Epilogue
BLUE
I loved few things more than being on the back of my man’s bike.
It took me months to get free of my bonds to be able to ride on the back of his blue flaming Harley like a true Old Lady, and from the moment I’d clutched my arms around his narrow waist, I’d known I’d found real peace.
Whenever things got too hard over the next few months after that night at the Raiders farmhouse, we’d slip out into the night on the bike to let the fierce whip of wind and the rumble of the animal engine soothe the jagged edges of our grief and terror.
Because I’d been right, of course.
Rooster and Hazard didn’t stop coming for us and the club.
In fact, they hadn’t even really begun.
And no matter how prepared we’d thought we were for the onslaught, the ensuing melee brought pain and consequences to The Fallen none of us could have imagined.
Sometimes the guilt got too much for me, dragging my heart down to the depths of that dark place Rooster and Hazard had hollowed out of my gut. In those moments, Aaron and my sisters in The Fallen were there for me, reminding me that I wasn’t at all to blame.
There was so much more to the White Raiders hatred than just the loss of me to Aaron.
A terrifying history of secrets and betrayals.
But we were in the eye of the storm, enjoying the Indian summer weather of early September after spending the last week celebrating a wedding in the family.
Aaron had woken me early the morning after, already dressed in his hoodie and cut, motorcycle boots on his feet and a smile on his gorgeous face.
“Get dressed, Blue,” he’d ordered as he stroked the skin of my healed cheek, a habit he’d taken up that made me feel beautiful because of the scar and not in spite of it. “We got a date with your birthday present.”
It didn’t matter that it was my birthday, really. Every single day since I’d moved in with Aaron was a gift I didn’t take for granted. I loved our brick house, and I’d even grown to love sharing the loft with Curtains, who turned out to be almost as hilarious as my man and wildly competitive.
The first time I’d beaten him at Call of Duty , Aaron bought me a custom trophy. I kept it in the loft so Curtains had to see it every day.
“Where are we going?” I asked Aaron as I applied my makeup, and he waited patiently, used to giving me time to put on my face and choose a cute outfit. I would never be a “wake up and go” girl, and he’d learned to accommodate it without struggle.
“Like the look’a you,” he said when I’d questioned his tolerance. “Like the look’a you happy and confident even more. It’s no skin off my nose if I gotta factor in some extra time when makin’ plans for you to get dolled up the way you like.”
The way you like.
That was the kind of man Aaron Clare was—selfless and giving and always protective of my mental health and independence.
I was so fucking lucky.
And I couldn’t wait to give him the present I’d been waiting two weeks to gift him because I was dramatic enough to want to do it on my birthday.
It was really a gift to both of us, and I couldn’t wait, after all this time, to see his face when he opened it. I subtly included the ribbon-wrapped files in my cute sparkly blue backpack before we left the house and took off into the weak light of the rising morning sun.
We drove the Sea to Sky Highway all the way down to Vancouver to a cemetery of all places.
It was pretty, though, filled with established oak trees and well-tended flower beds. Aaron led me through the tombstones without a word, and I didn’t question him.
I’d learned to trust him whatever came, to follow him without doubt, and I was happy to do so now.
Finally, he stopped before a grave at the edge of the cemetery. It had a small plaque placed into the ground, and he had to bend to clear it of debris before I could read what was written there.
Hope Bonham.
I blinked at the name, mouth dropping open as I processed the information.
Aaron started speaking before I could.
“I knew you always wondered what happened to your mum when she left Rooster. Well, after some serious searchin’ between the three’a us, Lion, Curtains, and I tracked her down. She actually moved to Vancouver, entered a rehab program, and eventually met a man named Sandy. She died five years ago’a heart complications, probably related to her drug problem. But when I got in touch with Sandy, he mentioned she’d set aside shit for you in her will. That she tried to keep tabs on you even though she knew she’d never be able to get you back from Rooster. He’d loved to meet you some day if you’re up to it, to talk about your ma.”
The pressure of tears in my chest was too much to bear. As if sensing how overwhelmed I was, Aaron stepped closer, taking my left hand, long since healed from Hazard’s abuse.
“She loved you to the end,” he told me seriously, the lines fanning out beside his eyes pale from being so often crinkled in a grin under the sun. “No one with a heart could know you and remain unmoved by the beauty’a ya.”
