32. Epilogue
Epilogue
Esmerelda - Ten Years Later
“Oh, come on, you cheated,” Cody shouts at Aiden, who smirks at his pseudo brother, placing what I’m guessing is a full flush on the table before him as Cody’s wife, whom he met four years ago on a blind date, Mary, bites her bottom lip to stop her laughter from escaping. Levi, on the other hand, lets his out, and I shake my head as I gently rub my five-month bump.
Aiden, my sweet little brother, is not so little anymore. Not only can he beat your ass in a poker game, something I warned Cody about several times – Aiden apparently learned from the best, Slick – but he’s also the best person I know.
He’s fourteen and becoming an amazing man with the guidance of Dad, my husband, and the brothers.
Apparently, he wants to follow in Damian's footsteps and not only become a brother, something Bullet, who is now president of the club, has said will happen, but also he wants to be a tattoo artist with a side gig as a family lawyer.
He has ambitions, and I hope and pray my mother looks down on us and is proud of who he has become.
“Hey, sweetheart, where are Trish and Lucas?” my dad asks, gaining my attention. I look up and smile as he stops by the counter.
“With Damian and should be back any moment,” I answer. Then I nod to the back table and say, “Your son has hustled Cody out of fifty dollars.”
Dad tries to hide his grin as he mumbles, “Goddamn, Slick,” but it comes out and I chuckle.
He looks proud, way too proud.
“Well, I better go discipline him then, huh?” he says as he pats my hand on the counter and turns and walks over to the back table with a pep in his step, and I shake my head.
He needs a girlfriend.
Dad hasn’t remarried or had any more kids, something I always wanted for him, but he has stated several times that mom was the love of his life, and he can’t see spending the rest of his days tied to another. He dates, but Aiden and I have never met the women, not after the first one we met wanting him to remove all trace that he had kids.
I can’t help but grin as Dad goads Cody by getting beat by a fourteen-year-old instead of disciplining his son while chatter echoes around me in the now-extended bakery, and everything settles in me.
Life over the last ten years has been amazing, even with Bethany back in Hopeton.
After giving birth to my daughter, Trish, who is now ten, I decided I wanted to expand the bakery, giving more sitting areas and a chance to employ more staff. Damian, the amazing man that he is, stood by me and helped me before knocking me up again with Lucas, who is eight and a little firecracker.
We also have Travvy, my five-year-old and, in my mind at the time, our last child, who is currently sitting on his grandpa’s lap.
Whereas Lucas and Trish have my brown hair and brown eyes, Travvy is all Damian, with shoulder-length blonde hair and piercing green eyes. He is his daddy’s twin, and I love it.
I feel a slight kick, look down, smiling as I gently rub over my stomach.
This baby was a bit of a surprise to say the least, and this time around, even Damian was shocked. After Trish, he knew before I did with our other two, but I guess that may have something to do with the fact he went and had a vasectomy, which failed.
His latest tests show he has a strong sperm count, and now my lovely husband is refusing to do the procedure again because, apparently, we were just supposed to have more kids, and this was fate’s way of telling us not to stop expanding our family.
I told him that was fine, but we’ll have to use condoms, or I’ll have to try birth control that won’t upset my body because, well, three kids were a lot, and now we are going on four. More than that, I don’t know if I’ll handle it because we’re already outnumbered, but the damn man refuses.
He’s adamant about keeping me knocked up despite knowing Travvy was ten pounds!
I’ll never admit it to him though, but however many babies he gives me I’ll have because honestly our kids are amazing even if we will be outnumbered.
“Angel,” I hear and look towards the door. I grin as Damian saunters in with Bullet. Trish and Lucas shout, “Mama!” and rush over to me.
“Careful of your mama’s stomach,” Damian says sternly, and the kids slow. I chuckle as I round the counter, and they wrap their arms around me.
“Hey guys,” I say happily as I cup the back of their heads and Bullet kisses my cheek and goes to the back table to see his son without a word, knowing Damian likes to grab my whole attention like the needy man-child he can be sometimes. But, also probably to avoid me giving him a lecture because where are his other two kids and my best friend?
