She clings to me like I'm the only solid thing in a shifting world, and maybe I am.
Maybe we're both the other's anchor.
"I love you too," she says into my chest. The words are muffled, almost inaudible, but I hear them. Feel them. "I think I have for a while. I was just too scared to admit it."
"You don't have to be scared anymore."
"I know." She pulls back, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes and a smile that makes my heart stutter. "I know."
I kiss her again. Deeper this time. Slower.
Savoring the taste of her, the feel of her, the reality of her choosing to stay. Choosing me.
The club can fall apart. Varro can burn everything to the ground. As long as I have her, none of it matters.
That's a dangerous thought. A weak thought. The kind of thought that gets men killed.
But holding her in my arms, feeling her heartbeat against my chest, I can't bring myself to care.
Some things are worth the risk.
She's worth the risk.
Later, we lie tangled together in the dark.
She's asleep, her breath warm and even against my shoulder, her hand resting over my heart.
I'm wide awake, staring at the ceiling, running through everything that happened today.
The raid. Church. Stark's thinly veiled accusations. Zenon's words.
You love her.
At some point, you might have to choose.
I tighten my arm around Ripley, pulling her closer.
She murmurs something in her sleep, nuzzling into my chest, and the tightness in my throat makes it hard to breathe.
I've spent my whole life putting the club first.
The brotherhood. The mission.
Personal attachments were liabilities, distractions, weaknesses to be exploited.
I watched Salvo sacrifice everything for this organization—his youth, his health, his first marriage—and I told myself I'd do the same.
But I never counted on her.
I never counted on someone who could slip past my defenses, who could make me feel things I thought I'd buried years ago.
I never counted on love.
And now I'm caught. Trapped between two loyalties, two obligations, two pieces of my soul.
The club needs me to be cold. Calculated. Willing to sacrifice anything for the greater good.
Ripley needs me to be human. Present. Willing to put her first.
