by K E Osborn
She’s standing by the table, wearing the same dress she was wearing the first night I met her in New Orleans. She was stunning then, but she’s breathtakingly beautiful now. The little black number is more revealing than I remember. My cock jerks in my jeans at the sheer sight of how utterly gorgeous she is.
Exhaling, I start the slow walk toward her, the corner of her lips turns up. She’s shining so fucking brightly with the way she’s looking at me, I can’t even comprehend how beautiful she is right now.
“You did all this… for me?”
“I wanted to show my appreciation for the life you’ve given me.”
I step over, pulling her to me.
Our eyes lock—it’s like I see clearly for the first time.
Jovie is all I want.
Her.
My kids.
This club.
All of us, together.
Just.
Like.
This.
Jovie’s arms loop around my neck, and she presses her forehead to mine.
“I was lost before you found me,” I admit.
She smells fucking divine as she leans in closer. “I will always find you. You’re my home, Liam. You, Sadie, and Lucas.”
I had no idea hearing those words would feel so fucking incredible.
My lips press to hers, just needing to let her know how much this all means to me. She’s gone out of her way to make me feel special tonight. I should be doing this for her, yet she’s got my club to help her to do this for me.
She’s one of a fucking kind.
I kiss her, letting her know how much I appreciate everything—her sacrifices for me, for my children. My body comes alive, her tongue going rogue with mine. My hands slide around her, finding their way to her ass, and I pull her to me. I fucking want to throw her down on the table and have my way with her, but that’s not appropriate right now.
So instead, I kiss her.
I’ll kiss her until I can’t breathe.
A dramatically clearing voice startles me. So, I regretfully pull apart from Jovie. My cock is hard as rock while I turn. Savanah’s wide eyes stare at us with a hesitant expression on her face. She gestures downward, and I follow her line of sight. Lucas is wearing a suit, and Sadie’s in a cute-as-hell little purple dress, both with giant smiles on their adorable little faces. They’re standing with a cart, holding our dinner.
My chest swarms with pride. “Well, don’t y’all look amazing,” I tell them.
Sadie sways from side to side. “Jovie picked it out for me. I’m a princess!”
I grab Sadie’s hand, making her spin. “Yeah, baby girl, you are. And you, little big man, you’re all grown now.”
Lucas stands taller, puffing out his chest. “I’m a b… b… big boy!”
Jovie leans down. “Yeah, you are! Thank you for helping me.”
“That’s what best fwends do,” Lucas chimes.
My heart swells as Jovie hugs him tighter.
This right here is what it’s supposed to be.
This is the exact right thing for my family.
“C’mon, kids, let them eat their dinner,” Sav tells them.
“Eat your veggies,” Sadie calls out as Savanah takes her inside.
Little shit.
I chuckle, walking over to the table to sit. We move the plates from the cart to the table, and I let out a half-laugh. “I still can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“My life was chaos before we drove into New Orleans. For some reason, your table was the only one that night with any spare seats. Do you believe we were destined to meet?”
I widen my eyes, picking up our voodoo doll and study it. “I don’t know… I think the world works in mysterious ways. Life throws you shit, and it’s up to you to decide whether you should take the hurdle and jump or whether to turn around and ignore it.”
“Hmm… so, New Orleans was a hurdle for you?”
I place the voodoo doll back down, then reach over for Jovie’s hand. A spark shoots all the way up my arm, slamming straight into my chest. My heart beats faster as I stare into her eyes. “Yes, it was a hurdle, but I’m choosing to jump headfirst, completely, utterly, blindly… because I can’t keep living in the past, Jovie. I finally have a future, and fuck if it isn’t looking bright as hell.”
Her eyes glisten, letting out a small sob. She blinks away her tears as she stands from the table, pulling me to her. “If you’re jumping, I’m jumping, too.”
Suddenly, the intro to ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ starts playing over the outside speakers, and we both smile at each other.
“Savanah,” we both say in unison.
The drumbeat kicks in making us both laugh, but I’m not going to hold back anymore. I’m going to take the word of Jon Bon Jovi and hold on to what I’ve got. So, I grab Jovie, pulling her out further into the cookout area.
“Kevlar, what are you—”
“Shh… just go with it.”
She radiates as I pull her to me, then push her away, making her spin out. Her gorgeous laughter fills the space, making my body flood with happiness. I’m dancing with Jovie to the band she’s named after, to the song that’s definitely ours, at the clubhouse with my kids.
Life can’t get much fucking better than this.
KEVLAR
One Week Later
This past week has flown by. I’m getting antsy. Without any leads about the assholes who took my kids, I’m starting to get more and more anxious. In times like this, when there’s nothing you can do but wait for the information to come to hand, you must find ways to calm your ass down. And there’s always someone I can rely on to talk some sense into me.
Making my way over to Fox and Bub as they sit at a lone table toward the back of the main room, I bob my head at them as I approach. Emma’s smile and bright eyes shine back at me, and I’d be lying if I said a little twinge didn’t pull at my chest every time I see that look on their faces. It’s becoming a little easier every day, but it’s by no means comfortable seeing the mixture of her face looking back at me from her parents and the memories everywhere I go in this place.
