Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
brI
We switch SUVs more times than I can keep track of. At first it’s crowded. Loud. Controlled chaos with radios crackling and headlights flashing in places that don’t feel real yet. Eventually it narrows down until it’s just Ghost driving, Rev riding shotgun, and Blade and me in the backseat.
Blade never lets go of me. Not when we stop. Not when doors open and close. Not when engines turn over again. I’m pressed into his side, my head tucked under his chin, his arm locked around me like I might disappear if he loosens his grip even a little.
We drive for hours. The road hums beneath us, steady and hypnotic, and exhaustion creeps in now that my body knows I’m safe. I watch the dark blur past the window and try to convince myself this is real. That I’m not going to wake up in another hotel room with another set of locked doors.
Eventually, Ghost slows and I sit up slightly, my heart jumping into my throat as familiar shapes come into view. The clubhouse. My chest tightens hard. “I thought… I thought it was destroyed.”
Blade looks down at me, his thumb brushing along my jaw. “It was,” he says quietly. “We fixed things while you were gone.” The words hit me like a punch and a hug at the same time.
The SUV barely stops before the doors are flying open.
Bella is already running. Brooke is right behind her.
I don’t even get my feet on the ground before Bella yanks the door open and pulls me straight into her arms. Brooke crashes into us a second later, all three of us clinging to each other, crying and talking over one another at the same time.
“Oh my god, Bri.”
“You’re here.”
“You’re really here.”
I can’t even make sense of my own words. I’m crying too hard, laughing and sobbing all at once as I clutch my sisters like I’ll never let them go again.
Around us, the yard fills fast. Club brothers everywhere. Familiar faces. The guys who came to get me are pulling in one by one, engines cutting, boots hitting pavement. It feels loud and overwhelming and unreal.
Mason’s voice cuts through it all. “Inside. Now. We’ll talk inside.”
Bella and Brooke don’t let go of me as they pull me into the clubhouse, guiding me straight to a couch like I might fall apart if they let me stand on my own.
They start asking questions immediately.
“Are you hurt?”
“Did he touch you?”
“Did they starve you?”
“How long?”
“Where were you?”
I answer what I can, but my eyes keep drifting across the room.
Blade. He’s standing near the wall, talking to Mason and Dagger, his posture tense, like he’s holding himself together by force alone. When my gaze locks onto him, something inside my chest twists painfully.
I love my sisters. But I need him. He sees it instantly. The moment our eyes meet, he breaks away and comes to me without hesitation. He reaches down, grips my hands, and pulls me up like nothing else in the room exists. “I need a minute,” he says, not asking.
No one argues as he lifts me easily and carries me down the hall to a back room, closing the door behind us.
The noise fades. The chaos disappears. He sets me gently on the bed and climbs on after me, pulling me into his arms like that’s the only place I’ve ever belonged.
We don’t speak. We just hold each other, breathing, grounding, letting the world catch up.
Time stretches.
His hand moves slowly, carefully, until it rests over my stomach. I feel him tense instantly. His voice comes out rough, strangled. “Did he hurt you?”
I lift my head and cup his jaw, forcing him to look at me. “He never touched me.”
Confusion flickers across his face, followed by something heavier. Something scary.
“I don’t know for sure,” I whisper. “I never took a test. I didn’t dare.” My heart pounds as I say it. “But I need to.”
His breath shudders. And suddenly, the room feels very small, very quiet, and full of a future neither of us was ready to name out loud yet.
He leans in and kisses me deeply, like he’s been holding himself back for weeks and finally can’t anymore.
His hands come up to cradle my face, thumbs brushing my cheeks as if he’s reassuring himself that I’m real, that I’m here, that I’m not going to disappear again.
The kiss isn’t rushed. It’s grounding. Steady.
It tastes like relief and fear tangled together, like everything we didn’t get to say crashing into one moment.
I melt into him, my hands fisting in his shirt, breathing him in like my body recognizes home before my mind can catch up. My chest aches, full and tight, and for a second the world narrows down to just this. Just us. Just the sound of our breathing and the quiet thud of his heart under my palm.
He pulls back slowly, resting his forehead against mine, eyes closed like he needs a second to hold himself together. “I thought I lost you,” he whispers.
“I thought you were dead,” I whisper back.
