Epilogue #2
Then I see Lena moving toward me, and everything else turns down a notch like a dimmer switch.
She’s in a simple black dress that clings and flows at once, her hair loose, her cheeks flushed from all the congratulations she’s been soaking up.
Seven months along and every inch of her is more herself.
I can’t not touch her, my hands are already reaching as she steps in.
“Hey, Prez,” she says, eyes laughing, her voice teasing. Her hands find my chest, and I rest mine over them.
“Hey, darlin’,” I murmur back. “You did it. You did everything, the clubhouse looks amazing.”
She tips her chin. “We did it.” Then softer, for only me, “I’m proud of you, Rex.”
There’s a tightness behind my ribs I didn’t expect.
It gives when she leans in close, when I feel the warm press of her breath against my cheek.
The noise is still there, but it’s like it’s only us.
One of the twins kicks against her dress, an impatient little drum.
I flatten my palm and feel the thump. “They’re celebrating too,” I say.
“They’re very proud of their daddies,” she answers, and there’s that look in her eyes, mischief braided with tenderness.
We decided that there would be no paternity tests this time, the twins would belong to all of us.
Four fathers. I kiss her brow and then the corner of her mouth, keeping it gentle for now, because there are a hundred eyes, and there’s plenty of time to celebrate later.
“Speech,” Tank hollers before I get any more lost. “Come on, Prez. Give us some words to toast and misquote later.”
I slide an arm around Lena’s waist and guide her toward the far end of the bar, under the eagle. The room turns, and all eyes are on me. I clear my throat once and raise a bottle.
“This,” I say, and I have to pause because the word’s too small for the feeling.
“This isn’t just a clubhouse. It’s our proof.
We took hits that should have sunk us. We lost people we loved.
We carried fear in our pockets and slept with one eye open.
But we didn’t break. We bent, we bled, we rebuilt.
We went legit, and we mean it. We kept our family—the one we chose—together. ”
I glance at Lena. The light catches in her eyes and they’re glistening with emotion.
“I’m not standing up here because I’m better,” I go on.
“I’m here because I’m yours. I know your names and your history.
I know what you’d give in a pinch and what you’d take if forced.
I’m here to keep us pointed at the horizon, to make sure we don’t forget where we came from or where we’re headed.
The Eagles fly clean. We protect ours. We remember our dead.
We raise our kids to be kinder than we had to be. ”
Murmurs, low and rough. A chorus of “hear, hear.”
I lift the bottle higher. “To the Soaring Eagles,” I say. “To family.”
“To family!” the room answers, big and unanimous, and the clink and swallow that follows feels like some holy rite.
Cole throws an arm around my shoulders as the noise swells again. “Nice work, Prez,” he grins. “Didn’t even swear.”
“Gotta be on my best behavior,” I say and glance toward Mia who’s sitting beside Big Joe with a huge grin on her face. Right now the club is family friendly, but later the real partying will start.
“How are you holding up?” Doc asks Lena.
“It feels like I’m smuggling bowling balls,” she says dryly, but she’s smiling. “I’m okay.”
“We’ll get you off your feet soon,” he says with a wink. “Ten more minutes of limelight.”
“Make it eight,” Cole adds, his eyes fond.
I can’t help it, I pull her in again, front to front, like I can keep the whole world from dulling her shine. “I got you,” I tell her. It’s not a promise so much as a recognition of something already true.
We make the rounds. The prospects shake my hand with that extra squeeze. “We’re ready, Prez,” Hawk says, sounding boyish and solemn at once. “Ready to do it right.”
“You are doing it right,” I tell him, and I mean it. “Keep your head on a swivel and your heart in the room.”
We pause by the back wall so Lena can rest for a minute, and Big Joe rumbles up with Mia attached to his leg like a barnacle. “Look at you,” he says to me in that gravelly tone of his, eyes twinkling. “All respectable.”
“Don’t spread that rumor,” I shoot back. “You’ll ruin my rep.”
Mia wriggles free and flings her arms up. “Up, Daddy!” she chirps and I squat instead, taking her into my arms at ground level. She taps my patch with a solemn finger. “You’re the big boss now.”
