Bonus Epilogue
GEORGIA
“Caleb? Is everything okay?”
The girl’s voice is soft, curious, and beautiful in a way that makes my stomach twist. Blonde curls spill over her shoulders, and her skin glows like summer sunlight. Her eyes—blue-green and bright—study him like she’s trying to solve a puzzle.
“I’ve missed you, Izzy,” C says, and my blood runs cold.
I hate these dream-slash-visions. They never bring good news.
This one feels heavier—almost as if it is weighing me down.
That’s enough to make me extra worried. I start trying to take notes.
Starting with the thought that C’s name is Caleb.
I never knew that … Where are we? I ask myself as I glance around.
The scene sharpens—tiny room, twin bed, cheap desk, college posters. A college dorm.
Oh, hell. This is trouble.
The girl—Izzy— crosses her arms, lips pressing together. “You mean you miss my mouth.”
Caleb grins that cocky grin that always gets him into too much trouble. “Is that bad? I told you, baby—you have magic lips.”
I want to scream at him. Stop it. This isn’t you. I don’t because I know he can’t hear me anyway.
Izzy shakes her head. “Caleb, I told you it’s over. I can’t afford to screw up school. I have a plan for the future. It doesn’t involve a biker who thinks with his dick—which is really the only reason you want me around anyway.”
“I told you I’d work around your schooling,” he cuts in, stepping closer. “We’ll make it work, and I love the way you suck my dick, touch my dick and take my dick, Izzy. That’s not the only reason, I want you though.”
“Oh, yeah? Name one thing other than your dick that draws you to me.”
“Your beauty,” he says at once and now I want to bang him over the head.
“Beauty is fleeting, Caleb. That’s a shit reason to want a woman in your bed.”
“Izzy, I’m just asking you to give us a chance.”
She exhales. “You live almost five hours away. My life’s here, Caleb. Yours isn’t. Add that to the fact that you’re only here because I’m probably the first woman ever to turn you down and walk away, we’re a disaster waiting to happen.”
There’s a silence so heavy between them that it crushes my chest. Then he says, quiet and low, “Fine, then at least give me tonight before you kick me to the curb.”
She looks torn. “Caleb…”
“One night,” he says. “To say goodbye.”
“Caleb—”
“You can’t push me away without giving me one last chance to experience how good your sweet mouth sucks my cock, baby. That’s too cruel.”
“God you’re an idiot,” she huffs, and sadly I have to agree—and I really like C. She hesitates another minute, then rolls her eyes. “Fine.”
What I see next makes my blood run cold.
“I’ll just get the wine I brought earlier,” he murmurs, going to her mini fridge.
He takes out the bottle of wine and then sifts around the small cabinet over the tiny sink and finds a red solo cup.
He pours a glass of wine and brings it over to her.
Handing her the cup, he keeps the bottle in his hand.
“You’re not going to drink?” she asks.
“I’m going to drink it off you. Now, strip naked and get on your knees in front of the bed. I want to be able to play with your tits while you suck my cock.”
“Always the romantic,” she huffs.
“It’s a gift,” he jokes, but his laugh sounds hollow.
He walks over to her bed, puts the bottle down on the mattress and undoes his pants. She looks up at him confused, while she pulls her shirt off, then tosses her bra on the floor too. I avert my gaze. I do not want to see that.
“You’re not even going to take your pants off?” she huffs.
“You like it when I fuck you against the wall. Didn’t you tell me it excited you to feel my jeans pressing against your skin.”
“I was mostly talking about how you couldn’t wait to have me—not that you were too damn lazy to take your pants off,” she grumbles.
“Well, I’m not going to waste time taking my pants off when you are only giving me this one time to remember you by. Now be a good little slut and open that pretty mouth for me,” he responds.
“FYI, asshole. That kind of talk is only hot when you have me close to coming. Not when you order me around just to get what you want.”
“Suck me, Izzy. I’m in a bitchy mood because you want rid of me. Bring me to heaven and I’ll show you just how much I need and want you baby girl,” C orders.
“Damn it, Caleb. It’s not that I want to get rid of you. We just don’t have a future. I should have never started up with you. I knew better, but I couldn’t resist. Besides, you’re the one that told me you didn’t do serious, remember?”
“I didn’t until you,” he confesses and my heart hurts, because I can tell he’s being honest. Sadly, I can also see why Izzy doesn’t believe him.