“Where’s Scarlett and the kids?” I ask when Damian wraps his arm around me, shooing the kids over to their grandfather who go willingly.
“Scar is still at work, and Hannah and Livvy are with Louise,” he answers, kissing my neck and I smile wide as his hands go to my stomach, and our baby moves beneath his touch.
“He cheated!” Cody booms, and I laugh, knowing Aiden has most likely boasted again while Damian shakes his head.
“Let me guess, Cody thought he could take Aiden in poker?” Damian confirms and I hum in agreement making him chuckle as we watch Cody mock glare at my brother, and everyone goad him.
Not one brother will play with Aiden anymore, all realizing the hard way how good he is so why Cody thought he could take him is beyond me.
After a few minutes of holding me, Damian sighs and asks, “How are you with the news?”
I scrunch my nose up at his question.
News, ha, more like nightmare. He means Bethany trying to make amends with the family, my family, and apparently with me.
“I already said I won’t stop anyone from trying to figure out their relationship with her,” I answer cryptically, not wanting to cause any arguments where she is concerned, especially when I know Damian is a ticking time bomb with her.
Despite all the years that have passed, he still wants to kill her like he did my rapist.
For weeks, the club has tried to get my feelings on Bethany, but I refuse to give my opinion. She is their family, not mine, never mine. She had me raped all for a man who didn’t even want her. She blackmailed her own father for said man and split up a brotherhood in the process. I won’t give my opinion because I don’t want anything to do with her, and apparently, according to Scarlett, neither does she.
Bethany tried approaching her in the street to apologize last month but she told her to stay away from her family. She was all for trying around five years ago but that was before Bethany tried setting Bullet up at the club. She paid one of the clubwhores to drug him and act like he cheated on his wife, something that thankfully didn’t work.
My husband, the now VP, caught Crystal in the act and she sang like a canary when he held a knife to her throat. She got banned from the club, and Bethany—well, whatever relationship she was trying to rebuild with her parents was brought back down.
She’s now trying to rebuild it again with the rest of the club. She wants to come home and move back to the club grounds, and I can’t deal with that. Just because it happened ten years ago doesn’t change the fact that it happened.
She had me raped, that is what it was, while I was pregnant with Trish. He entered me and thrusted twice. It was rape, not attempted or sexual assault, rape.
I don’t want her to apologize, and I don’t want her around me or my family, and that is not me holding a grudge. That is me keeping my mental health intact.
“Tell me the truth, angel,” Damian demands gently, “Don’t lie to me like you have been to the club the past few weeks.” He turns me in his arms, my bump squishing against his abs, and we lock eyes and instantly just like always, I’m entranced by how much love I hold for this one man though I quickly snap out of it when he states, “You left your laptop on this morning.”
Ah, crap.
I swallow hard and look around him to the table to find Bullet watching. I sigh as he tilts his head and raises a brow before stating, “You are not moving off club property or taking those kids,” making everyone at the table look everywhere else but at me.
Dammit….
I shake my head and look at a very pissed-off Damian.
“One, you had no right to invade my privacy,” I state sternly, pointing my finger at him. “We promised not to do that to each other because we trust each other after you ruined your surprise for our first wedding anniversary at that hotel,” I say, and he sighs, but I continue, “And two, I won’t let the club choose.”
“It isn’t a choice, Essy,” he snaps, and I raise a brow, but he doesn’t calm down, “You are my wife, my old lady, the mother of my children, fuck we have another child on the way, and you are looking at moving out?!”
I narrow my eyes and snap back, “Language, Damian!”
He winces and looks behind him to see the kids jumping on Aiden and Levi. He sighs in relief, then looks at me and says calmly, “You are family, you are club, she is not.”
“She’s the president’s sister,” I retort, and Bullet chimes in as he walks over and unhelpfully reminds me, “She also had you raped after destroying Jokester's teenage years just because she wanted him even though he didn’t want her.”
