Chapter Seven
Ana
The day is finally here.
I’ve been dreading this day. I have been selfish in using Maverick as my comfort to get me through this. I’ve reminded him over and over again that this doesn’t mean anything, and he just says, “I know” and nothing else.
I thought there would be more fight on that, but maybe he’s doing what he said and is actually just here for me. It’s something I will have to deal with when the time comes, which will now be by the end of the day.
I don’t know if I have the energy for that right now, even though I know it’s coming.
Tears well in my eyes and fall down my cheeks as I get dressed in a black dress. I put it on and look at myself in the mirror. Seeing myself in the mirror pulls me into reality and causes the dam to break.
My knees get weak as I fall to the floor while sobs take over my body.
You always know in the back of your mind that this day will come, but nothing can ever prepare you for it.
I don’t know how long I sit there crying but, at some point, I feel the arms of my husband as he picks me up and puts me onto his lap. I turn my head into his chest and cling to the shirt he’s wearing.
“I’ve got you, Button,” he whispers in my ear.
I let the grief consume me as Maverick keeps me safe to let it all out.
“We’ve got to go now, Button,” he says in my ear, his voice sounding rough.
I shake my head.
“I know you don’t want to do this, but now’s the time to say your goodbyes. You will regret it if you don’t go,” he rasps.
“If I go, then it will be real,” I say with my voice cracking.
“It already is real. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
It takes a few more minutes before I finally manage to get up.
“Let’s go before I crumble again,” I choke out.
“Crumble as much as you need, Button. I’ll be here to pick you up,” he says, wrapping an arm around me and leading me out of my room.
We get down the stairs, and my mom and sister are standing at the bottom waiting for me. Both of their eyes are rimmed red.
“Let’s go, sweetheart,” my mom says.
We get into vehicles and make our way to the church.
The time moves by too fast before we are there.
I let out a gasp and tears fall for a different reason this time.
Dani, Rage, Prez, Robyn, Tank, Knuckles, Rock, and Ice are here.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Dani as soon as I open the door.
“Like we would let you go through this alone,” Dani says with a scoff.
She pulls me tightly into her arms.
“You can do this. Not everyone can be here, but the club has your back. Let us hold some of the weight with you,” she whispers in my ear, and I nod my head.
Each one of them takes a turn to give me a hug. When I get to Ice, I hold onto him longer than I have the rest.
“Come on, fighter. We’ve got you,” Ice says. For a moment, I think that by “we,” he means Maverick and him; but I shake that thought quickly from my head.
Maverick stands on the opposite side of Ice, putting me in the middle as we make our way in.
Maverick has a hand on my back, and I haven’t let go of Ice’s arm. I feel like I need them both to keep me up.
When we get to the front where our seats are, and my father is, my knees give out as it hits me yet again that this is it.
I’m being held up by both sides as they walk me to our seats.
My aunts are surrounding my mom, and I look over to my sister who turns to look at me with a sad expression on her face.
I hear someone suck in a breath before my sister’s eyes go wide and a huge body is walking past me.
“Fuck. I was beginning to think you weren’t real,” Tank rasps before pulling my sister into his arms.
“Serena?” I ask when he lets go but doesn’t take his eyes off her.
“Did I forget to mention I saved a biker from your club and pretended to be his wife?” she asks with a sheepish look.
“I would remember that conversation, considering Tank has been looking for you for months,” I hiss out, trying to keep my voice low.
“I wanted to stay, but then mom called about Dad and there wasn’t anything I could do. I was needed at home. I was going to ask you after everything was over,” she says with a shrug.
“We need to make room for Tank,” I whisper to Maverick.
He nods and gets everyone moved over so that my sister is sitting between Tank and him. She gives me a wide look, but I just shrug. I can’t tell her at this moment that he claimed her as his Old Lady already; despite not knowing if he would ever see her again.
We can get into all of that later.
I blow out a breath and focus on what’s about to happen.
This is all that matters right now.
Levi “Ice”
Ana hasn’t let me go all day.
I thought I would just give her a hug and sit in the back with the rest of the brothers and Vicious Snakes who had showed up, but I guess she needed me more than I had thought.
Ana had held onto my arm tightly and only let it go long enough for us to drive back to her mother’s house.
It completely shocked me but, if she feels like she needs me, I will be here for her. We had gotten to be pretty good friends over the months. Viking didn’t seem to mind also.
I stood with both of them while everyone gave their condolences and regrets.
“When do you guys plan on coming back?” I ask them when people stop walking up to Ana.
“Whenever Ana wants to,” Viking replies. I feel a bit proud of him for actually being whatever his wife needs.
“You can’t be away from your job or the club much longer,” Ana says softly.
