by Madison Faye
“Thank you, dad,” I whisper into his chest, hugging him tight.
“Your mother…” he chuckles. “Well, I don’t know if she’d be proud of you or be having a heart attack right now.” He grins and pulls back to hold my hands.
“Be safe, be well, and be happy, my daughter,” he whispers. “And build something all your own.” He smiles. “You have my love, always.”
I hug my dad tightly, squeezing him with everything I have before I pull away and move back to Hush.
My dad smiles.
“Keep her safe, keep her loved,” he says gently and nods towards the far helicopter platform. “The keys are inside.”
Chapter Sixteen
Hush
I want to say it’s all a blur, getting back into the States, but it’s not. Nothing’s a blur when you’ve spent two years in hell, least of all, helicopter rides, dealing with drug smugglers, and illegally crossing the US border. I’m present and focused for every single second of it, but then, most of that is her.
She’s my lifeline back to the world—it’s like she’s my guide, and translator. Someone looks at me funny, and I want to hit them, or I instantly go into protective mode. But then, there’s Catalina, reminding me that they’re probably just not used to seeing a guy my size. And then I remember that this is society—the real world. I’m not in hell anymore.
…An angel set me free.
A day after leaving Jorge Del Campo’s desert fortress, and after spending almost a full day laying low with his smugglers, we cross that imaginary line back into the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I haven’t been here in three fucking years.
The moon is high, and the desert is cold when Reggie, the head smuggler, shakes my hand after I help Catalina down from the back of the truck.
“Thank you,” I growl. These words aren’t familiar to me anymore, but I’m learning.
“No problemo,” he says firmly back. “Your people, they will meet you here.” He nods at… well, nothing, but I get what he means.
“Gracias,” Catalina says with a smile, taking his hand. “Muchos, muchos gracias.”
“Señorita,” he smiles broadly at Catalina. “Mucho gusto. Your father…” he smiles. “Anything for your father.”
He nods at me once more before he gets back in the truck, and then they’re turning around and heading back across that imaginary line, back into Mexico.
“Anything for your father?”
She shrugs. “Reggie’s two sons got caught up with the wrong crowd a few years ago. My father pulled strings and made sure they didn’t go to jail.”
I chuckle. “A bad crowd? As opposed to your father, the drug kingpin.”
She blows air through her lips and shakes her head with a wry smile. “I hope you understand what you’re getting into with me,” she giggles. “My family is insane.”
“Holidays should be fun,” I grunt. “Your father and I can bond about the time he locked me a cage in the basement for two years.”
She frowns and looks down, but I just laugh and pull her close. Nothing—literally nothing—could bring me down now. Not when I’m free, and home, and with her.
“All I need is you, love,” I murmur. “But your family doesn’t scare me, either.”
She pulls back, blushing as she looks up into my eyes.
“Did you just…” she shakes her head. “Never mind.”
“Love,” I growl. “I called you love.”
“Thought so,” she whispers.
“Know why?”
She shakes her head, looking into my eyes.
“Because I love you.”
She rakes her teeth over her lip, pulling tight to me as she looks up with a grin.
“I love you too,” she says quietly.
Our lips come together, and I my heart pounds as I kiss the woman of my dreams, and the love I never knew I’d ever find.
“I…” I shake my head. “Angel, I don’t know what happens next, or what this shit with that vest is, or who these people are, but—”
Headlights suddenly crest a hill, and the low rumble of a motorcycle—no, several motorcycles—draw closer and louder.
“Whatever happens,” she whispers, lacing her fingers with mine. “We’re here together.”
There are six bikes, and they come to a stop about thirty feet from us. The engines shut off, but the headlamps stay on, blinding us. I can tell a few figures step forward, and I bristle, moving in front of Catalina. I growl at the silence, my big hands closing to fists.
“You look pretty good for a dead guy, you know.”
I blink, and reality just fucking goes upside-down for a second. The man who spoke keeps walking forward, but even before he comes into focus, I know him, based on the voice. But, that’s impossible, because—
“You’re dead,” I say quietly.
“Sorry to disappoint.”
A second man steps forward, and it’s like a cut to the heart. Because, this man, like the first, is a familiar voice from another life. A friend, a brother.
…Another part of me that died that day those years ago.
But I know that voice—I know both their voices. They step forward, and the fucking floor just drops out from under me.
“How,” I breathe.
My legs feel unsteady, and my head spins as I try and accept what I’m seeing in front of me. The first man is Ryker James, the second is Axe Dawson. In another life, they were brothers of mine—Ryker president, and Axe vice president of the Lost Devils MC.
“You’re…” the world spins, and I suck in air. A hand squeezes mine, and I know it’s Catalina. My rock.
“You’re dead,” I choke out.
“So are you,” Ryker growls.
They’re older now, and yet, I can’t say they’re harder looking or rougher. Because the truth is, they look more at peace now than I ever saw them looking those years ago.
“Oh, so am I.”
A third man steps forward, and this time, I just drop to my knees. Stone Rivers is another brother death stole from me that night—one of my best friends, actually. And yet, all these years later, he too is standing right fucking in front of me.
