An image of Devlin slicing me open with the scalpel fills my mind and I cry out. Or, at least, I think I do but no one seems to notice. “I’m missing you something crazy and I need you to come back to me, Darlin’.”
I try to reach for him but my arm doesn’t budge. More memories flood my mind – I was fading in and out of consciousness as the door to the room burst open and then I was in someone’s arms. There were people calling my name and pain, so much pain that I couldn’t stand it anymore. I whimper. Someone grabs my hand and a sense of peace settles over me.
Oh, I’d know that touch anywhere.
“Tate? Can you hear me, baby?” he whispers, one hand cradling the side of my head as he brushes his thumb over my forehead. I try to squeeze his hand but my fingers won’t work and I let out another whimper. “Eyes on me, gorgeous.”
Fighting against the darkness, my eyes flutter open and I wince at the bright fluorescent light filling the room. Where am I?
“Hey,” the voice whispers and I turn my head to the side, my heart pounding when Lincoln comes into view.
“Lincoln.” My voice is weak and it cracks as I force the word through my lips but his face lights up as he brings my hand to his lips and kisses it.
“There she is.”
I try to sit up but pain floods my body and I squeeze my eyes shut again as I realize just how dry and uncomfortable my throat is. “Ow.”
“What do you need?” he asks, gently setting my arm back on the bed as he stands and I glance at the cup on my bedside table.
“Water.”
He nods, grabbing a pitcher and filling the cup with water before setting it back down and helping me sit up a little bit. I hiss as pain swamps me again and he murmurs apologies as he raises the head of the bed. When I’m finally comfortable, he grabs the cup again and helps me take a sip of water.
“Thank you,” I whisper, my throat still feeling dry but it’s better than before. He nods, setting the cup down and sitting in the chair again as he grabs my hand and presses it to his forehead.
“Thought I almost lost you.”
I shake my head, smiling through the constant pain now throbbing through my arm. “Lincoln Paul Archer, I’m never leaving you.”
“Damn right you’re not,” he forces out as he looks up and brushes away a tear. My heart breaks for him as he stands and presses a kiss to my lips. When he pulls away, he flashes me a smile that melts my insides and I let the peace I feel with him radiate over me before memories start rushing back to me.
“Oh, Lincoln,” I gasp, fighting back tears. I know I have to tell him what happened to me and I have no idea how he’ll react.
“Hey,” he whispers, running his hand over my hair. “What is it, sweetheart?”
“I have to tell you… He did things…”
He shakes his head, giving my hand a squeeze. “You don’t have to tell me anything, Tate. I already know.”
“How?”
Gritting his teeth, he looks away from me for a second before his gaze drifts back to mine and he sighs. “Your father showed up at the clubhouse and showed us the video Devlin made.”
“You saw?” I ask in horror as tears burn my eyes. He nods.
“Yeah, baby, I saw and I don’t care, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
I shake my head. “I don’t really know what I’m thinking yet.”
“That’s okay, too,” he says with a nod and I stare at the wall for a moment, trying to play catch up. Turning to look at him, I suck in a breath.
“Do you know where he is now?”
He arches a brow. “Devlin? Or your father?”
“Both.”
Shaking his head, he sighs and kisses my hand again like he can’t get enough of me. “If I had to guess, I would say that Devlin is dead and who the hell knows where Dominic is.”
“What happened?”
He meets my gaze. “What do you remember?”
“I remember the scalpel carving through my skin,” I whisper, turning to look at my bandaged left arm. “And I remember Devlin humming Don’t Worry, Be Happy as he stitched me back together.”
“Jesus, baby,” he hisses, closing his eyes as his jaw clenches. “Is that all?”
I shake my head. “I was fading in and out of consciousness and I think someone broke the door down but after that it’s just flashes of stuff that don’t make sense.”
“It was your father. He rescued you from Devlin and then the hospital staff found you dumped on the ground out in front of the emergency room door.”
“He just left me here?”
He nods. “I assume he had to get Devlin somewhere secure and then you know the rest.”
“I can’t believe he showed up at the clubhouse,” I whisper, wishing I could have been there to witness that.
“There’s one more thing you should know, babe.”
I turn back to him, nodding. “Dominic is fairly certain that Devlin was responsible for your mother’s death.”
“Oh,” I spit out, staring up at the ceiling. I’d like to say that I’m surprised but after everything else I learned, I’m not. His anger and pain was eating away at him for a long time and in the end, it took control over everything else.
“Do you know why he went after you?” Lincoln asks and my head falls to the side.
“Dominic didn’t tell you?”
He shakes his head. “I get the feeling he didn’t know.”
“He still doesn’t,” a voice says from the doorway and I stiffen as a handsome man with salt and pepper hair and an impeccable suit walks into the room.
“Dominic, I assume?”
He smiles and I can actually see how easy it would be to fall for his charming act. “You can call me Dad.”
“I won’t,” I answer, pressing my lips into a thin line.
“Dominic, what are you doing here?” Lincoln asks. My father barely even spares Lincoln a second glance as he strides into the room and sits on the edge of my bed by my feet.
