Epilogue
Liss – One year later
It was hard to believe how wildly my life had changed in the span of one year. The clubhouse was rebuilt, nearly twice as big as the original building. Gideon taught me how to make pancakes without burning them until I had the recipe committed to memory and perfected. I gained enough weight that when I looked in the mirror, my cheeks were round and my stomach spilled over the waistband of my jeans in a muffin top. It made Gideon twice as hungry for me, filling his hands with my curves at every opportunity.
Crash dropped onto a stool at the bar and propped his elbows on the counter. I cast a wary glance in his direction as I wiped down a glass. I tried a few jobs around town, but somehow, I always drifted back to tending bar like it was where I was meant to be.
“Hey, Liss, you’re a girl, right?” Crash asked.
I paused, blinking in surprise.
“If you can’t tell, buddy, you might need your vision checked.”
He twisted his mouth to the side, practically vibrating in his seat with nervous energy.
“Do you think you could help me out?”
I set aside the glass and leaned in, lowering my voice.
“I’m not taking your virginity, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That ship sailed a while ago.” Spike gave Crash’s shoulder a friendly shake as he passed. “Poor kid was so anxious that he didn’t last thirty seconds once he was inside her. Blushed red as a tomato for a week.”
Crash shrugged him off.
“That’s not true.”
Spike raised his eyebrows.
“So, you are still a virgin.”
Crash huffed and aimed a punch at Spike’s shoulder. Spike laughed, skirting out of reach.
“If you’re after free advice with the ladies,” he said. “You can bend my ear any day of the week, Crash. You know that.”
I smiled sweetly at Spike.
“Honey,” I called in a sing-song voice.
Gideon raised his head from the pool game he was playing with Hot Shot and Credence.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Spike is flirting with me.”
Gideon set his pool cue down on the table with a resounding thwack that echoed in the room. Spike went pale with a muttered oh shit under his breath before he darted away.
“What did I tell you about flirting with my woman?” Gideon called after him.
I chuckled and returned my attention to Crash, resting my chin in my hand.
“Go ahead, Crash,” I said. “What were you going to ask me? Spike won’t bother us anymore.”
He scratched at his ear and released a shaky breath.
“Well, um…I’ve been talking to this girl on a dating app,” he said, pitching his voice low. “Don’t tell the guys, okay? They would never stop teasing me if they knew.”
I pretended to drag a zipper across my lips.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
Relief flashed in his eyes.
“Okay, cool. Good. She said her birthday is this weekend, so I was going to ask her out to dinner, maybe bring her flowers. But there are so many options. How do I know what she would like?”
I bit the inside of my cheek to hide a smile. It was an honor that Crash would trust me like this. It showed just far I’d come with the club. They really did treat me like a sister that they cared for. When he pulled out his phone and started showing me bouquets, I squeezed his shoulder.
“Crash, can I let you in on a secret? It’s top-secret girl-code. You can’t let anyone else know about it. Especially not Spike.”
He straightened his spine, alert.
“Yeah, sure. What is it?”
I leaned in closer.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of flowers you get her. She will love them because you thought of her. Because you made her feel special.”
Crash blinked.
“Really?”
I nodded. A grin spread across his face and he hopped off the bar stool.
“Thanks, Liss. You’re the best.”
After Crash left, Gideon came up to my side and pressed a kiss to my temple.
“What was that about?”
I slid my arms around him, resting my head against his chest.
“Crash needed some dating advice. God only knows why he asked me and not someone with more experience like Baby Doll.”
“You did catch yourself a husband,” he pointed out, fiddling with the ring on my finger.
“By attempting to steal his bike.”
Gideon shrugged.
“It worked, didn’t it?”
***
The cemetery was small and quiet—a raggedy patch of land with crooked tombstones and a large willow that provided shade twenty miles outside of Buckeye Junction. One year ago today, I sank my blade into my brother’s abdomen and he bled out on the pavement at my feet. One year ago today, my life changed forever.
Now, I stood before his grave, barren, with no flowers to commemorate him. His tombstone simply stated his name, along with his birth and death dates. For days, I agonized over what to say on his epitaph, but it felt all wrong. I couldn’t bring myself to say here lies a beloved brother when it wasn’t true.
I wanted to miss him.
I wanted him to turn his life around and pursue a better future for himself, for us, but that hadn’t happened either.
Hell, as far as I was concerned, giving my brother that tombstone was more than he deserved.
“I thought you should know,” I said, pressing a hand to my stomach. “I have a baby on the way. It’s a girl, I can tell. A mother’s intuition I guess—you wouldn’t understand. And I’m so glad my baby will never meet you. Instead, she has nine uncles and an aunt who will dote on her every minute of the day. They will protect her the way you never protected me.”
I paused, swallowing around the lump in my throat.
“Good-bye, Ryan.”
I turned my back on his grave. The past was buried and gone. It was time to look forward, to the life I was building with my husband.
Gideon waited for me at the perimeter of the cemetery. He crossed his arms, leaning back against his bike. I smiled at the sight of him. The weight of my cut was heavy and warm from the summer sun. I never missed an opportunity to wear his name on my back and announce to all the world that this was the man I belonged to.
As I made my way across the cemetery, Gideon held out his arm to me. When I stepped closer, he enveloped me in his embrace.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
I kissed the curve of his throat and nuzzled at his ear.
“Everything is perfect,” I said. “Take me home. I never want to come back here again.”
Gideon buckled my helmet on, brushing his knuckles against my cheek as he helped me climb onto his bike. I hugged him from behind, resting my chin on his shoulder.
“You’re going to be a daddy,” I whispered.
Gideon froze. Then he craned his neck to look at back at me in surprise.
“What did you just say?”
A smile spread across my face.
“Losing your hearing in your old age, grandpa? You heard me.”
Gideon grunted with fond exasperation.
“Liss, sweetheart, you better stop it. If my kid calls me grandpa instead of daddy, there will be hell to pay.”
I laughed and hugged him tighter.
“I like the sound of that.”
Gideon reached back and squeezed my thigh as he started his motorcycle. We sped away from the cemetery, leaving the horrors of the past behind. Stretching ahead of us was the open road and a family all our own.