They are a reminder of her.
And now? They fuel my guilt at abandoning her memory.
Fox kicks out the seat next to him and gestures for me to sit my ass down. Letting out a small huff I take a seat. “What’s on your mind, son?”
The corner of my lips turns up. “You always could read me like a damn book.”
Fox chuckles. “You have the easiest tells in the business. You’d never be any good at poker. It’s why our Em fell for you, Kevlar. Your honesty. No matter what, your body language always tells the truth. She could rely on you.”
Exhaling, I nod. “Always.”
Bub reaches out, placing her hand on mine. “You were so good to her. She loved you… more than anything.” She lets out a small laugh. “Damn! The fights we had over you in the beginning were terrible, but she was so fucking headstrong… she knew, she saw the potential in you, even if we couldn’t.”
Fox leans forward, resting his fists on the table. “Remember what she told you?”
“When?” I scrunch my brows together.
“When she got the diagnosis. We all came home and sat in the car. Remember what she said?”
My heart was still pounding ferociously. We knew Emma had been having symptoms. There were a few things out of place medically. But never, ever, in our wildest dreams did we expect this. As the four of us sat in the car in the parking lot of the clubhouse, no one approached us.
Fox and Bub stayed silent in the front as I held so fucking tight onto Emma’s hand. We knew, all of us, what this meant.
What the diagnosis entailed.
We just didn’t know how long we had left.
And that was scarier than the diagnosis itself.
My hand was shaking in hers. My entire life had already been turned on its head for Emma. I changed who I was. Lost my family for her. Now, I would be losing her from my
family.
Where’s the justification in that?
Where’s the damn virtue?
Where’s the damn fairness?
I slowly turned to look at her. My eyes glistened with the fear wracking through my body.
“Em—”
“I need you to hear me, Liam. Because I am only saying this once,” she interrupted. Her beautiful green eyes stared back at me with so much conviction, it shocked me. “I love you more than I thought I was capable of loving anything in my entire lifetime. Meeting you, having our family, has been the biggest blessing.” She sniffles as I grip her hand tighter. “I’m not dead yet, but I am going to die—”
“No, Em, don’t talk like tha—”
“Kevlar, stop! We need to face reality…” Her bottom lip trembled, and tears streamed down her face. My chest squeezed so damn tight I wanted to be sick. “In eighteen months, two years… actually, who knows how long, I will have faded into a person you hardly recognize. If this gets too much… if I’m too much—”
“Stop! I’m not going anywhere, Em. I’m in this, till death do us part, remember? And even after that, you’ll still be my wife.”
She wiped the tears from her face, pulling my hand to her chest. “No. God, please, no. Kevlar… Liam, I need you to move on when I’m gone. To find someone to love again. Don’t hold onto me or my memory. Your life is going to be long and beautiful and full of so many wonderful memories. I don’t want to be the reason you miss out on them. Please, please, let me go and find someone to love. Someone who will love you and our children like you all deserve… promise me?”
A tear slid down my cheek as I shook my head. “I can’t… I can’t love anyone. It’s only you. It will only ever be you!”
Her hand moved in, caressing my cheek. “You will, and I give you my blessing. I want you to be happy. Be happy, Liam… be happy.”
I leaned in, pressing my lips to hers. “I promise.”
“She told me to be happy,” I reply.
Fox sits back in his chair, the wood groaning and creaking with his weight as he crosses his arms across his chest in his smugness. “So, are you gonna break your promise to the love of your life?”
Exhaling, I rub the back of my neck. “I have these strong feelings for Jovie. I just… is it too soon? It’s only been three years.”
Bub scoffs while Fox scowls at me. “Don’t be a dickhead. Don’t go back on your word to my daughter, to your wife. Does Jovie make you happy?”
A slow smile crosses my lips. “Crazy happy.”
“Then, that’s your damn answer, son. Don’t throw something away because one… you’re scared, or two… out of guilt, or three… a combination of one and two. Grow some damn fucking balls, Kevlar. Relationships are hard. Yeah, you were hurt. Yes, you lost something fucking spectacular, but life with Jovie doesn’t need to be spectacular… find a different adjective, like amazing, astounding, marvelous, sensational, wonderous. You can have one thing with Em, and something equally as perfect with Jovie, but they don’t have to be the same is what I am saying.”
I let out a small laugh. “So, you’re okay, then… with me and Jovie?”
Bub reaches out, taking my hand in hers. “Oh, honey, is that part of the problem? That you’re worried what we’ll think?”
“I don’t want to offend you—”
“That’s horseshit! You know where I stand. We’ve already had this heart-to-heart before Savanah interrupted us. Kevlar, you’re my son. I don’t say that as a term of endearment. I mean it. You’re family to us. Nothing you do, no matter who you date, who you fall in love with, who you eventually start a family with, is going to change the fact you are my son!”