“I told you this wasn’t over.”
“Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?” Lincoln growls and Dominic dismisses him with an eye roll. Rage twists through my belly and I narrow my eyes into a glare.
“What do you want?”
Chuckling, he pats my foot and I immediately want to pull it back. “I’m here to check on my daughter, of course.”
“Yeah, right. Why don’t you tell me what you really want?”
He adjusts his sleeves. “Tell me why Devlin took you.”
“You’re the one who rescued me. Why don’t you ask him?”
“I am. A thank you is not necessary, by the way...”
“Good. Because I wasn’t going to provide one. Do you have Devlin now?”
“I do,” he replies with a nod as he studies me with amused eyes.
“Then ask him.”
He sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s being annoyingly tight-lipped about his reasons for acting so crazy. It doesn’t make sense. He’s always been such a good soldier.”
“Claire,” I reply, watching his response. His eyes widen and I watch as the truth slowly dawns on him.
“Oh… All this over a girl? What a grave mistake on his part.”
Anger surges forward in me seeing his total lack of compassion or remorse. “Really? That’s all you have to say? He only did to me what you did to her.”
/> “He knew what he was doing by going after you and now he’ll pay the price.”
“How did you know where I was?”
He shrugs. “Devlin never intended to survive this so he didn’t bother to cover his tracks. It took me no time at all to find him.”
“You’re going to kill him?” I ask, unsure how I feel about it. A part of me really felt for Devlin but after what he did to me, I’d feel so much safer knowing he was no longer walking this earth.
“Unless you want to, my dear.”
I shake my head. “I’m not you.”
“Yes,” he muses, his gaze flicking all over my face. “I can see that now, although I do hear that you have a bit of my temper. You know, you could always come home with me.”
Lincoln stands up as his grip on my hand tightens. “I don’t fucking think so.”
“I am home,” I answer, meeting my father’s gaze. “And from now on, I don’t want to see or hear from you again.”
He nods, standing from the bed as he straightens his suit. “I understand, Tate. I will never claim to be a good man because I’m not but for you, my darling daughter, I would go to fucking war and don’t you ever forget it.”
“The difference is, I would never ask you. Get out of my life and don’t come back.”
He sighs. “Children never appreciate their parents until it’s too late. If you ever need me, all you have to do is call.”
He tosses a card down on the bed and walks out without another word as Lincoln scoops it up.
“Want me to rip it up?”
Sighing, I hold my hand out for the card and he gives it to me. There’s a huge part of me that wants to rip it into a million pieces but something stops me.
“Are you okay, babe?”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know how to answer that question.”
“You wanna talk about it?”
I meet his gaze and hold my hand out for his. “No. I don’t want to give Devlin’s pain or anger any more life – especially when I have such a fantastic future to look forward to with you.”
“Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.”
“I’m glad that you’ve finally learned to just give me what I want,” I shoot back with a smirk and he laughs.
“Fuck, I love you, baby. The next seventy years with you are going to be interesting as hell.”
I shrug, lying back in the bed as I squeeze his hand. “Would you want it any other way?”
“Darlin’, as long as I get you, I’ll take it however I can get it.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later…
A cool sea breeze drifts in through the open sliding glass door and I smile, turning back to the full length mirror and running my hands down the gauzy fabric of the dress. It’s a simple design but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and I know it’ll make Lincoln lose his mind with the deep V and the open back. My hair is curled and pinned back as Ali secures little white flowers with bobby pins. Her belly bumps me and I laugh.
“Watch where you’re swingin’ that thing.”
She growls. “Don’t start with me, woman. It’s hot as hell, my toes look like sausages, and this baby won’t stop kicking my bladder.”
“Well, sit down,” I instruct, gently walking backward toward the bed as she holds a piece of my hair. As I sit on the edge of the bed, she sits behind me and sighs as she gets back to work.
“You look stunning, Tate. If he weren’t already barefoot, you’d knock Kodiak’s socks off.”
I catch sight of the scars on my arm and collarbone and sigh. Maybe I should have gotten a dress with sleeves. “I hope so.”
She follows my gaze and pokes the back of my head with a bobby pin. “Knock it off. You’re gorgeous and Kodiak is one lucky bastard.”
“Ow,” I mumble, rubbing my head. Physically, I healed from Devlin’s attack fairly quickly but the emotional side of it still haunts me daily. Of course I don’t know what I’d do without Lincoln. He wakes up each morning and the first thing he does is kiss every scar on my body, telling me how beautiful I am. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t even want to imagine where I would be.
After I was released from the hospital, Lincoln took me home and promptly moved in. Neither one of us was willing to be away from the other after we almost lost it all and I still needed a lot of help as I healed. Rodriguez came by a few days after we were settled in and delivered the news that they’d found Devlin’s body on the edge of town. They also found journals detailing all his plans at his house so as far as the police department was concerned, the case was all wrapped up with a tidy little bow. I thought I would find some peace in knowing who killed my mother but I don’t. Instead, I’m still haunted by the type of man my father is but I suspect that’s something I’ll have to learn to live with.