“I don’t understand…”
“Neither do I, brother” Stone hisses out. He strides forward, and as I stand, he throws his arms around me in big bear hug.
“How the fuck are you here?” He growls, pulling back and shaking his head, his eyes darting over me like he can’t actually believe what they’re seeing.
“It’s a long fucking story,” I growl. “How the fuck are you here?”
“Long fucking story,” he grins. “Holy fuck, man.” He blinks, shaking his head.
“Crying, Rivers?”
He chokes out a laugh. “Get fucked, Bannon.” He flips me off with a grin. “Hey, heard a rumor that you don’t talk much these days.”
“I don’t.”
“Well that’s an improvement.”
I chuckle, grinning and still not quite believing that I’m not dreaming as I step back and put my arm around Catalina.
“This is Catalina,” I growl.
“Del Campo,” Ryker says quietly, stroking his beard and looking on edge.
“Cool it, dead guy,” I mutter, grinning at him. “She’s with me, and she’s the reason I’m alive, and here. Her father too, actually.”
Ryker arches a brow. “Now that’s a story I’d love to hear.”
“Get in line,” Axe chuckles. “I think we’ve got a shitload of stories to get through first.”
I shake my head. “The patch, the club…”
“Gone,” Ryker says quietly. “That night, the club died, even if we didn’t. Except now…” he clears his throat and nods behind him. The other three figures step forward, and I glance over the three guys I don’t know.
But they’re wearing Lost Devils cuts.
“Wait,” I growl, yanking my head back to Ryker. “So, you got it back up and going?”
He shakes his head. “Not me, no. I’m out.”
“So am I,” Axe growls.
“Same,” Stone shrugs. I give him a look, and he grins. “Kids, man.”
My jaw drops. “Fucking what?”
He chuckles. “Long story, brother. You got a lot of catching up to do.”
“No shit,” I murmur, blinking and feeling like I’m in some sort of time travel movie.
“This,” Ryker grunts, gesturing to a tall guy who looks to be in his twenties with dark hair and dark eyes. “This is Shepherd, the new prez of the newly formed Lost Devils.” He nods at the all-American quarterback looking blond guy next to him. “Rowan, the new veep, and Oliver,” he points to the third, heavily tattooed, guy who’s got longish brown hair pulled back and sizable beard.
“Boys,” Ryker growls. “This is Hush.”
They nod, and I nod back.
“Look, we’re not patched in, more like outside consultants,” Stone shrugs. “But….” He turns and nods at Shepherd, who grins and throws him something, He catches it and turns back to me, holding out a cut—complete with the Lost Devils skull and roses, and my name across the back.
I blink, caught off guard.
“No drugs, no girls,” Shepherd grunts in a rough voice. “We’re kind of taking things in a new direction. Less outlaw shit, more protecting what’s ours and the surrounding community. We’re based near a place called Blackthorn Mountain. Heard of it?”
I shake my head.
“It’s heaven, man,” Stone says quietly. “We all found our forever there, and it’s gonna be home for all of us until the day we die.”
Ryker and Axe nod in agreement.
“It’s a simple life,” Ryker says. “But man is it a good one.”
“So,” Shepherd grins, crossing his arms over his chest. “You in, or you out?”
I swallow and look down at the cut. Slowly, I turn, and my eyes lock with Catalina’s as she grins and squeezes my hand.
“I can’t give you desert palaces, or shopping accounts, or—”
“And I don’t want any of those things,” she says quietly, looking into my eyes. “I just want you.”
I grin, pulling her close, and not giving a shit about the rest of them, I lean in and kiss her slowly.
“Okay, yeah, that’s another story we’re going to need to hear,” Stone chuckles as I pull away.
“So, what do you think?” I growl quietly, looking into Catalina’s eyes.
“Blackthorn Mountain…” she says it quietly, musing over the words. “I mean, it sounds nice to me.” She grins. “I’m in,” she says with a flush to her face and a wild glint in her eyes. “As long as I’m with you, I’m in for whatever.”
I kiss her again before I pull back, holding the cut tight in my large hand. I turn, and Shepherd catches my eye again.
“So,” he shrugs. “In or out, Hush?”
I look at him, and the two other new guys wearing the old cuts. I turn and look at my lost brothers somehow back from the dead. I turn and lock eyes with the love of my life, and when she squeezes my hand and nods with that heart-melting smile on her face, I know.
I know I could take on the fucking world with her by my side.
I look back at Shepherd, and my jaw tightens.
“Yeah,” I growl. “I’m in.”
Epilogue
Catalina
The cabin sits up on the hillside, looking out over the valley with Blackthorn Mountain itself looming behind it. The town is small, just a single restaurant run by Stone and his wife Jackie, a garage run by Hush’s old friend Ryker that Axe helps out in, a veterinary clinic, a tattoo parlor, and… well, that’s pretty much it.
There are no desert palace fortresses, no bodyguards, no to-the-death fights. No cartel family, either.
…Honestly, it’s amazing up here.