“Only of the bikes,” I whisper conspiratorially. “Your mama’s the big boss of everything else.”
Mia giggles. “I’m the boss of the babies,” she declares. “I’m going to read them stories.”
Big Joe clears his throat. “You done good, kid,” he says—kid always, no matter the gray at my temples.
Lena’s friend has become an important figure in all our lives, if I thought he would hold it against us that he got shot I’d be very much mistaken.
His hand, square and steady, lands on my shoulder.
“Proud of the lot of you. You’re good men, just what my Lena needs. ”
“Thanks for organizing the food,” I say.
“My pleasure. I might be retired, but I don’t need an excuse to get out the grills,” he answers.
The night stretches long and warm. I keep catching Lena’s profile in the lights—the curve of her smile, the way she touches each person who greets her, palm to elbow, hand to hand, a queen with her court.
My chest keeps doing that tight-loose thing.
The word family has a new shape now, heavier, softer, inevitable.
When the hour ripens and the air thins with the first hint of weariness, Doc slides up beside us. “Alright,” he says gently, “time to put our queen in her tower. Big Joe’s taking Mia home for a sleepover.”
Mia pops up on her toes to kiss Lena’s belly, then plants a smack on each of our cheeks. “Night-night,” she sings. “Don’t forget to brush your teeth.” She’s parroting Big Joe, and he grins like a proud grandpa.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I promise, and we see them off with hugs and waves, the old man’s hand raised like a benediction as he leads Mia toward the door.
When they’re gone, the space around us settles. Cole catches my gaze. “Private quarters?” he says, all innocence. Judge lifts an eyebrow.
“I’d like that,” Lena says, fatigue and longing braided together.
I run a last circuit to squeeze shoulders, trade a couple more nods, then lead us down the hall behind the bar.
The corridor’s lit low, the sound of the main room trailing after us.
We pass the old photo of the founding members, the frame polished new.
I touch it as we go, a ritual I didn’t know I needed until this second.
Thanks for getting us this far. We’ve got it now.
While we have a large house big enough for all of us, we also have a suite of rooms at the clubhouse.
Sometimes it’s easier staying over rather than making the ride home late at night.
Our new quarters are simple. The largest room has a big bed that could be an island, there’s a couch with a blanket thrown over the back, a low dresser, a couple of lamps throwing out warm light, and a print on the wall showing a winding road disappearing into blue trees.
Lena sits on the edge of the bed and exhales.
“If you want to sleep that’s okay,” I say, looking from her to the others.
She shakes her head. “I’m okay, it’s more relief that everything’s over,” she says.
I kneel in front of her and ease off her shoes, smoothing my thumbs across the arches of her feet.
“Better?” I ask.
“Much,” she whispers. “Come here.”
I do, taking the spot beside her while Cole drifts to her other side.
Judge leans against the doorway first, the way he always does—making sure we’re in a fortress even when the danger is imaginary.
Doc dims the light with a flick of his fingers and then crosses the room, his face softening to a fondness as his eyes land on Lena.
“Prez,” Cole murmurs, and somehow the word cracks me open all over again, not because of the patch but because of the way he says it. He sets his hand on my shoulder and squeezes once. “You steered us through tonight.”
“We steered each other,” I say, and then Lena is turning to me, and there’s something there—gratitude and heat and the kind of love that’s messy as all hell and perfect anyway.
“You carried so much this year,” she says, thumb tracing my jaw. “Let us carry you a while.”
I swallow. “Always.”
Judge pushes off the doorway and comes to us at last, the tension he usually carries easing notch by notch.
He presses a kiss to the crown of Lena’s head.
Doc drops onto the bed behind Lena and curls a hand at the base of her neck, his thumb making slow, soothing arcs.
Cole’s laughter leans warm against the moment.
“Look at us,” he says. “Domestic and dangerous.”
“Add ‘soft’ to that,” Lena says, eyes glinting.
“Soft where it counts,” Doc replies, and the tease in it makes us all smile.
We don’t hurry. We never do with her. The world rushes enough. Here, time loosens and stretches. We shift so she’s half in my lap, her back to Doc’s chest, Cole bracing himself on an elbow near her knees, Judge kneeling by her feet.