“Knock, knock,” someone says and I smile as Theo opens the door and pokes his head in. When he sees me on the bed, he sucks in a breath and a wide smile stretches across his face. “You’re beautiful, T.”
“Thanks, little brother.”
He growls. “The only reason you’re going to get away with that is because it’s your wedding day.”
“Uh, Tate?” I glance across the room as Carly ducks in through the sliding glass door. “I don’t want to alarm you but there are some dark clouds rolling in.”
“I’m done, you can get up,” Ali says, patting my shoulder. I stand and make my way across the room, pulling the sheer white curtain back to peek outside. She’s right. Dark, ominous clouds are rolling in toward the beach and I can’t help but smile. For some reason I can’t explain, it feels like Mom is with us here, which is the whole reason Lincoln and I decided to get married in Grand Isle where everything started for us.
“It’s perfect,” I whisper.
“Well, perfect or not, unless you want to get rained on, we should do this now.”
I nod, turning back to her. “You and Ali head down to the beach and get the guys ready, okay?”
Carly nods as she flashes me a smile. “I’m on it. Come on, preggo.”
“When I finally catch you, I’m smacking you for that comment,” Ali growls, struggling to climb off the bed. Theo rushes over and helps her up. “Thank you.”
The girls leave and Theo throws his arm around my shoulder, smiling down at me. “Ready to do this?”
“More than ready,” I answer with a nod.
“Me, too. After today, you won’t be my problem anymore.”
I roll my eyes and give him a little shove. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Teddy.”
“I told you to never call me that again,” he gasps and I laugh as I take one last look in the mirror, tucking one of the little white flowers behind my ear. When it came to the wedding, Ali kind of took over and I was happy to let her since I don’t know the first thing about planning a wedding. Honestly, if it had been up to me, Lincoln and I would have been at the courthouse months ago but now that we’re here, I’m glad she convinced me to let her plan things.
“Let’s go get me married,” I say, turning to Theo and he holds his arm out, allowing me to hook mine through it as he turns toward the sliding glass door. Speechless by Dan + Shay begins playing and I smile as Theo pulls the curtain back and we step out. All the guys, Rodriguez, Carly, Ali, Nix, Emma, and Mia are lined up on either side of our makeshift aisle and they all turn toward me but my gaze is solely focused on the man waiting for me by the water.
His smile lights up his face and his gaze never leaves mine as I slowly close the distance between us, my heart pounding and tears welling up in my eyes. A part of me can’t believe this is real – like maybe this is all just a dream and I’ll wake up any moment with only a figment of this happiness lingering in my heart. He bites his lip as his gaze drops down my body and warmth floods my system as my pulse spikes.
God, how did I ever get this lucky?
“You’re stunning,” Lincoln whispers after Theo passes my hand to him and a blush creeps up my cheeks. �
�I love you.”
“I love you,” I reply, staring up at him and the minister clears his throat.
“Shall we get started?”
Smith scoffs. “You’d better before we all get wet.”
“Yeah, maybe we should just jump right to the vows,” Storm says, glancing out at the ocean as the clouds roll closer.
“It’s fine with me if it’s all right with you two,” the minister answers, glancing at us and I nod at the same time Lincoln does. “All right, then. Lincoln and Tatum have prepared their own vows so I’ll let them take over. Lincoln?”
Lincoln clears his throat and pulls a slip of paper out of his khaki pants. “Tate, my gorgeous girl, I wasn’t looking for you when you walked into my life. In fact, I would even say I was actively avoiding what you represented but all it took was one look, one smile, the sound of your laugh and I was a goner. All my reasons for running didn’t matter anymore because running was no longer an option. You took me, a broken down man, and made me feel whole again. With you by my side, I know I can take on the world and for you, I would in a heartbeat. No one would ever say that you’re easy…” Chuckles ring out around us. “But you are emphatically worth it. Every time. I love you more than any words could express so I hope you’ll give me the next eighty years to prove it to you.”
A tear slips down my cheek and he grins as he reaches out and wipes it away.
“Tate?” the minister prompts and I pull the slip of paper out of the top of my dress. Lincoln’s gaze zeroes in on my cleavage and I roll my eyes, snapping my fingers in front of his face as everyone laughs. He meets my gaze again and blows me a kiss.
“Lincoln,” I breathe out, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him as I recite my wedding vows. “I waited for you for so many years and along the way, I think I stopped believing in you – not you specifically – but I lost faith that you were out there, waiting for me. I lost faith that you and I would ever find each other and then you walked into my diner and pissed me the fuck off.” The minister coughs through his surprise as the guys laugh. “Even in that very first moment, you broke through my barriers and affected me like no one else ever had and I started to hope again. The road hasn’t been easy but it’s shown me the kind of man you are – one I can depend on, one I can build a future with – and I have faith again. Faith in you, in us, and faith that no matter where I go, you’ll always come for me because even when I was pushing you away, you never gave up on me. I love you with every piece of my soul and I’m so lucky to spend this life with you.”
