Chapter 66
CHAPTER
SIXTY-SIX
CHASSIS
Leaving my brother standing at the end of the driveway beside Heleni, I can’t help but wonder when he’s actually going to make his way home. He’s got a rental truck to take back, but I guess it’s not my business.
I’m still not really sure what their situation is, and even living with them for the past few days didn’t make it any clearer. My brother holds affection for her, but they are so completely different, and the distance between them is so great.
But maybe that’s why it all works. It’s not like I’ve ever had anything remotely normal or healthy, so who the hell am I to question them? I wave at them until they disappear, and then I look over to Amos.
“You good?” he asks.
“I don’t know. I said my goodbyes and thanks, but I’m nervous.”
The confession is the way I feel. I’m nervous as hell about what’s to come. What I’ve done, what I’ve been part of, has now affected the entire Iron Flame MC on a national level. I would be stupid to think there would be no backlash.
“Don’t be nervous, sweetheart. It’s all going to work out,” Amos murmurs before he releases his grasp on the steering wheel and his fingers curl around the top of my thigh, staying there and sending goose bumps all over my flesh. But that’s when it slams into me that we’re in my car.
“You found my car?” I turn my head to look at his profile.
He smirks. “I found it immediately. It’s how I knew Samuil was involved with your disappearance before I ever heard from Gauge. He had it towed, but I got it back.”
“Wow,” I exhale.
He chuckles, his fingers squeezing my thigh before he clears his throat. “I want to forewarn you that your father is waiting at the clubhouse for you.”
I can feel the blood drain from my face almost immediately. I don’t know where I thought he would be, but it wasn’t there. I almost ask Amos if I really have to see him, but his fingers flex against my thigh again, and he clears his throat.
“Nobody is mad at you, Chassis. We all understand why you did what you did.” As much as I want to believe him, I don’t.
My heart races and my breathing comes out in short pants.
I think about what is going to greet me at the clubhouse—or rather, which version of my father will greet me—when Amos speaks again. “I love you, sweetheart.”
His voice is tender, soft, and almost sweet when he says those four words. I love you, sweetheart. I’m not sure I’ve heard sweeter words in my entire life. Inhaling deeply through my nose, I hold my breath for a moment, then exhale through my mouth.
I repeat the motion, trying to keep myself calm, but I’m not sure it’s working. I haven’t been this panicked about my father’s reaction to something since I told him I was pregnant. But here I am a few months later, panic-stricken again, wondering how he’s going to react to me—to what I’ve done.
The car comes to a complete stop, and before I know what’s happening, I’m hauled across the center console and plopped down in Amos’s lap, his arms wrapping around me in a cocoon as he begins to stroke my hair.
Burying my face against his neck, I breathe him in for a moment. In through my nose, out my mouth, and back in through my nose. Over and over until my heart stops racing. Lifting my head, I look into his eyes.
“I don’t deserve you, Amos,” I breathe. “I’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve you.”
His lips slowly curve up into a smile, and he lets out a chuckle. I’m not sure what’s funny, but I also can’t look away from him. He’s beautiful. He pulls me a little closer, though we’re cramped as shit in this car. I don’t mind in the slightest.
“I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you, Skel. Haven’t for a single fuckin’ minute.”
We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that. “I’ve got you, sweetheart. I’ll always have you. You’re my wife, my woman, and my old lady.”
“I was dropped in your lap, and you took me on, took me in when you didn’t have to. Then I went and fucked up a bunch of shit, making this whole thing so much bigger and crazier than it ever needed to be.”
Tears fill my eyes, and I wonder if I’ll ever stop crying.
I can’t imagine I will at this point. Maybe this is just who I am now.
A pregnant, blubbering, hot mess express of a woman.
Gone is the girl who worked a corporate job and thought she was the shit, thought she could be something different than the daughter of an MC president.
I’m not sure I want to be different. I’m not sure I want to be anyone other than the wife of an MC president and the daughter of the original chapter’s president. I was stupid to think that I could be—or even wanted to be—anything else.
Having this man, his arms wrapped around me, surrounding me in love, is all I could ever ask for. This man, who I never expected to be anything other than a fake husband. But somewhere along the way, between the fear and anxiety, the lines have begun to blur.
Amos isn’t my fake anything. He’s my husband, and I’ve fallen in love with him. Madly, deeply in love with him.
“Are you ready to go back to the clubhouse now, sweetheart?” he asks softly.
I want to say never, that I’d rather stay right here forever in our little bubble, but I don’t. Shifting forward, I touch my lips to his, but I don’t deepen the kiss. Instead, I speak, my lips moving against his with every word I say.
“I’m ready to go anywhere with you, Amos. I love you, too.”
His arms flex around me, squeezing me once more as he holds me close.
“Then let’s go home.”
And home we go—together.