He looks at her with a determined expression on his face. “I’ll be here for as long as you need. I’m not going to rush you home. The club understands.”
“That’s right, we do. Ana, you are club too and need your man here. We can handle everything without him until you are ready,” Prez says while walking up.
“What about everything else? Why I left. I can’t just go back and pretend it’s all perfect,” Ana says quietly.
“It’s not going to be figured out overnight. It will take as long as it takes for me to earn your forgiveness and show you that I won’t be that asshole I was,” Viking says.
“Plus, your house is looking pretty fantastic,” I chime in.
“If it’s too much for you, I can stay at the club or somewhere else until you fall in love with me again,” Viking says, ignoring my words.
“I don’t know if I want you staying at the club. You were always there and that didn’t fix anything. It just made us drift farther apart,” Ana says.
“There’s a guest room. As you guys know, he can stay there. You guys don’t have to share a room right away. If you don’t think distance will help, that might,” I tell her.
“I guess that will work. We can go as soon as I know my mom is going to be okay,” she tells everyone.
“What about your sister?” I ask with a smirk. No one missed that she was the woman Tank had been looking for.
Ana smiles at me knowingly. “I think she might end up coming back too. I know how long Tank looked for her. He’s not going to let her get away this time.”
“I can’t believe it was your sister this whole time. It never crossed my mind, but she does live in a different city. I never would have guessed it was her,” Viking says thoughtfully.
“Trust me, he’s going to have his hands full with her,” Ana says with a smile.
“Oh, I know. I’ve seen what she was like drunk on tequila,” Viking says.
We are interrupted from our conversation when Ana’s mom comes walking over.
“Ana, your aunties want to help me with sorting through your dad’s things with me. They will be basically moving in. They are going to take over Serena’s and your rooms. You don’t need to stay for me. I might actually come visit you once everything settles down,” she tells Ana.
“Are you sure? I can stay longer,” Ana replies.
“Yes, I’m sure. You need to work on your marriage. I’ll let you know if I need you,” she says, looking confident in her decision.
“Okay, but you just text the word “tacos,” and I will be there,” she says. Dani walks up laughing, and Ana’s mom looks at her in confusion.
“Yes, that’s our ‘I need you’ message. You don’t need to say anything else but ‘tacos.’” Dani says.
“Damn, you girls have a code word?” I ask with a chuckle.
“Of course,” they both say at the same time.
After Ana gets her mother’s blessing, Serena comes walking up with Tank on her heels.
“Ana, can we talk in private?” Serena pleads.
Ana gets up without a word, and they go into another room. The rest of us look at Tank.
“She’s not going to be easy to win over, but I’ve never been one to give up without a fight,” Tank states.
“Looks like it, brother,” I say with a laugh.
“She’s even more stunning than I remember,” Tank says with a grin.
“Of course, she is. She’s related to my wife,” Viking says with a smug look on his face.
“I’m sure Ana will tell her anything she needs to know. Ana is the one who made sure there was room for you beside her today,” I tell him.
“Yeah, I didn’t expect to see her today or again, especially in a situation like this, but I’m glad that I got to be here for her on this hard day,” Tank says.
“Everything will work out like it’s supposed to,” Dani says.
Maverick “Viking”
I’m glad Ana’s mother had convinced her to come back, and that Ana convinced her sister to come too.
Good thing we have a couple of guest rooms. Serena and Ice are staying at our house. I’m not sure how Ana convinced Ice to stay, but I can’t say I’m unhappy about it.
What has shocked me is that I wasn’t at all jealous about Ana clutching his arm all day.
It almost felt right to me like he was always supposed to be on her other side.
It definitely stirred up feelings that I was trying to ignore about both of them together.
I wouldn’t pressure Ana to be with him if she didn’t want to, but I would welcome it if she wanted to give him a shot.
When I thought of any other brother joining and touching Ana, I was finding myself jealous and angry at the thought; but I never was with him. It’s what probably made me consider him. It helps that he’s very attractive. I can also tell he cares a lot about Ana.
There will be lots of time to explore that now that we are on our way home.
I’m not sure what Ice managed to get done, but the brothers told me they did a lot of work while I was gone. I’m pretty excited to see it.
When we get to the house, Ana lets out a gasp. I try my best not to do the same because most of it is done.
How did they get so much done in such a short amount of time?
Everything looks amazing.
“I can’t believe you guys did all this,” Ana says in amazement.
“Think of it as a fresh start and a new chapter for you guys. You guys couldn’t continue with the house the way it was,” Ice says.
“Hopefully it wasn’t all for nothing,” Ana says under her breath.
I can’t help the pain that those words cause me, but I did this to us.
Now that she’s back home, I’ll have a better shot at this.