Prologue
Parties at the Fury clubhouse always hit different.
It was a time when everyone came together, and for a brief moment, there were no worries of outside threats or jobs that needed to be done. We could all just sit back and catch our breath. There was always music and laughter rolling through the halls, and a bonfire roaring high in the background.
It felt like home.
It was home.
It had been since I could walk.
My ol’ man was the club’s enforcer, and these men and their ol’ ladies and kids were my family. I loved being at the clubhouse, even when it got a bit chaotic. And during a party, it was about as chaotic as it could get.
Kids were running around, and the guys were arguing over the meat on the grill.
Dad and Jenna were sitting by the fire, talking with some of the brothers and sharing a beer.
Goose and Rusty had already broken into the tequila and were getting more obnoxious by the second.
But no one seemed to mind. Not even Prez.
He and Tabitha were too busy talking with Memphis and Antonia about how round her belly had gotten to care about what anyone else was doing.
She was expecting any minute, and they were all busting at the seams about it.
Ghost and Casey were expecting, too. I didn’t figure it would be long before Seven and Tallie would be following suit.
Life was good.
It should’ve felt perfect.
Hell, by all accounts, it was. I had my brothers, a full plate, a cold beer, and the kind of family most people can only dream about. But sitting there, watching the chaos and joy, there was a quiet ache in my chest that I couldn’t place.
Like something was missing.
Maybe it was seeing my old man so damn content.
He was a hard ass who’d put his life on the line for his brothers.
The club was all he really had. It was the only thing that ever really mattered to him, until he found Jenna.
She became his reason to breathe. I wasn’t jealous. I was happy for the man.
But I was becoming restless.
I was in my early twenties, and even though I was surrounded by everything I’d ever wanted, I found myself longing for more. I didn’t know what that meant, but that night, when I headed home, I swear the air felt different.
It was like the world was holding its breath, and it kept holding its breath until days later when I was on my way home from work. I came up on a dark stretch of road and spotted her standing beside that broken-down car with her little girl in the backseat.
The second her eyes met mine, I knew what I’d been missing.
It was them.