Epilogue
Isaac
We were so close.
I could be divorced.
I could have my kids.
I could have been that step closer to freedom and my own chance at a happy ending.
Instead, I’m here.
The bad news sits heavy on my chest. I agree with Wyatt – I’m better off in Boston, even if it means more time away from the kids.
There are too many moving parts here and Tylee is worse than a flight risk if she’s mixed up with the men who tried to kill Zeb and fuck up our supply lines.
Wyatt might be able to forgive his sister screwing up her interpersonal relationships, but screwing with the new business has pissed him off.
I’ll drag her ass back to St Louis no matter what it takes. Wyatt gave me his word and I trust that he’ll get Tylee back. I just wish that I could see them one last time.
I can’t afford to make it a problem where Wyatt and I disagree.
I’m grateful for the free place to stay, even if it means having a therapist and Ethan as a baby sitter.
Amanda means well, don’t get me wrong. She cooks for me every time I visit and even now, her welcome note in the lock box includes a list of frozen dishes she “meal prepped” for me.
I just don’t need anybody getting in my head over Tylee.
Especially not somebody who talks to her brother regularly.
Ethan, Owen, and Wyatt all warned me not to marry Tylee.
Owen reminded me of the time she made out with a fifteen year old after her prom when I promised I would take her bowling.
Wyatt mentioned almost casually that even if abortions weren’t legal in Missouri, I would regret ever letting his sister baby-trap me.
But when he said that, he owed me $15,000 from a big poker loss.
I didn’t take him seriously. Ethan will have the least sympathy with me.
He never approved of our relationship. He was always too close to his mother to not share her opinions on everyone and everything, including Tylee.
Everybody in the whole club knows this is all my fault.
So if I have to get treated like a child until my kids are safely in my custody, I’ll accept my penance.
I unlock the door to my little apartment beneath Ethan, which feels way nicer than anywhere I ever lived with Tylee.
She was never much of a house wife, if I’m being honest. I liked her because…
I don’t even know anymore. She seemed like the best I was ever going to get around where I grew up.
Now that I’m here, in a big city, far away from everything I’ve known, there’s a strange potential.
She didn’t sign the divorce papers. Not just that – she almost got us all killed.
That’s how I knew she really was gone. I shot one of the guys who came after us, but I was the only one who hit my target.
A bullet from Tylee’s lover grazed Hunter’s right arm and she didn’t look back once when she climbed on the back of his bike and rode away.
No divorce papers. No kids. Just a fucked up reminder that the woman we’re dealing with is willing to do anything to get her way. She drugged Damara and Magnum when she wanted revenge. She cheated on me every time things got tough between us. I kept trying to make things work with Tylee.
It won’t work. Whatever love we had in the past faded away a long time ago.
I never saw myself as the type to fall out of love with someone, but I don’t think you really do when it’s the right person.
I know that I wouldn’t. Love or not, I found it easy staying loyal to the mother of my children in a way that she never felt.
Loyalty means something entirely different to me and my soon-to-be ex-wife.
I never planned to start over at my age – and certainly not with three young kids – but I’d do anything for those kids.
I could run off the way Tylee did and put my urges first if I drained all the blood out of my heart.
Without that cold detachment, I’m stuck fighting for my kids, fighting to end the bullshit I dragged them into by falling for the girl-next-door without bothering to have a look down the street for anyone else.
Once they’re safe in their own beds, with safety and love in our new home, I’ll have something better than a fleeting romance.
That’s all I want, anyways. Not infatuation or lust, but love. And family. And a happily ever after that doesn’t include that doesn’t feel like happily ever after to me at all.
THE END