His hand slides back to my stomach, not possessive, not questioning. Just there. Protective. Careful. Like he’s afraid even touching me might hurt. “We’ll figure it out,” he says softly, even though his voice still shakes. “Whatever it is. Together.”
I nod, tears slipping free despite my best effort to stop them. “Together.”
He kisses my forehead, my temple, my cheek, each one gentler than the last, like he’s rebuilding something piece by piece.
I wake up slow, wrapped in warmth and weight and the steady rise and fall of Blade’s chest beneath my cheek.
For a few blessed seconds, I don’t move. I just listen.
Voices drift through the room. Bella. Brooke. Rev. Switch. Low, familiar, overlapping in that way that tells me everything is still happening, still spinning, but I’m safe enough right now to stay still.
Blade’s arm is locked around me, his hand splayed wide over my back like he fell asleep guarding me and never once loosened his grip. My fingers curl into his shirt on instinct. I don’t even remember falling asleep, just the quiet and his heartbeat and the way my body finally gave up.
I’m not really listening to what they’re saying. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re here. That the room smells like coffee and leather and something cooking somewhere down the hall. That this feels real.
Then my stomach drops.
Hard.
Heat rushes up my throat so fast I barely have time to register it before panic kicks in. I suck in a sharp breath and push myself upright, one hand flying to my mouth.
“No,” I whisper, already scrambling.
Blade’s awake instantly. “Bri?”
I don’t answer. I can’t.
I bolt.
I barely make it to the bathroom before I’m on my knees, hands gripping the porcelain as my body folds in on itself. I retch violently, everything coming up in painful waves, my throat burning, my eyes watering as I try and fail to keep it quiet.
Blade’s there immediately.
He drops behind me, one hand gently pulling my hair back from my face, the other rubbing slow circles between my shoulders like he’s done this a hundred times before. His touch is steady. Grounding.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs close to my ear. “You’re okay. Let it happen. I’m right here.”
Another wave hits and I gag, shaking, my whole body trembling now that I’m not forcing myself to hold it together. He doesn’t rush me. Doesn’t pull away. Just stays.
Behind us, I hear movement.
“Brooke,” Blade says without turning around, voice calm but firm. “Can you grab her some water? Maybe crackers or something light.”
“I’m on it,” Brooke replies instantly, already moving.
Bella hovers in the doorway, worry written all over her face, but Blade gives her a look that says he’s got this.
When the worst of it finally passes, I slump forward, forehead resting against the toilet seat, breathing hard and shaky. Blade keeps rubbing my back, slow and patient, like he knows my body needs time to catch up.
“There you go,” he whispers. “That’s it. Breathe, baby. Just breathe.”
I nod weakly, unable to speak yet, tears slipping down my cheeks from exhaustion more than pain.
I rinse my mouth out at the sink, cool water washing away the sour taste and some of the humiliation that clings to it.
Blade keeps a hand on my back the whole time, steady and warm, like an anchor.
When my legs stop shaking, he helps me back into the bedroom and sits me down on the edge of the bed.
He stays close, rubbing slow circles into my back as I catch my breath.
That’s when I really notice the silence.
Bella. Brooke. Rev. Switch. All of them are staring at me like I might fall apart again if they blink wrong.
“Are you sick?” Brooke asks, already moving closer. “How long have you felt like this?” Before I can answer, she presses her hand to my forehead, checking for a fever, worry etched deep into her face. “We need to get you to the doctor.”
I shake my head immediately. “No.” They all pause. “I need to go home,” I say, my voice steadier than I feel. “I need to take a hot shower and change into clothes. My clothes. Not whatever the hell this is.”
Brooke glances down at the outfit I’m wearing, then murmurs, almost reflexively, “It’s Chanel.”
I snort before I can stop myself. “Fuck Chanel. I’m never wearing designer clothes again.”
For a second, everyone just stares at me. Then Rev laughs. Switch shakes his head, smiling. Bella lets out a watery laugh that turns into a full-on grin. Even Brooke cracks, relief bleeding through her worry.
“I’m fine,” I say softly. “I just need rest. And Blade. That’s it.”
Blade’s hand presses a little more firmly against my back, like he heard it as a promise, not a request.
Brooke studies me for another moment, then nods. “Okay. Home first. We’ll figure everything else out after.”
Bella laughs again, happier this time, and wraps her arms around Switch, pressing her face into his chest with happy tears and a smile that looks like it’s been waiting weeks to exist.