He pulled something out of his pocket, a little black pouch and set it in my hand. “She left you the only thing’a value she ever had. Sandy said he wasn’t even mad when he read the will, only sad he couldn’t find you after you ran from Rooster.”
My fingers shook as I opened the tiny pouch and upturned its contents into my hand.
Sapphires.
Six stones of various sizes, all glittering in the late-summer sun.
“Apparently, she came from some old mining family out east, and she hid these from Rooster for a rainy day. I guess she sold some over the years to fund her escape, but she kept these for you.”
My vision blurred as I stared down at the jewels, feeling the ache of a mystery never answered sew itself shut inside my chest.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to my man, my voice lost to the tide of emotion dragging me under.
“Thank you,” he told me, cupping my face in both hands, his rings cool against my skin. “For trusting me when you were terrified to take a chance on anyone. For staying by me these past few months even when shit got so bad we thought it wouldn’t end. Thank you for bringing the colour blue into my life.”
I reared up, jewels clenched in my fist, to throw my arms around his neck and reel him in for a kiss. He tasted like sunshine and his favourite sugary breakfast cereal. The feel of him, the scent of him, the texture of his love like sunlight against my skin was all so familiar to me now I’d know him even in the dark.
“Best birthday present ever,” I said into his mouth.
He chuckled, palming my ass. “It’s not over yet. C’mon, baby Blue, I got more to give you.”
Our next stop was Hephaestus Auto, which wasn’t really surprising because I loved spending time at the garage with Aaron while he worked. There was nothing like the sight of my man streaked in grease bent over an engine. It had ignited kink I’d never even known I had.
But it was a Sunday, and the shop was empty as he led me through the bays to the fourth one at the end.
“Close your eyes.”
I obeyed, already smiling, wondering what could be waiting for me.
“Open,” he said a moment later after tugging me through the sliding metal door.
At first, I didn’t even recognize it.
But it was still my old beaten-up Mazda, just sparkling with a new paint job.
Cobalt blue, the same colour as my eyes and hair.
“What the hell?” I asked.
Aaron threw back his head and laughed, wiping his eyes when he finally looked back at me. “It was a piece’a shit, and I’m a mechanic. Can’t have my Old Lady representin’ like that.”
“It’s beautiful,” I crowed, kissing his jaw before moving to the car and checking the pain job in greater detail.
The inside had been reupholstered in baby blue leather and something hung from the rearview mirror.
I opened the door and got into the driver's seat to inspect it closer.
It was a note in Aaron’s cramped handwriting.
Look up .
I looked out the windshield to find Aaron gone from the garage, the bay door rumbling open behind me, and a neon sign lit up on the wall across from me.
Come find me baby baby baby.
It perfectly mirrored the one he’d done that still hung up in Honey Bear Café & Bakery.
Laughter spilled out of me as I realized what he’d done.
A scavenger hunt.
Anticipation was sweet on the back of my tongue as I started the car, the engine purring like it never had before, and slowly pulled out of the garage. The door closed after me so someone had to be inside, but I left it alone and pulled out of The Fallen Compound to go to Honey Bear Café.
The owner, Lauren, greeted me with a huge smile and handed me a mini cake with a single candle.
“Happy birthday,” she yelled even though I was right in front of her.
I laughed as we shared the cake together, looking over at the sign Aaron had added to the wall beside the original.
It was a pretty blue ring.
“Mark’s Jewellery?” I guessed around a bite of lemon cake.
Lauren winked at me and sent me on my way with a brief hug.
I had never been to Mark’s Jewellery, but Mark himself greeted me at the door and led me inside. His almost wild grin was on his face as he handed me a black shopping back and gestured over my shoulder.
Where everything is evergreen.
My mouth split wide around the smile that formed at the clue.
I was tempted to open the shopping bag on my way to Evergreen Gas, but I refrained because I knew how much work Aaron had put into this surprise.
It was, by and away, the best birthday I had ever had.
Grouch had started to include me in his family celebrations and his wife always made a cake for me over the years, but this was different.
This was a celebration of not just me, but us.
It felt good after everything we’d been through, like a victory lap.
When I pulled up to the retro gas station that had been my home for so many years, Grouch stood by the doors with a handful of blue balloons and an enormous smile.
He had only just moved back to town, and it still felt like a treat to see him, so I gave in to temptation and ran to him, flinging my arms around his waist. His laughter rumbled through me as he squeezed me back.
