Epilogue
Trust Over Fear
Knight
I havesome regrets in my life, but I regret none of the things that led me here. I’m content with my life. Everything is now as it should be.
“Being alive works for you.” Ice looks at me and smiles. “This life looks good on you. I don’t want to see you around my clubhouse trying to be a dirty ass biker.”
I chuckle. “You guys clean up well,” I reply, patting him on the shoulder.
I wanted to invite Ice and a few others to our engagement party because without the Lost Souls, this would never have happened. I wouldn’t have been able to ask Rem to be my wife or watch our child grow within her belly.
“Yeah, but we come with a shitload of trouble. It’s time to bury Trooper. You do know we named you that because we knew you were a cop?”
I snort. No, I had no idea that was why I got the name. “Learn something new every day.”
“Hated that fucking name anyway,” he says and pulls a face. “Never suited your pretty ass. Knight … that’s who you are.”
I laugh and lift my beer. “I’ll stay off your doorstep, and I’ll put Trooper to rest.”
He nods. “But never forget you have a family whenever you need. We still owe you. Kevlar sends his thanks. You and my brother didn’t have to do that.”
“No problem. Whatever he did do, what he was convicted for wasn’t on him.” Come to find out Avery and Broker were at it for years. “I think we’re even.”
“Not even close.” He snorts. “Why don’t you go over there with that pretty girl of yours. I’ll check in before we roll out.”
I tug him in for a hug before I do just that. I saunter over to Rem, but I pause to watch her for a moment. She’s watching Bishop and Saga as I take her in.
A few more months and I’ll have everything I wanted, the baby will be here and soon after we’re going to tie the knot. It took me a long time to figure my shit out and realize she was always what was missing from my life.
Now that I know, I’m holding on to her for life. That thought only sets me in motion. I need to hold my woman in my arms.
* * *
Reminisce
Everything can changein the blink of an eye. I’m still not ever going back to the DOJ. That’s not for me. I know my limits.
Sometimes I wonder where I’d be if I had tougher skin, and then I look at my life now and I wouldn’t change a thing. Well … I probably would have been real with myself sooner and saved me and Knight the misery.
I love that man. Just like my sister loves her husband. I’m not at all envious anymore. Not now that I know how much hard work it takes to be happy and in love.
I smile as I look over at them. The new album is better than the one Bishop wrote for Saga when they first met. It bleeds his love for her.
The last few months have been trying for everyone. I’m glad to see they made it through their drama. The smile on my sister’s face as she looks up at her husband says a million words.
I don’t know how they got lost, but I understand it. It hasn’t been all peaches and roses for Knight and I. Deciding on who would sell their place and where we will live, fights over the long hours I’ve kept while pregnant—there’s always something.
“I hear you thinking,” Knight’s voice pulls me from my thoughts as he wraps his arms around me.
“I have a lot to think about.”
“Is that right?” he murmurs.
“Yup, you haven’t finished the nursery, and I want to change the band for the wedding. I’m thinking a DJ instead.”
He laughs and tightens his hold. “I’ll get the crib and dressers put together tomorrow. You can have whatever you like for the wedding as long as you’re mine when it’s over.”
“Such a sweet talker,” I tease.
We both fall silent as Prince storms by with his fists clenched. I spot the little person he’s storming after hiding behind her mother’s legs. Knight laughs and I roll my lips to keep my own laugh in.
“I’m not even going to ask,” Knight chuckles.
“Me either.”
I turn back to Bishop and Saga as my sister’s laughter fills the air. Bishop is holding Carson. My brother-in-law now has a face full of icing and a laughing toddler in his grasp.
“Look at them. They’re happy.”
“I know,” I say as Bishop squats for Carson to kiss his mother’s huge baby bump.
I feel my baby kick at the same time. Knight chuckles and starts to rub my tummy. He’s right. Everything is the way it should be. This party, our engagement party is the culmination of a long road to happiness.
“I’m glad my brother played you the new album when I proposed,” Knight says. “I didn’t think I could tell you how I feel with all the right words, but everything my brother has written for Saga echoes exactly how I feel about you. I love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
“Even though I run a youth center?”
I turn in his embrace to face him. I’m so proud of him. The youth center is his way to give back. They needed a director, so he stepped up.
He has finally found a way to give back and use his money to do so. It’s perfect for him. Tessa and I were so happy when he offered to step in.
Although, if he had taken Dwayne up on his offer to come in on his security company, I would have been fine with that too. I love Knight way more than I fear the things that could take him from me.
“You will always live up to your name. I can’t and don’t want to change that about you.”
“Are you sure? I know you like it when I’m all badass and shit.”
My heart warms, and laughter spills from my lips. Knight has shown his ass a few times when he feels people have disrespected me or our relationship.
“No matter what you do, I’m staying with you.”
“Good, because I want to love you forever.”