Chapter 30
Creedence
I woke up and stared into the most stunning pair of eyes I’d ever seen.
He winked, “Love you.”
I smiled, “Love you, too.”
For thirty-two days, my entire world had ceased to exist as I knew it.
And on the thirty-third day, as I growled at Storm and told him to fuck off, that he was mine first before he was his, I heard it, “She tells no lies. I might be a brother, but I’m hers first and foremost.”
I kissed him for all I was worth.
Clip must have stepped in then because I heard him chuckle and say, “Damn. Even coming back from the dead, he still gets hard for his woman.”
***
It’s been four months since he woke up.
The doctors called it a miracle.
I called it him being my man.
It was as simple as that.
We loved even harder.
We held on even tighter.
And we made love to a deeper level that was unheard of.
What was also unheard of were the men who shot at us.
Because DeLuca and his men said it was taken care of.
Apparently, the men who had the brothers in the Alabama Chapter turn rat didn’t take kindly to them being killed.
Well... they, and their whole family line, were no more.
***
Due to things that had occurred, I had taken a leave of absence from work.
That was because I would shake as soon as I stepped away from him to head to work.
I couldn’t have him out of my sight.
And my man fucking loved it.
When I got clingy, he winked at me and kissed me stupid.
When I got needy, he shrugged and took me with him everywhere.
Which was taking place right now.
He told me they needed to do a scan to make sure there were no more fragments in his body.
And I was frowning because he’d just had that done last month.
However, I didn’t say anything.
No, I just held his hand as I followed him into the hospital.
But I did open my mouth when he stopped the elevator on the third floor.
“Umm, Alexander? This is a hospital room. You don’t have scans in here.”
He didn’t respond as he continued to lead me into the room.
The room where I first met him.
I had that room number carved into the very depths of my consciousness.
And then... I gasped.
What on earth?
The hospital bed was gone.
And in its place, where it should have been, was a circle of candles.
Battery-operated ones.
He led me to them, then stepped over them, and I followed suit.
I looked up into those stunning, mossy green eyes of his, as he swallowed. Then he said, “The first big thing I ever did was kill that bastard.”
I bit my lip.
“The second big thing I did was meet this girl.”
I swallowed.
“The third big thing I did was hand over my heart without even knowing it.”
Then he dropped to his knee.
I gasped as I watched.
Those mesmerizing green eyes were so full of love that it caused my heart to skip a beat, “Alexander,” I whispered.
He winked.
“Got a few more big things I want. But in order to do that, I need to knock this first one out of the park,” he said.
I stared.
“Creedence Nichols, you stormed into my life without even trying. And I never want to go back to a world where you are not in it. I never want to go back to a life where you are not a part of it. I’ll fuck up.
I’ll say shit. But you can always rest assured that no one will ever love you more than I will.
More than yesterday. More than today. And a hell of a lot more tomorrow.
Will you do me the honor of being my wife? ”
He pulled a black velvet box from his kutte and flipped the lid open.
I saw the movements of that, but my gaze was locked on his.
I opened my mouth and said, “Took you long enough.”
He chuckled, then he pulled the ring out of the box, and as he took my left hand and slid it onto my finger, I got my first good look at it and felt everything in my body go still.
It was the ring I wanted when I was fifteen and showed it to him.
It was a replica of Bella’s ring in the Twilight series.
But it was toned down slightly with a smaller oval and diamonds on the band.
“Alexander,” I gasped.
He winked, then he stood, lifted my hand, pressed a kiss on the ring, and squeezed it.
“You showed me that once. The first big paycheck I got while I was in the military, I bought it. Had every intention of putting it on your finger one day. That ring has been with me ever since.”
I lifted on my tiptoes, placed my hands on either side of his face, and pulled his head down, then I kissed him.
I kissed him with all the love I felt for him.
I kissed him with a passion that I didn’t hear my parents as well as the brothers clapping.
He smiled widely as he looked down at me, then he asked, “So, when and where?”
I didn’t hesitate, “Clubhouse. It held you until you came back to me. This weekend. It’s the same day all those years ago when we met.”
He winked, “Why I planned to ask you today.”
Then I looked over my shoulder and chuckled as I saw our family standing there.
I looked at my mom while Alexander wrapped me in his arms, “Can I wear your dress?”
She winked, “You’re why I picked it out.”
***
October fourth, fourteen years in the making, I smiled up at Alexander as I said, “I do.”