Blackthorn is… well, it’s a place where outsiders, outlaws, vagabonds, and the lost have somehow found each other and hung on tight. And the Lost Devils are a big part of that. Technically, Blackthorn isn’t really a town, or township, or really anything actual on paper. It’s actually weirdly in this grey area between a few other counties in the area.
Some of those that have found their way here who had money, like Vlad, the former Bratva hitman, or Austin and Dallas, the twin brothers who happen to be with the same woman, ended up buying up a lot of the land and basically just holding it a trust for the “town.” Which works out great for a community of people who tend to come from backgrounds where they sort of want to stay off the grid a little.
I mean, believe me—as the daughter of one of the world’s most brutal cartel kingpins, who also happens to be in this country under dubious legality, I get it.
But not being a real town means not having real town things, like a police force. That’s sort of where the Lost Devils step in. It’s a protection unit for the families that call this place home. After all, get enough former outlaws and roughnecks together, and sometimes those skeletons from people’s closest come calling or looking for blood. This time, Hush, Shepherd, Rowan and his wife Lucy—yes, this MC has women, or at least, one woman for now—Oliver, Bishop, Bastion, and a handful of new pledges will be ready for them, though.
I mean, there are hiccups, of course. There’s the whole thing with Oliver and, well, she’s a whole other story. And then that scandal with Bastion and Bishop and… well, it was a scandal. Even up here, where it’s not even scandalous to find two men with one woman. And it was still the talk of the mountain.
But, I digress, and I’m getting ahead of myself into stories that are best told by those who lived them.
Blackthorn is amazing, and it’s all because of the people who call it home. Some of us came from privilege, others from hell. But here, we’re all equal, and we’re all basically one big family. I mean, my God, I even have friends now, and I’ve never had friends. I clicked instantly with Lucy, Stone’s wife, Jackie, Axe’s wife, Larkin, and Ryker’s wife, Addison, and now we’re as thick as thieves.
Basically, I’m catching up fast in the friends department.
My father checks in from time to time, and he and Hush have even come around to being friendly, which is weird. But Hush just shrugs whenever I bring it up.
I fucked up, I paid for it. Maybe more than I should have, but the past is the past, and the future is you, even if that means your family, too.
It was a little strange the first time Jorge Del Campo, renowned cartel kingpin, made an appearance in Blackthorn to check in with me, and Hush, but it is what it is. He’s stayed true to his word, too—he keeps his distance, but he makes it known that I’ll never be without him if I need him, either. It’s a good balance we’ve struck.
Elena visits now and again, and she’s gone from wrinkling her nose the first time she came to not wanting to leave when she comes now. Maybe it’s the mountain air, or the woods. Or maybe it’s that this whole freaking place is inhabited by gorgeous, growly, muscled, tattooed outlaws, bikers, mountain men, military vets, ex-mafia, and more.
And like I said, my father checks in here and there, but he also keeps his distance, because he knows I’m building something of my own here.
…I’m building a life, with the love of my life.
I step out onto the porch of our small cabin, and I grin. I don’t need shopping accounts, or unlimited credit cards, or desert palaces. I look out over the view, and breathe in the clean air, and pure happiness flows through me. Yeah, this is all I need. Well, this and—
As if on cue, the sound of his bike rumbles up the road that winds down through the trees. He comes into sight in a cloud of dust, and my heart beats a little faster as he comes to a rumbling stop in front of our place. Hush grins as he steps off the bike, and I smile widely right back.
Yeah, he’s really all I need.
The scars of his past life are still there, as are the ones from his time in the fighting ring—both physical and mental. But, he’s healing, and I make a fantastic nurse, if I do say
so myself.
I giggle as he rushes into me, scooping me into his arms and kissing me wildly, like it’s been a week since we last kissed and not three hours ago when he swung by in the middle of the afternoon to screw my brains out before heading back out for some club business. I moan into him, hugging him tight and kissing him deeply as he carries me back into the house for round two.
This is all I need.
He’s my beast, I’m his rose, and we’ve got a love as strong as a mountain and as loud as a motorcycle engine. Now, forever, and come what may.
* * *
The End.
Also by Madison Faye
Find all of Madison’s books, available at your favorite book retailers!
* * *
Apple • Barnes & Noble • Kobo • Eden Books • Payhip
* * *
Lost Devils MC:
Kiss/Bang
Thrust/Throb
Double/Trouble
Fuck/Fight
* * *
Blackthorn Mountain Men:
Claiming His Mountain Bride
His Captive Mountain Virgin
Her Mountain Baby Daddies
His Big Mountain Axe
His Hard Mountain Wood
Her Rough Mountain Outlaw
Unwrapping His Mountain Package
Her Double Mountain Outlaws
Her Savage Mountain Daddy
His Runaway Mountain Bride
* * *
Standalones:
Cream Pie
Cherry Pie
His Pretty Little Thief
Stealing Valentine
Screwged
Sharing Samantha
Claiming Candy
Trick And Treat
Sugar & Spice
Five Card Studs
Dear Stepbrother, I Want You