“Happy birthday, Faithy.”
He was the only one who still called me by that name, but I loved it. It was the last good tie I had to my past, and I was happy to be reminded of it when he spoke my name like that.
Like something of value.
“Thanks, Grouch. Are you in on this game of Aaron’s?”
It was so like my man to make a game out of my birthday. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought he’d do something like this. He was as competitive as Curtains, and I knew he was trying to one-up the surprise party Mei and I had thrown for him at our house, complete with a dunk tank in the backyard we coaxed most of the brothers to take a turn in. He’d laughed so hard that day, I thought he was genuinely going to be sick from it.
In answer, Grouch jerked his head over his shoulder at a new neon sign glowing through the window.
Will you marry me, Blue?
My breath crystallized in my chest, freezing me where I stood.
“Blue.”
Aaron’s voice, smooth and low and gorgeous as the rest of him.
When I didn’t turn immediately, Grouch spun me with both hands on my shoulders.
Aaron stood before me with that charming, devil-may-care grin on his face, the same one that warned me he was trouble the first time I saw him at this very spot months ago.
“I think you got somethin’ to give me,” he prompted.
I blinked dumbly at the black plastic bag from the jeweller and lifted it toward him.
He accepted it but shook his head, eyes sparkling so bright I had to blink away the sun spots.
“No,” he said slowly. “Think there’s somethin’ else you’ve been meanin’ to give me.”
Surprised jolted through me like electricity, setting my heart to racing. My hands were damp with sweat and trembling as I reached for my backpack and unzipped it to reveal the uncontested divorce papers I’d wrapped as a surprise gift.
“You mean these?” I asked, incredulous when he grinned. “But how did you know?”
He shrugged. “Bikers are worse than girls when it comes to gossip, and they absolutely can’t be trusted when it comes to romantic gestures. They’ll give up everythin’ without even the threat’a torture.”
I gaped at him as he pulled the papers from my hands, rolled them up, and stuck them in the back of his jeans. When he stepped closer, the amusement was wiped clean from his face, replaced with the vehemence that existed only for me.
The unserious man who took everything about me and our love seriously.
“You’re free’a him. Free’a them ,” he corrected as he took my tingling hands into one of his. “And I knew, the moment we broke the cage that’d bound you for so fuckin’ long, I had to make you mine in this last way if you’d have me. You might wanna be untethered for a minute to fly free for the first time ever, and I get that, so I won’t be hurt if you’re not ready. But the real present I wanted to give ya today was my last name to erase the one he gave you. One I think you can be proud’a.”
I didn’t know when I’d started to cry, but I didn’t care. My vision fixed on the beautiful biker before me through the blur of tears. I wasn’t even willing to blink and lose a second of this beauty.
A name had never sounded so perfect as Blue Clare did to me.
“Want you to be my wife more than I’ve ever wanted anythin’ else,” he admitted. “Not just ’cause you’re hot as shit.” He grinned when I laughed wetly. “But ’cause you make me feel seen straight through to my bones and the kind love we share electrifies my life. So Blue baby…” He dropped to his knee, and I went with him, unwilling to allow the space between us. His smile was brighter than the huge sapphire ring he pulled from the black shopping bag and presented to me. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I cried, lunging at him so hard he fell back on his ass on the concrete, one hand braced so we both didn’t fall farther and the other wrapping around me instinctively. “Yes, yes, yes!”
He was still laughing when I fixed my mouth to his, but it was okay because the taste of his happiness was the headiest drug, and I was addicted to it.
“Can I put the ring on your finger, baby?” he asked against my eager mouth.
“Later,” I offered, climbing more comfortably into his lap.
A chorus of growling motorbikes built like thunder in the air until suddenly, the lot of Evergreen Gas was filled with Fallen men and their women. Horns blared and brothers hollered. Loulou, Lila, Harleigh Rose, Bea, Cressida, Mei, Hanna, Maja, Tempest… all The Fallen women lurched off the back of their men’s or friend’s bikes and surrounded us, throwing blue confetti by the handfuls out of backpacks.
I tipped my face up into the coloured paper, clutched Aaron tight enough to imprint the shape of me into his bones, and laughed with all the happiness in my heart up into the cerulean sky.
Thank you for reading Asking for Trouble !