Then I smiled as I lifted on my tiptoes and kissed away the tear that slid down his cheek.
Ripper
I bent my head and pressed a kiss on the tip of her nose, “You know how you always ask me why I call you Star Shine?”
She giggled, “Figures you wait to tell me after you change my last name.”
I chuckled, then I sobered, “Creedence, you stole my heart when I was eighteen, and I didn’t even know it. Been vulnerable with you over the years, but this... this is all of me... me telling you this... it gives you all of me.”
Her head tilted to the side, “Thought you already gave me all of you.”
I nodded, “I did. I gave you my heart, my body, my love, but never my soul.”
She nodded, and then I watched as tears formed in her eyes, “You remember right before your sixteenth birthday?”
She nodded.
“I asked you if you had a wish, what would it be?” I asked.
She nodded again.
“You told me you wanted to dance with me to your favorite song.”
Just then, as we had planned, Hippie hit play on that all too familiar song.
Night Moves.
She smiled up at me as she heard it, her face going soft with the movement.
“While we danced, I glanced up at the night sky, and a star seemed to shine brighter. I watched that star when we separated after we danced, and it dimmed. While I had you in my arms, a star shone. Leading me to my home. That’s why I call you Star Shine.”
Tears cascaded down her cheeks.
I lifted my hand and brushed them away.
“Do I need to gut him for you?” Clip asked as he approached us.
Creedence shook her head and sniffled, “No. Just need you to make me a promise.”
He lifted a brow in waiting.
“Make sure he always comes home to me.”
Clip nodded, “Got you.”
He looked at me and lifted his chin.
I looked down at Creedence, and then she buried her face in my neck as we danced to our favorite song.
The same song I had to sing to myself when it was during the darkest nights in the military to keep my head on a swivel.
“You know, you saved my life,” I said.
She sniffed, then pulled her face out of my neck and asked, “What do you mean?”
“When I was in the military, I was sent on missions, missions I can’t talk about. Shit got hairy on a few of them, and the only way I could keep my head there in the present was to sing this song and have your face at the forefront of my mind.”
She smiled, then she started crying again.
Garret growled, “Jesus Christ, princess, how many times is he going to make you cry? I tossed the bullet I had with his name on it already. Do I need to make another one?”
Cotton chuckled, “Should be asking if she’s pregnant. Swear to Christ, never seen that girl this fucking weepy.”
I froze.
Creedence froze.
Everyone froze.
“Oh. Shit,” Valerie said.
Garret growled, “Ripper!”
I lifted my woman off her feet and strode around the clubhouse to the front courtyard while our family trailed in our wake.
I stopped beside my bike, carefully sat her on her feet, then thought better of it, and lifted her up again while she gasped and giggled, and headed to one of the trucks the club owned.
Her eyes went soft as she got why I left my bike in favor of the truck.
I set her down on her feet and opened the door for her.
She climbed in, but not before she pressed a soft kiss to the underside of my jaw.
I closed the door and looked at my brothers.
Garret lifted his chin, “Where are you going?”
“Walmart. Better be stocked with pregnancy tests.”
His face paled.
Valerie rubbed his back.
I paid the rest no mind as I rounded the truck, climbed in, and then started it up.
Then I looked at my wife and winked.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too,” I told her.
Fifteen minutes later, I was helping her out of the truck and then, hand in hand, we headed into the store.
She, still in that beautiful dress, was a vision.
Me, in my black jeans, black button-up, motorcycle boots, and leather kutte.
Everyone we passed stopped to stare at us, but neither of us did anything about it.
We found the aisle in minutes, and then I started getting boxes off the shelves.
She giggled, “Alexander, we only need one test.”
I shook my head, “This world can be a piece of shit. It wasn’t when it brought you to me. It wasn’t when it returned me to you. It wasn’t when it brought you back to me. I won’t have it be that way with this. I want fucking proof.”
She laughed then.
Five minutes later, I dropped fifteen tests on the conveyor belt. The cashier eyed us and said, “Either you need to be really sure ‘cause you’re happy, or this is a shock, and you need to know she’s not.”
I looked at her and narrowed my eyes, “No fucking shock about it. She’s mine.”
Wisely, the cashier didn’t say anything more.
Once we were done, we loaded up in the truck, and then, without a thought, I drove us home.
“Where are we?” she asked.
I frowned and then looked up at the house and winced.
“Fuck me,” I muttered.
“Alexander?” she asked.