Page 183 of Reckless

They came for a lead.

They left with justice.

There’s something solid about that.

We are Defiance!

I listen to the Montana bikes until the engines fade into the Vegas traffic.

They came because we asked.

They leave with the job finished.

That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

I sit with that for another minute before pulling my phone from my pocket, and hitting Sage’s number.

She answers before the second ring. “Ghost?”

That’s all it takes to hear everything she’s carried since this started.

“It’s done, baby.”

Silence meets me. The kind that fills with relief so fast it steals your breath before you realize you’re holding one.

When she exhales, I can almost picture her shoulders dropping. “It’s really over?”

I lean back against the driver’s side door of the van. “Calloway’s finished. Travis signed. It’ll all start moving quickly from here.”

She takes another long breath. “Oh, thank God.” The words come out barely above a whisper.

I close my eyes for a second.

I don’t thank God.

I thank brothers who rode in to help without asking what it would cost.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Yeah.” She laughs softly, the sound shaky but real. “I think I actually am.”

I didn’t realize how tightly I’d been holding it together until that moment.

“Good.” The word comes out quieter than I intended. “I’ll be home soon.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

My chest tightens at the thought.

There was a time I couldn’t imagine wanting someone waiting for me. The club was enough. The work was enough. My brothers were enough. I’d convinced myself that was all there ever needed to be.

Then Sage sat down at my desk, day after day, sometimes talking, often not. But she just… stayed. She learned exactly how to get under my skin, challenged me when everyone else stepped around me, and somehow, without either of us noticing when it happened, she worked her way into every part of my life that used to belong only to me.

Now I can’t picture tomorrow without her in it.

I used to think love made people reckless.

Made them careless.