“Stop, okay? This is hurting me, too, you know. It’s better we do it now, though—instead of waiting and letting whatever this is get deeper—or worse.”
“What could be worse?” he huffs.
“You remembering that you don’t do relationships and me ending up alone, maybe pregnant because a condom failed?”
“If I knock you up, trust me the last thing I’m going to do is run, Izzy,” he vows.
“I won’t have a man who is just there because I got knocked up. This whole conversation is moot, anyway. We’re over, remember? This is just a final goodbye.”
“Suck me,” he says gruffly, and I hate it because I can feel his pain—that’s another thing that makes these visions so painful.
I keep my gaze on C, doing my best not to watch whatever Izzy is doing. It’s probably a good thing I do, because I watch him as he keeps one hand in Izzy’s hair, forcing her to keep her head down. Then he pulls out a syringe from his pocket.
Shit C, don’t do this. I beg silently. Then I watch as he sinks the syringe into her arm. She tries to jerk away, but he doesn’t let her, holding her with a fierceness that I’ve never seen from him.
“Caleb...”
“It’s going to be okay, Izzy. I promise.”
“What did you do?” she asks, as he takes the syringe away.
“I’m not going to let you throw us away, Izzy,” he whispers. “Just rest.”
“You drugged me?”
“It’s just a sedative. A doctor gave it to me, it won’t hurt you, baby. I just needed to get you out of here without you fighting me.”
“You’re crazy.”
“No, baby girl. I just can’t let you go,” he whispers. “We belong together.”
“Caleb…” Her voice cracks, weak. “You drugged me.”
“I just needed time, Izzy. I’ll make it up to you. You’ll see—we’re meant to be.”
I jolt awake, gasping, drenched in cold sweat. My chest is heaving, and for a second, I can still hear Izzy’s fading voice in my head.
“Georgie?” Griffin’s voice is rough with sleep. He sits up beside me, eyes sharp in the dim light. “You okay?”
I shake my head. “Where’s C?”
“What?”
“Where’s C, Griff?”
“At the club, I think. Why?”
“I just had a dream,” I confess, my voice shaking. “In it C went to Kentucky. He drugged a girl named Izzy. He’s kidnapping her.”
He stares at me. “C wouldn’t—”
“Call him.”
“Georgia—”
“I said call him, Griffin!”
He grabs his phone and dials. “Savage, put C on the line—now.” A pause. “When?” There’s another pause and Griffin rubs the back of his neck. “If he checks in, tell him to call me immediately—or I’ll have his balls cut off and stuffed in a bottle for my desk.”
“Griff—?”
He hangs up and redials his phone, muttering curses under his breath. He hits a button putting it on speakerphone, because I can hear the ringing and then C answers.
“Sorry, Prez,” C says. “Can’t really talk. Got my hands full.”
Griffin’s tone goes lethal. “Tell me you didn’t drug the Devil’s Blaze’s princess.” Silence. “Christ, C!”
Caleb exhales. “Brushes had a dream?”
Griffin’s voice is cold as steel. “I told her you wouldn’t do something like that. Tell me I’m right.”
“I used a sedative a doctor friend slipped me. It’s safe,” C says softly. “I mean he fixed the dosage and everything, Griff. She’ll be fine.”
I cover my mouth, tears stinging my eyes.
“C, what were you thinking?” Griffin growls. “You drugged her and you’re taking her? You realize her father and brother will kill you for this?”
“She cares for me,” C argues. “She’ll understand, after she gets past her anger.”
Griffin closes his eyes. “You better pray she does, C. Because if not, you’ve signed your death warrant and maybe those of our entire club.”
The call goes dead.
Griffin climbs back into bed beside me, shoulders tight. His silence says everything.
“I’m too late,” I whisper.
He nods once. “Yeah.”
“Crap.” I lean into him, pressing a kiss to his chest—right over the tattoo of my bite mark—with the words Property of Brushes below it. The ink’s still new, but the skin has healed.
He rests his hand on my belly, the faintest curve of our baby beneath it. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No,” he admits. “But we’ll face it the way we always do.”
I manage a shaky smile. “How’s that?”
“Together.”
He kisses my forehead, and for a moment, the fear eases. Just a little. I know this isn’t over. C’s made his move—and when the Devil’s Blaze finds out, the whole damn world is going to burn.
Shit.