“She wanted his cut and what it held within the club not him,” Butcher adds, and I jump, putting my hand to my chest as I look at him with shock. When in the hell did he get here?
He chuckles before kissing my head and says, “She may be my daughter, but you are family, and whether you like it or not, you come before her. This means that if you don’t want her at the club, then she won’t be there, so no more house hunting.”
I sigh, “Okay, fine. I don’t want her near me or my children—there I said it.”
The men chuckle, and Bullet reassures, “She won’t be going near you, Jokester, your kids, my kids, or Scarlett. She won’t be allowed on any club property, and I made it perfectly clear that she won’t be moving back on club grounds. If she wants a relationship, it will be away from the club. Every member has a choice, and honestly, most of the brothers have said no. She has no real job, working in and out of care facilities and cafés, so her timing is kind of suspicious, and I think she wants money. We’re going to take it slow, and she needs to prove herself, and even then, she won’t have any club relations, and while, yes, she is my sister, her past transgressions are too big to overlook.”
I nod, and a bit of guilt fills me that I know I shouldn’t feel.
Ten years with Damian, and I know I have no reason to feel guilty. The club has shown me daily what the kids and I mean to them, from always being at the bakery to watching the kids, having my back, and just treating me like family.
“And Dad is right,” he says, giving me a pointed look, “You are not leaving Jokester, it would kill him and we both know it would kill you too.”
I roll my eyes and admit, “I wasn’t leaving him, I was going to drag him with me.”
Bullet scowls as Damian replies, “There would have been no dragging, angel, I’d walk willingly.”
“Damn fucking Bethany,” both Bullet and Butcher mutter at the same time at Damian’s honesty, and I laugh but pause as Aiden shouts, “Butcher, I beat Cody at poker, doing exactly what you told me to do.”
My eyes widen at Butcher, who winces as Cody booms, “You are the one who taught him, not Slick?!”
“Fuck, my wife is going to kill me,” Butcher mutters and walks over to the table while Bullet, Damian, and I look at him wide-eyed.
“So Slick isn’t the one teaching him?” Damian asks while Bullet mutters, “When in the fuck did dad learn how to play poker like that?”
“I have a newfound respect for that man. I honestly thought it was Slick,” I chime in, “Unless it was both of them because Slick never denied it when he was accused?”
Bullet blinks, then looks at me and says, “You are not moving out, that house is your home, so stop looking. Bethany won’t be coming anywhere near club property, and if she shows up here, she’s done.” He looks at Damian, “Church at five,” and Damian nods as Bullet then mumbles, “I need to get some answers,” and walks over to his dad, and my man chuckles, knowing Butcher is about to be grilled.
“I still find it weird that a meeting is called church,” I say, “I mean, I know I read a lot, but I thought it was just all fictional.”
“Some of it is,” Damian says, and I look at the love of my life and raise a brow.
“Okay, so your club princess had me raped and you killed the man who raped me and don't get me started on the times you've come home covered in blood. How is most of it fictional?” I ask, and he chuckles, “Touché.”
I shake my head, wrap my arm around his waist, and mumble, “I’m sorry I was looking at houses.”
He sighs and wraps his arms around my neck, then gives me a chaste kiss and whispers, “I understand, I do.” His eyes race between mine, “Maybe you need to see the therapist again. Bethany demanding to speak to everyone and be allowed back in the club probably brought a lot back.”
I swallow and admit, “I saw her two days ago, and she explained it was a normal reaction. I plan on seeing her once a week for a while.”
He nods and whispers, “Good,” then kisses me again and reminds me, “Where you go, I go, no matter what, got it?”
“Got it,” I reply, then whisper, “I love you.”
He smiles, the giggles of our kids can be heard around us, and he replies, “I love you too,” before kissing me hard, and I melt, fisting his black t-shirt.
This man is everything a girl could ask for. He’s an amazing husband, a perfect father, a great brother, uncle, and a hard VP when needed.
He centers me and spending the rest of my life with him—well, I think I can manage that, even if it means several more kids filling our home with love and laughter.