“If you’re happy, don’t let anything hold you back. Let go, Kevlar. Let go of anything that’s keeping you from giving yourself to Jovie fully because she is in. She is all about your family, so you need to take that step and meet her halfway,” Bub suggests.
Warmth floods through me like nothing before, so I nod.
With both of their approval, it’s like a weight has been lifted. I know there will always be a place in my heart for Emma. She will never leave me. But I’m opening myself up to love Jovie, to take her into my life fully because she is worth it. She’s worth so fucking much.
“Thank you. Thanks for helping me with this. I’ve been struggling with my guilt, but I think I can let that go and maybe now show Jovie what she means to me.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Fox grins so freaking wide, I feel like his face might explode with happiness.
Standing from the table, I dip my chin at them. Then turn to see Jovie, Savanah, and Neon sitting at a table over on the other side of the room. Now might not be the time to show Jovie how I feel, but I know the time will come at some point. For now, though, I have to be near her.
I turn back to Fox and Bub, “Thanks again… for everything.”
They smile as I spin, making my way over to Jovie. Her eyes shift to meet me as I slide in beside her to hear Neon discussing detailed plans on what to do if an attack happens at the club. Jovie’s shoulders are tight with tension, and there’s a worried expression on her face.
“So, the best thing you can both do is to grab the kids and head to either of your rooms or find the nearest safe place to hide. We have certain rooms in the club that have extra safeguards in place. The kitchen is one, so if you’re close by, you run inside there and shut the door. If, for some reason, you can’t make it in there, then head behind the bar. It might look old, but it’s reinforced, no bullets can pass through,” Neon tells them.
Savanah’s wide eyes tell me she’s taking this all in.
Jovie, though, she simply glimpses at me. “And you? If an attack happens on the club, where will you be?”
What did I walk into?
“I’ll be out here, fighting off whoever’s trying to come in.”
“So… you could get hurt?” The panic in her eyes is clear.
Savanah and Neon both look away, leaving this discussion I wasn’t prepared for to us.
“Yeah… but I’d be doing it to protect you and the kids.”
“Kevlar, how can we be a family if you’re killed trying to protect us?”
“It’s not as—”
My cell rings, interrupting the conversation I really don’t want to have right now. I pull it out of my pocket seeing it’s Ethan and exhale. “I’m sorry, sunshine, I gotta get this.”
She huffs but nods.
I swipe the screen, relieved to be out of the shots being fired my way. “Ethan, what have you got for me?”
“Liam, are you at the club?” His tone is rushed and unnerved.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. The last time he sounded like this, I found my kids huddled together in a damn freezer. I sit up taller, taking in a low breath. “Yeah, why?”
“I got intel. Honestly, man, it’s not good. You’re not gonna like it. I don’t even know if I should be telling you thi—”
“Ethan! You need to calm the fuck down and talk to me.”
He hesitates for a moment, then he groans out, “Fine! You need to tell Zero, the Baron and Damir have broken out of prison.”
Fear wracks through me so intensely that I stand in such a rush, and my chair topples over, which, of course, grabs everyone’s attention in the main room.
“They broke out… together?”
“Yes! This is what I’m trying to tell you. They had help. It was an inside job. There’s no sign of forced entry or exit. Nothing. They have someone on the inside.”
My entire body tingles, and not in a good way. I’m not sure if I want to be sick, pass out, or punch some asshole. Maybe all three and not in that order. “You and Lou need to get over here, now. You’re in danger, just as much as we are.”
“Liam, if they come for the club, it won’t just be the two of them.”
“Understood. Now get a bag packed as fast as fucking possible and get your ass over here.”
“Be there soon.” He ends the call, and I let out a hurried breath I didn’t know I was holding.
I lean over, grabbing the edge of the table for support as Neon moves into my side. “What the hell was that?”
“We need church. Right. Now!”
Jovie stares up at me, concern running through her features. “Kevlar, what’s going on?”
I turn to face her. “Two of the club’s biggest enemies have teamed up and are gunning for us. We need to prepare for the wrath of their vengeance.”
Her eyes widen in terror. “So, everything we just talked about? Does it mean we need to prepare for that?”
“It means whatever happens, I need you to promise me you will take care of the kids.”
“Kevlar!”
“Promise me!”
Jovie’s bottom lip quivers, her eyes glisten. “I promise.”
I lean in, kissing her briefly, then I take off with Neon. I’m scaring Jovie, but honestly, with the Baron and Damir teaming up together, we need to be scared. Here I was thinking about my future with Jovie, and it might all come to a sudden halt sooner than I was prepared for.
Neon and I rush over to Zero, who’s playing pool with Wraith.
He already has his eyes on me as I approach. “Something happening, Kevlar, that phone call seemed intense?”
I step right up to him, Wraith moving alongside. “Just got a call from Ethan…” I shift my eyes to Wraith because the next thing I say is going to affect him greatly, “… he said someone on the inside helped the Baron and Damir escape. Together.”
