“Yeah, Reid. Like us.” She grins up and me and her words settle in my bones. We’re meant to be.
She presses a kiss to my lips and then hustles to say goodbye to Loyal, Joe and that funny little woman Sniper seems to have a soft spot for.
“Bet you’re glad you kidnapped her, huh?” Rider says, bumping my shoulder with his.
“I didn’t fucking kidnap her.” I growl.
“Sure you did.” Tank says, joining us. “The whole forced proximity thing Mira talks about. More people should listen to my woman, you know.”
“It’s hard to when she uses soooo many words,” Rider whines and then ducks for cover when Tank swings his big ass arm at him.
I watch them for a while before I make my way up the porch steps to hug my Momma and my Dad.
“You look after your family, baby,” Momma says, sniffling into my side.
“I will do Momma.” My gaze finds Joy, holding Kit to her as they wave at their new friends. “I’ve been waiting a long time for her.”
Momma smiles up at me and presses a kiss to my cheek, my dad doing the same on the other side.
“Don’t be a stranger, son. I have a granddaughter I need to teach things to.”
I grin a little before jogging down the steps and scooping up my family. “Ready to go home?”
“Home!” Kit yells, running ahead to the SUV before running back and elbowing her way between me and Joy, slipping her small hand in mine and swinging it. “Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
Blanche
It’s been a while since all the Ol Ladies were called to Church. It’s an open invitation, but usually it’s only Chewy and Remy who sit in. I guess with the threat to my Sage and those two douche lords who were working with Petrov still doing business, it’s probably best that we’re all brought up to speed.
“Quiet!” Marx yells before beating his giant fist against the wall like a silverback gorilla.
Tess jumps in my arms slightly and I give Marx the stink eye. She’s going through sleep regression at the moment so both Tav and I are super touchy and fucking exhausted.
“Sorry,” Marx mumbles after Lovely gives him the death glare. “Anyway,” he says, clearing his throat, “I thought I’d update everyone after the shit show at Switch’s ranch. Sorry about that, by the way, Roman said he’d pay for any cleaning or damages.”
“Yeah, dad is already putting Roman’s money to use.” Switch booms with laughter.
My lips twitch a little, before a yawn takes over my face.
“OK, as you are all aware Petrov was put down by Dima, so that is one less problem to worry about. All the little girls are safe and sound, as they should be.”
Everyone cheers around the table, and I cover Tess’s ears to block out the noise. Not that she cares, this kid could sleep through a tornado, unless of course it happened in the middle of the night when her parents are trying to sleep.
“He also left us with a warning. We have to protect Sage.” My heart skips a beat at the thought my baby might be in trouble. “The fucked up thing is that he can’t tell us what or who, we’re protecting her from, so just, fuck, I don’t know, keep your eyes and ears open, yeah?”
We all nod, and I try to ignore the pitying looks that get thrown mine and Tav’s way. “It’s OK, Firecracker, we’ve got her. No one is going to touch our girl,” Tav murmurs, pressing his lips to my temple and calming the storm inside me, as he always does.
“On to other business, Ifinallymanaged to get a picture of Richard McDonald, Matthew Thompson’s business partner. Up until now the only information we knew was about Thompson. It seems he’s the face of the company, McDonald is the background man. And here. He. Is.” Chewy mumbles before tapping something with a flourish and a picture comes up on the screen behind her.
Lovely’s gasp should have been my first clue, but I was too busy staring at the very familiar face on the screen.
“That motherfucker.” I spit, fury running through my body.
“Ah, whats going on?” Chewy asks, looking between me and Lovely.
“That’s not Richard McDonald. Or it may be, I don’t know,” Lovely stammers.