“Tell me what you need,” I say into her hair, and I feel her smile against my cheek.
“I need,” she breathes, “to feel you here.” Her hand covers my heart. “And here.” She guides my palm to her stomach, and I feel an answering kick from the twins. “And here,” she says, looking past me to the guys.
We become a circle—her in the center, held by us, held by herself. The words stop mattering as much. The language becomes touch, breath, the small sound a voice makes when it’s unguarded. Clothes are shed wordlessly, and soon Lena is lying there, painted amber by the lamp, naked like a goddess.
I’m filled with an aching need for her. My cock is already swollen and dripping, but I want to take my time.
Her lips are hot and her tongue eager as we kiss.
Then I slowly work my way down her body.
Her breasts are full and lush, I nuzzle between them, teasing her hard nipples with my tongue.
Judge and Doc sit on either side of her at the top of the bed.
She reaches out to stroke their hardening cocks with each hand as Cole moves up to join them, rubbing his cock over her lips.
I want to taste her, so I shift position.
I part her thighs and gaze at her pussy—she’s swollen and glistening.
Burying my face between her legs, I drink in her arousal then gently suck on her clit.
I hear her moan around Cole’s cock in response.
My fingers dance along her slit as I stroke her, feeling her getting wetter and wetter, her slickness coating my fingers as they curl inside her.
I delve my tongue in her pussy, my cock twitching at the moan this elicits as I then return to her clit, licking and sucking it slowly before speeding up and moving in small circular motions.
Her juices are dripping down my chin, and she’s arching her hips up wanting more.
I slip three fingers into her slick and ready pussy, which clamps around me as she tightens and releases with each gentle stroke.
My tongue continues to tease her clit as I move my fingers inside her.
My cock is so hard it almost hurts as I lose myself in her pleasure, enjoying the taste of her in my mouth and how I’m turning her on so much that her juices are dripping down my wrist.
“Oh god, fuck that feels good,” she moans.
I look up to see she’s working Doc and Judge’s cocks in her hands. She takes Cole’s cock deep in her mouth her cheeks hollowed as she sucks him deep. Fuck, if that sight doesn’t almost make me cum on the spot. I return to eating her pussy with relish, eager to make her orgasm.
She soon grants my wish, cumming hard as she screams out my name. “Oh god Rex, fuck I’m cumming! Fuck me!” she cries.
I move to position myself at her wet and ready entrance, pushing my thick cock inside slowly until she takes the length of me.
“God you’re so fucking perfect,” I grunt as I thrust inside her, getting even more aroused as I watch Judge cum all over her full breasts.
My hands cup her ass as I lift her off the bed and move closer. I alternate my thrusts, moving hard and fast before slowing the pace down, holding myself still while deep inside her. She moans and tries to move back and forth on me herself and I enjoy the different feeling.
With my hands holding her hips in place, Judge takes over teasing her clit and together we soon bring her so close that she’s almost moaning too much to focus on Cole.
“Please!” she begs, crying out for release.
Only then do I begin to move again, and I soon feel her orgasm building as her pussy tightens on me.
“Cum with me,” she groans.
Her words are like a command I’m helpless to resist, and I see stars as I let myself go, reaching my climax as I feel hers simultaneously milking me dry. I finally collapse back on my heels, satiated and happy to watch her continue with my friends.
There’s a roar as Cole cums, and I watch as Lena swallows instinctively, taking everything he has to give. Doc’s moved between her legs now and he’s rubbing his cock along her slit, his other hand teasing her asshole.
Fuck, I can already feel my cock twitching again at the sight of her arousal. I move to the top of the bed as my mouth finds her nipple again.
***
Hours later, the room is silent other than the muffled noise of music from the bar below. The air is heavy with the scent of sex, but also something else. There’s a tenderness in the room that’s almost tangible.
We’ve been through so much, faced so many obstacles. Me and my club brothers always dreamed that one day we’d find a woman who would love us all. In Lena, we have found everything we ever wanted.
I never thought I’d get a happy ending. I thought that they happened to other people. But seeing my woman lying there, satiated, pregnant with our children, safe in the arms of my best friends, there’s nothing more I could have asked for.
THE END